By IANS
New Delhi : Emphasising that new age terror was a grave problem to contend with, Home Minister Shivraj Patil Wednesday said police could not afford to lag behind and had to adopt newer methods and approaches to combat the threat.
“It is becoming obvious that more sophisticated weapons and devices may be used by terrorists. They are likely to use modern technologies in carrying out terrorist activities,” Patil said while inaugurating a three-day conference of Directors General of Police and Inspectors General of Police here.
While refusing to name any place directly, Patil sounded a dire warning, saying, “Religious places can be attacked, the police may become their targets.”
He said terror groups may also target politicians and important persons and this therefore required preventive measures.
“Sleeper cells may be found in mega cities. They can become active when needed by them. Fake currency may be used to fund terrorism.”
Over the next three days, police chiefs from across the country will discuss issues pertaining to national security, left wing extremism, the security situation in the northeastern states, emerging threats to VVIP security, new generation crimes and economic intelligence.
Patil said new technologies were becoming available to criminals to commit crimes with ease and with fewer risks. He urged police chiefs to make use of new ideas, equipment and technologies to counter the dangers.
“Large volumes of funds are invested in developmental activities. Without a sense of security prevailing in the states, investment is not going to be done in any part of our country by entrepreneurs,” said Patil.
“Development needs security and security needs development. They should go hand-in-hand.”
He lamented that several state governments were simply not doing enough to augment the strength of police personnel or fill up huge vacancies despite constant reminders.
The all-India average police-population ratio stands at 122 per 100,000 while the United Nations norm for minimum police strength is 222 per 100,000.
Patil pushed for fresh thinking in policing techniques, exhorting state governments to contribute better in acquiring and analysing intelligence.
“Perfect intelligence, reliable intelligence, actionable intelligence is required,” he said.
Referring to the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Patil said there were signs of “definite improvement” on the ground but warned against complacency. He added that continued violence in Assam and Manipur and persisting factional clashes in Nagaland were causes for concern.
On the Maoist violence that engulfs huge swathes of the country’s hinterland and described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “India’s largest internal security challenge”, Patil said that besides cooperation among states, police modernisation was imperative.
Effective police action dovetailed with development programmes under the government’s ambitious Backward Regions Grant Fund would go a long way in ameliorating the menace, the minister said.
The Intelligence Bureau has been holding the annual conference regularly since 1920.