Thackeray blames Congress-NCP govt for Karkare's loss

Pune, Nov 29 (PTI) The Shiv Sena, which had earlier
targeted slain Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare
for the investigations into the Malegaon blast, Saturday
castigated the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
coalition government for sending him into the jaws of death
symbolised by the "Islamic terrorism".

Paying tributes to the "martyrdom" of Karkare, Sena chief
Bal Thackeray in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'
said, "The officers of the calibre of Karkare and his
colleagues Salaskar and Kamte who led from the front in
combating terrorists had done Maharashtra proud with their
supreme sacrifice."

Accusing the state government on its policy of Muslim
appeasement, the edit said, "What needs to be condemned is the
politics played by the ruling coalition in directing ATS to go
after Hindu organisations and in the process ignoring the real
danger of 'Islamic terrorism' that held Mumbai hostage."

Referring to the criticism levelled by the Sena against
Karkare, it said, "We never blamed or held responsible Karkare
for the Congress-NCP propaganda of Hindu terrorism and the
government's policy of Muslim appeasement for which it used
ATS. Karkare was under pressure from the rulers till the end."

"Some newspapers have posed a question to us whether we
would apologise for criticising Karkare...We condemn the
government that put the police officers in the harm's way with
its policy that aided Islamic terrorism. Karkare made supreme
sacrifice fighting what was Islamic terrorism," he said.

"What Mumbai has seen for the last three days is piling
up of corpses of innocent people and rivers of blood and
killings of police and army commandos in the fight against
Islamic terrorists," Thackeray said.

"Let the Malegaon accused get punishment if there is
evidence to prove their guilt. But what has been achieved by a
propaganda reaching a crescendo that these are the only people
who are out to destroy the country?" he asked. PTI HBJ
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