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Jaya now turns her attention to Taliban presence in Kashmir

All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha today took exception to the external affairs ministry dismissing as "speculative", new reports that dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden had ordered Afghan and Arab mercenaries to gather in Kashmir for a major terrorist offensive in the Valley and other regions of India.

In a statement in Madras, she said the entire nation was disturbed by reports on the gathering of Taliban and Arab mercenaries along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and their imminent incursion into the Indian territory across the Line of Control.

She said the Indian government, during the Indo-Pak talks later this month, should urge Pakistan to ensure that there was no further incursion by terrorists into the country. Otherwise, the talks would become meaningless, she added.

Jayalalitha urged the Centre to bring to the notice of the international community, the cross-border terrorism which has been pestering the country during the last one-and-a-half decades and appeal to the United Nations to call for a convention for discussing measures to tackle the menace.

She also demanded that the Union home and defence ministries take sufficient precautionary measures and keep the armed forces and intelligence agencies on the alert, in a bid to defeat the "sinister designs" of the international terrorists and preserve the country's unity and integrity.

She said the Centre should furnish all the state governments with details regarding the mercenaries and direct them to be on alert. There should be coordination among the central and state governments while taking up precautionary measures, she added.

Alleging that the Karunanidhi government in the state had already allowed foreign mercenaries to carry on their "nefarious designs" in the state, Jayalalitha said the state government should seek adequate information and forces from the Centre to prevent infiltration of the hostile forces into the state.

UNI

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