The demand came after the party's three-member team returned from Doda after a visit there. Former Haryana PCC chief S S Surjewala, former Union Minister Sibte Razi and AICC secretary S C Vats made the demand today after a tour of the affected area where 25 male members of two families were killed while they had assembled for a wedding.

Talking to journalists, Surjewala said the general public, local residents and Congress workers were of the ``unanimous view'' that the entire district be declared a disturbed area. He added the team met the next of kin of all those killed in the shooting and conveyed condolences of behalf of party president Sonia Gandhi.

The trio also visited Prem Nagar from where the marriage party came and observed that the township wasstill panic stricken and was in the grip of fear in spite of Union Home Minister L K Advani's visit there. The people of the township had expressed the apprehension that their lives and property were not safe under the state government ruled by the National Conference, he added.