By IANS,
New Delhi : The central government is ready to provide all assistance to contain communal violence in Orissa, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairman Mohammad Shafi Qureshi said here Wednesday.
“The central government is ready with all help to contain violence in the state,” said Qureshi, who along with other panel members met Home Minister Shivraj Patil Tuesday.
“Patil told us that the government has promised the state all assistance, be it the deployment of military forces or anything else, to restore peace,” Qureshi told IANS.
Expressing dismay over the raging “outrageous communal violence” in the state, he said there was need to go deep into the crisis for a lasting solution.
“The perpetrators of violence appear to be the same unscrupulous elements who created similar disturbances in the state in December last year,” he said.
In reply to a question, Qureshi said: “NCM will send a fact-finding team when normalcy starts returning to the disturbed areas.”
At least eight people have been killed in clashes in Kandhamal district in clashes triggered by the killing of Swami Lakshmananand Saraswati, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, and four others Saturday evening.