NEW DELHI: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said Pakistan-based terrorist groups continue to sponsor, plan and organise terror act in India and their activities remain a threat in the hinterland.
Addressing members of the Consultative Committee for Home Ministry, he said groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba continue to sponsor terror acts in India.
“It is seen that the planning and organising of terrorist acts from across the border continue. Terrorists active in the hinterland remained a threat,” he told the Committee at a meeting here.
A terrorist group by the name of Indian Mujahideen was set up by Pakistan-based terrorist elements in order to retain deniability and most of the recruits in the IM were drawn from India.
“Security agencies have managed to identify and arrest most of the IM operatives. Their leaders, however, remain at large,” he said, adding the Government has carried out an assessment of the legal regime and the mechanisms for counter terrorism and has taken concerted steps to strengthen these.
Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami said there have been continuous efforts to bring about better initiatives to tackle terrorism by comprehensive rules of engagement, inclusive of legal framework, additional recruitments, intelligence network and coordination with civil administration.
Border management, mobility and communication system for improving the security situation and combating terrorism are other measures in this regard, he said.
Home Minister Shinde said Left-wing extremism was one of the gravest challenges for the country and the strategy to be adopted to combat violence in these areas has to be a combination of security measures coupled with development.
He informed that a series of steps to combat terrorism in the country has been taken which include sharing of intelligence through close and effective coordination among central and state level agencies and creation of four regional hubs (Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata) of National Security Guards (NSG) to cover the whole country which have strengthened the efforts to combat terrorism.
The members of the Committee deliberated on all aspects of combating terrorism in the country and discussed the recent incidents of security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern states, Left-wing extremism, coordination among security agencies, rehabilitation policy and security arrangements along the borders.
The Committee also appreciated the services of the forces including paramilitary in relief and rescue work during the recent Uttarakhand floods. (AGENCIES)
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