New Delhi, July 22: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday told Parliament that India continued to face terror threat.
He said that let there be no illusion that terror threat to India has diminished.
In his speech, Chidambaram also expressed satisfaction that during the last six months, a significant number of potential terrorists including Madani were arrested.
The Home Minister spoke of North-East unrest as well as Naxalism. He offered talks to northeast groups on the condition that they abjure violence and lay down arms while lamenting that the CPI-M did not take suitable action against Naxals in West Bengal and a price had to be paid in Lalgarh.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha over grants, Chidambaram said the CPI(Marxists) had not gone all out against the violent CPI(Maoists) because of the similar ideology followed by the two.
“The state government of West Bengal was not willing to take on the Maoists by using their own force. When I showed firmness, they relented,” Chidambaram revealed.
The minister said the Naxal threat was present in the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal etc.
“I don’t want to make a political point here but none of these states have been ruled by the Congress in the last 10 years. The state governments can not shrug of their responsibility of not developing these areas,” Chidambaram said.
He also said that it was correct that the people had taken to arms not only because of poverty but also because they were ideologically misguided. “Challenge from Naxals will have to faced squarely. We are adopting a two pronged strategy for the same- police action and development.”
On the issue of Gorkhaland, the minister said that it was the BJP MP Jaswant Singh who had promised a separate state to Gurkhas.
“Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) has agreed that it will not block the national highway approaching Sikkim after we told them that talks will not be possible otherwise. Now we will talk with them on August 11 and all issues will be discussed,” he said.
Chidambaram also said that the intention was to solve the problem.
On the issue of troops being pulled out of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said that the Army will continue to defend India.
“I never said that Army will be withdrawn. The Central security forces will just step back from things like clearing roads etc that can be managed by the state police,” he said.
On a visit to J&K in June, Chidambaram had said the state police should be gradually given the charge of managing the law and order affairs of J&K. CRPF battalion was pulled back from Baramullah on July 1 after protests reached peak there against alleged atrocities.
Chidambaram cited the example of Punjab where state police was given control as militancy faded. The central paramilitary forces continued to assist them, Chidambaram said.
He also said the armed forces of India were a dedicated and disciplined lot and one or two blacksheep could not bring a bad name to the Army.
The minister said a decision on Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) would be taken at an appropriate time.
–Agencies–