By IANS
New Delhi : The government has got “credible intelligence inputs” about terrorist threats to places of religious worship in the country, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sri Prakash Jaiswal admitted in the Lok Sabha Tuesday.
“There are credible intelligence inputs on possible terrorist attacks on various religious places in the country,” Jaiswal informed the house in a written reply to a question posed by V.K. Malhotra, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.
Complete details about such threats could not be divulged in public interest, Jaiswal added.
Terrorists have targeted religious places in the recent past. These include the attack on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat in 2002, the makeshift temple in Ayodhya in July 2005, on the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi in March 2006 and on Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid in May 2007 among other places.
“Assistance is being provided by the union government for strengthening security arrangements through deployment of central police forces and extending financial aid as and when requested by the states and union territories,” Jaiswal assured the House.