NEW DELHI, Aug 27: Pakistan-based terror groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Indian Mujahideen are active in country’s hinterland, including the national capital, the Government today said.
“Various terrorist groups like LeT, IM, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), Al-Badr, etc are active in the hinterland of the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi,” Minister of State for Home R P N Singh told Lok Sabha while replying to a written question.
He said 65 terrorist and insurgent groups are active in different parts of the country and they are involved in subversive activities.
The minister said three militants groups – Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Zindabad Force and Khalistan Commando Force – are active in Punjab.
Singh said available intelligence inputs show that militants/terrorists active in India are often supported and funded by their parent outfits based abroad, particularly in Pakistan, in terms of shelter, training, weapons and finance.
“The existing statutory and legal structure provides adequate provisions to deal with funding of terrorism,” he said.
The list of terrorist groups active in various States shows Jammu and Kashmir has five such organisations, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkat-e-Mujahideen and Al Badr.
In the North-East, Assam has 11, Meghalaya four, Tripura two, Nagaland four, Mizoram two and Manipur 34.
To a supplementary, Singh said the Government has banned 36 outfits and 9 organisations in the country.
“As regards the initiatives taken in the Left Wing Extremism (affected) regions, we have a two-pronged approach in the LWE States. One, we deal very effectively as far as the Naxalites are concerned. The approach of the Central Government is to deal with LWE in a holistic manner in terms of security, development, good governance and public perception management,” he said.
Ministry of Home Affairs has banned the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War, all its formations and front organisations, the Maoist Communist Centre, all its formations and front organizations in LWE hit areas.
In reply to another supplementary he said while some states are doing extremely well in tackling Naxalism, some are doing moderately well and some are lagging behind. “This is a matter of great concern,” he said.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister A K Antony today reviewed the country’s security scenario with the three Services chiefs and other top officials against the backdrop of incursions by Chinese soldiers and increasing ceasefire violations on the LoC.
The high-level meeting was also attended by Defence Secretary R K Mathur and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.
In the meeting, the security situation along the LoC was discussed and Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh briefed the Minister about the steps taken by the force to handle the incidents of unprovoked firing by Pakistan Army.
After the August 6 incident in Poonch where five Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by Pakistan Army Special Forces, there have been 39 incidents on ceasefire violations from across the LoC.
The Kargil-Drass section of the LoC, which has been relatively silent since the ceasefire agreement was reached upon between two sides in 2003, has also seen around 10 such violations.
The meeting is also learnt to have discussed the incursions taking place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
In the past eight months, there have been over 150 incursions by Chinese troops inside Indian territory in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh sector.
The Army has been downplaying the issue of incursions saying that the LAC was disputed at several places and both sides patrol up to their perception of the boundary. (PTI)
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