Pakistan rejects 'lame excuse' over Gujarat violence

Indian Home Minister LK Advani said Pakistan has been trying to fund further violence in Gujarat

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan / NEW DELHI, India -- Pakistan has dismissed as a "lame excuse" comments by Indian Home Minister LK Advani accusing Islamabad of trying to stoke the flames of sectarian violence in the troubled western state of Gujarat.

Speaking to parliament in New Delhi Monday Advani said he had seen "several intercepts from across the border asking militant groups in Kashmir to provide financial help [to rioters] in Gujarat, ... so that the strife continues."

The charge was swiftly rejected by a foreign ministry spokesman in Islamabad.

"Blaming Pakistan will really be one further lame excuse and nothing more than that," Aziz Ahmed Khan, told reporters.

India has long accused its western neighbor of giving support to militant groups in the disputed region of Kashmir, as well as funding terrorist activity elsewhere in India.

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Pakistan denies direct involvement in the Kashmir rebellion, saying that it only gives moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people's struggle for self-determination.

Advani's comments came as the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee continued to try and deflect criticism from the opposition and several coalition allies over its handling of the Gujarat violence.

Backlash

Police say more than 900 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed in a wave of religious rioting that has swept the troubled state.

More than 900 people have died in Gujarat's religious clashes since February

However, several human rights groups say their own investigations put the toll closer to 2,000 dead.

The violence began in late February when some 59 Hindu pilgrims were killed when a Muslim mob firebombed a train near the town of Godhra.

The incident sparked a deadly backlash against the state's Muslims with an estimated 100,000 forced to flee their homes.

Opposition groups say Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) turned a blind eye to the attacks, with some members in Gujarat even giving it their tacit support.

Gujarat is ruled by the BJP but calls for the dismissal of Chief Minister Narendra Modi have been rejected by the government saying it would not help curb the violence.

'Nightmare'

In parliament Monday the government gave its backing to an opposition motion in the upper house demanding greater protection and relief for victims of the violence.

The move was seen as a tactic to avoid an embarrassing defeat in the upper house where the opposition has a majority.

Speaking to lawmakers Vajpayee called for the motion to be passed unanimously saying such a resolution would be "a notice to the Gujarat government to act."

"Let us sit down together and take decisions together. This was a bad dream, a nightmare, let us ensure the country will never again see this kind of thing happen," he said.

In Gujarat itself tensions remain high with a heavy police presence patrolling the streets of Ahmedabad, the main city in the state and scene of some of the worst violence.