File picture of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
Pakistan should control terrorism if it wants peace and reconciliation, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed has said. He termed the terror attacks in Kathua and Samba as a "conspiracy" to derail the peace process between India and Pakistan.
Mr Sayeed's comments came in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly days after the attacks in Kathua and Samba. He said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have a strong resolve and that terrorist attacks would not deter them.
"We have a strong will, a strong resolve to control to fight terrorism. If they (the Pakistan establishment) want peace then they have to control them (the terrorists)," he told the Assembly, after opposition parties created a ruckus demanding that the question hour be adjourned.
"They (terrorists) are not being taught Islam. I don't know what they are being taught. So they go out to kill people. When I took over as the Chief Minister for the first time, they launched an attack on the Raghunath Temple in Jammu," he added, appealing to all parties to unanimously pass a resolution condemning the attacks in Kathua and Samba.
When questioned on why he had on Friday used the phrase 'non-state actors' to refer to the terrorists from Pakistan, Mr Sayeed said, "Those who attack churches, those who attacked Pesahwar, Lakhvi, what are they?"
Mr Sayeed told the Assembly that the peace that existed in the state in 2003 would return, and also noted that the tenure of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was marked by lowered tensions on both sides of the Line of Control.