By IANS,
New Delhi : Cautioning that infiltration levels were on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir since the beginning of the year, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Sunday stressed that “dark forces” in Pakistan “will not succeed in their designs” to create turmoil in the state.
“Since the beginning of this year, there has been an increase in the number of attempts to infiltrate militants into India and in the number of encounters on our side of the border. So far, 16 militants have been killed and 16 more arrested,” said Chidambaram while addressing chief ministers at the internal security conclave.
Pointing specifically to the anti-India jehadi rally held on Thursday in Pakistan-administered Kashmir by the Jama’at-ud-Dawaah (JuD), a banned frontal organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit, to express ‘solidarity with Kashmir’, Chidambaram said these groups were “implacably opposed to India”.
“It is clear that these groups are implacably opposed to India; their weapons are mayhem and violence; and their goal is forcible annexation of Kashmir. Let me make it clear: these dark forces will not succeed in their designs. We will defeat them whenever and wherever we confront them,” said the home minister.
Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed at the conclave that hostile groups operating from across the border were trying to perpetrate terrorist acts in India.
“The state of Jammu and Kashmir bears the brunt of the acts of these groups,” said Manmohan Singh.
Referring to Maoist violence, Chidambaram, echoing the words of the prime minister, said it remained a grave threat and was reflected in the rise in fatalities.
“In consultation with chief ministers of Naxal (Maoist) affected states, we decided to boldly confront the challenge thrown by the Communist Party of India-Maoist. Consequently, there was a rise in the number of deaths in 2009 amongst civilians (591), security forces (317) and militants (217). As the security forces move forward to reclaim areas that are now dominated by the Naxalites, it is possible that this trend will continue in 2010 too,” said Chidambaram.
“However, I am confident that the state governments concerned will gradually gain the upper hand and re-establish the authority of the civil administration.”
Chidambaram pointed out there had been no significant terrorist attack in the last 14 months, especially after the successful setting up of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), which analyses intelligence in real time, but said there was no room for complacency.
“It is also a matter of satisfaction that there has been no significant communal incident during this period. That, I hasten to add, does not mean that there has been no violence or that we are not vulnerable to terrorist attacks; or that there are no triggers for communal disturbances,” he said.
“We must remain vigilant. We must continue the work on enhancing capacity. And we must reform our institutions and systems of governance in order to pre-empt terrorist threats and prevent communal discord.”