By NNN-PTI,
Guwahati, India : Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that mere legislation will not help in resolving the problem of terrorism and suggested revival of the kotwali system of policing to deal with the present contingency.
Patil, who arrived here to assess the flood situation in Assam, told reporters here on Sunday that tough laws were already in place when the Parliament and Mumbai were attacked.
“I am not going to answer any political question. I will do so on the floor of the Parliament. This is not a political issue but a human issue and all of us are concerned about it. We should not take any accusatory stand,” Patil said at the Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi Airport.
Referring to the Delhi blasts, Patil said that evidences “have been collected, they are being examined very carefully and I cannot come to any conclusions till the investigations are completed though I have been told that there are similarities with the earlier incidents.” Asked about long term measures to tackle the problem of terrorism, the minister said narrow-mindedness should be given up and police force and intelligence agencies should be strengthened and modernised at all levels.
“There was a need to revive the kotwali system of policing with a group of people in every village acting as the eyes and ears of the police. We must marry the western and local traditional systems,” Patil said. (One crore: ten million)
The minister said crores of money were being spent in the backward areas for development along with modernisation of police force because development would be retarded without security.