Muzaffarnagar riots: PM promises strictest action

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, today visited communal violence-hit areas of this district in Uttar Pradesh to share the pain of those affected and promised "strictest punishment" to the perpetrators.

Singh and Sonia Gandhi appealed to all sections of the society here to maintain peace and harmony.

Assuring all help from the Centre to the state government to restore normalcy, the Prime Minister "priority and efforts" right now was to ensure that affected people are sent back home with a feeling of security.

Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi visited a camp in Bassi Kalan village, 30 kms from here, where Muslims affected by violence have taken shelter. They also visited Jat-dominated Bawali and Khanjpura villages, which too have witnessed riots.

"I am here to share your pain," Singh told the affected people as he, along with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, tried to console them.

Talking to reporters after listening to the people living in the camp, Singh said last week's riots were a "major incident" and that the "perpetrators of the riots will be given strictest punishment."

He said he had come here to take stock of the situation. "Our priority and efforts would be that people displaced are sent back home... Steps should be taken to ensure that people have a feeling of security."

Later, they went to Jat-dominated areas where people alleged "police inaction" and talked about a feeling of insecurity.