Washington/Ahmedabad: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday slammed the Gujarat government in the controversial Ishrat Jahan encounter saying it can't justify the killings using central intelligence inputs as conclusive proof inviting a harsh response in which the Centre was described as being "nervous".
"If a state government acts as though intelligence inputs
are evidence or conclusive proof, I am sorry for that state
government... Certainly no one suggested that based on an
intelligence input you should kill someone," he told a press
conference here joining issue with the Narendra Modi
government over the central government affidavit in the
killing of Ishrat and three of her companions in June 2004.
"I think too much is being attributed to that affidavit
if it is meant to defend the government of Gujarat against the
excesses that may have been committed by its police. I am
sorry for the government of Gujarat and the manner in which it
runs its police administration," he said.
"What did the affidavit say?," he asked and added: "To
the best of my knowledge the affidavit says that intelligence
inputs were shared with the Gujarat government."
Responding to Chidambaram's remarks, Gujarat government
spokesman Jai Narayan Vyas said the Centre was becoming
"nervous" in the backdrop of its affidavit which described the
four victims as terror suspects. The Gujarat government cited
the affdavit after magistrate S P Tamang report said the
encounter was fake and executed in cold blood.
"The Government of India for the last two or three days
have gone so much nervous that they are trying to make
statements which are absolutely nervousness, not taking into
consideration the process of law and totally disbelieving in
this entire process," Vyas said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, September 11, 2009, 19:47