NEW DELHI, May 21 (UPI) -- Despite Sunday's terror attack, which killed seven people, India has said it will go ahead with the roundtable meeting on the Kashmir peace process.
"Such cowardly attacks would not weaken the resolve of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to seek a peaceful solution," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The prime minister is looking forward to visiting Srinagar and participating in the second roundtable," said Singh's media adviser, Sanjay Baru.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, chief minister of the terror-torn province and who narrowly escaped the attack, was similarly vociferous. "The conference is on. I won't chicken out," he said. Azad was to address a political rally minutes after the attack took place in Sher-e-Kashmir Park in the provincial capital.
"The cowardly terrorist attack on the largest-ever public gathering organized by the Youth Congress to commemorate the death anniversary of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in which innocent civilians and public at large were directly fired at, has now fully exposed the cult of violence operating in the valley which stands rejected, isolated and hated by the peace-loving people of Kashmir," Azad said.
Azad called it the desperate bid of isolated militants to make their presence felt, and wondered what message they were trying to convey by killing the innocent people of Kashmir.
"I am sure that such terror tactics will not deter the people of Kashmir," he said.
