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Home Minister's speech at the Conference of CMs on Internal Security

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde addressed the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security in New Delhi on June 5, 2013. Following is the text of the address:

"Hon'ble Prime Ministerjee, my senior colleague, the Finance Minister, Chief Ministers, Ministers of State Governments, Ministers of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, LT Governors, Administrators, senior officials of the Central Government and State Governments, ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of the Government of India, I welcome you all in this Conference on Internal Security.

This platform provides a good opportunity for exchange of ideas, thoughts and experiences on the important aspect of internal security situation prevailing in the country and steps taken/being taken in order to make our country safe and secure to live.

I would like to begin with the recent incident of brutal attack by CPI (Maoist) in Chhattisgarh's Bastar District last month. It was an attack on democracy and a manifestation of the real nature of the terrorism - which is opposed to all that democracy hold dear, freedom to express one's views and freedom of the people to participate in political activities. Friends, while our Government is committed to make all out efforts to address the genuine grievances of deprived sections of the society, the development cannot happen in an environment of terror. The acts of violence against innocent will be dealt firmly. In order to effectively deal with perpetrators of this heinous act which has inter State ramifications, the case has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency in consultation with the State Government of Chhattisgarh.

The internal security situation in the country during the year 2012-13 has remained largely under control, with Jammu & Kashmir particularly showing marked improvement since 2010.

In the current year, there have been two major bomb blasts, first in Hyderabad and second in Bangaluru. Though, there was no casualty in the incident at Bangalore, 18 innocent persons lost their lives in the Hyderabad Bomb Blast.

At the same time, India continues to face serious challenges to its Internal Security scenario from Jehadi terrorists.

It has been noticed that the terror groups are taking advantage of communication channels which have become more sophisticated over a period of time. From mobile phones, terrorists today have moved on to use of satellite phones, Thuraya sets, use of spoofed IDs and coded transactions over e-mail and chat sessions, besides Voice over Internet Protocol to communicate across the border.

There have also been some significant developments on the Sikh militancy front. Its commanders based in Pakistan are under pressure from ISI to further ISI's terror plans not only in Punjab but also in other parts of the country. Sikh youth are being trained in ISI facilities in Pakistan. Interdictions and interrogations have revealed use of jailed cadres, unemployed youth, criminals and smugglers by Pak based Sikh terror groups for facilitating terror attacks. Sikh youth based and settled in Europe and US are also being motivated in this regard. A large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives, including RDX have managed to find its way into Punjab through the borders, even as a significant quantity of RDX has since been recovered in police action in Rajasthan and Punjab in the last one year.

India has long and porous border with Bangladesh and Nepal, which have been used by Pak-based jehadi groups to ex-filtrate terrorists out of India for training in Pakistan and induction of terrorist elements/hardware/finance into India for actions.

Jehadi tanzeems in Pakistan with affiliation to LeT, JeM and IM have set up channels for transfer of funds from Pakistan to India via Gulf and Nepal, besides using Western Union Money Transfer and Hawala channel. Moreover, ex-SIMI cadres and similar militant elements based in Gulf have also been observed collecting money for causing destruction in India.

To combat terrorism, there exists a very close and effective coordination amongst intelligence agencies at the Centre and State level. Intelligence inputs about possible designs and threats are shared with the State Governments concerned on a regular basis. The Multi Agency Centre (MAC) has been strengthened and reorganized to enable it to function on 24x7 basis for real time collation and sharing of intelligence. This has resulted in busting of many terrorist modules and a number of possible terrorist attacks have been averted.

As far as investigation of the terror attacks by our investigating agencies is concerned, most of the incidents happened after 26/11 have been worked out. In almost all the cases, accused persons have been arrested, several have been declared absconders and Red Corner Notices have been issued and charge sheets filed. However, a few cases like Varanasi Bomb Blast, Mehrauli Bomb Blast and the bomb blasts in Hyderabad and Bangaluru are under investigation and we are hopeful of a break through.

Let me now turn to the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and North East.

Jammu & Kashmir

As far as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned, the militancy situation in the State has shown considerable improvement, which has resulted in substantial reduction in the strength of militants. Effective anti infiltration measures including fencing and deployment of electronic devices have helped the interdiction capability of the forces on the border. Infiltration attempts have decreased by 19.35% due to multi-pronged approach of the Government to contain cross border infiltration. Border management has been tightened through construction of border fence, use of improved technology, acquisition of latest weapons for security forces and most importantly through improved human intelligence and operational coordination. The declining trend in violence continues in the current year with 35.29% decline in incidents in 2012 compared to 2011. Also there has been a decrease in civilian and security force casualties by 51.61% and 54.54% respectively in the State. The terrorist strength in the valley has also declined.

However, the cross border terrorist infrastructure is intact. The training camps continue - as do the infiltration attempts. Nepal route continues to be exploited for infiltration of militants.

The improved security situation in Jammu & Kashmir has led to increased inflow of tourists and pilgrims, which is a very positive and healthy development.

Coming to North-East, Suspension of Operations Agreements have been entered with various insurgent groups, which have shown willingness to give up violence and seek solutions for their problems peacefully within the Indian Constitution. Our Government is ready to talk with any group or outfit which is willing to abjure violence and lay down arms like Kuki National Organisation and United Peoples Front in Manipur. Further, Metei Groups like URF, KCP and KYKL along with their factions, signed MoS in February, 2013 paving way for surrender of their cadres. Peace talks are also being held with a number of outfits like ULFA, NDFB(P) and NDFB(RD). These strategies have resulted in steady reduction in the level of violence. Moreover, the aforesaid strategy of the Government has also encouraged surrender by militants belonging to various groups and their participation in the political process.

The Central Government is continuously assisting the North Eastern States by the deployment of Central Para Military Forces to assist the State Police in counter insurgency operations and upgrading their skill level.

I would like to take this opportunity to advise the States of Mizoram and Tripura to sit together and discuss the issue of Bru migrants from a humanitarian angle so as to ensure that the new generations of the migrant families are not denied their share in development. While the funds provided by the Centre for resettlement and rehabilitation should be utilized so as to achieve the plan of rehabilitation at the earliest, the problem creators should be identified and dealt with sternly.

India continues to face the problem of high quality state sponsored counterfeiting. The menace of counterfeiting is assuming serious proportions because of its links with money laundering, terrorist financing and international crime syndicates. Indian investigating agencies have collected hard core forensic evidence to support the conclusion that high quality counterfeit currency is being produced in our neighbouring countries and smuggled into India either directly or through other transit routes. Forensic and other technical analysis clearly indicate that fake Indian currency notes are produced in sophisticated currency printing machines using many of the raw materials and processes used to print regular currency notes.

We live in a troubled neighbourhood and forces inimical to the country are working day in or day out to hit at the roots of our polity.

On our part, we will continue to do our best to support the State Governments to tackle the menace of terrorism. I agree that we have to go a long way in fighting this menace. At the same time, we are sure that with your cooperation we will give a firm reply to these forces of destabilization."

Source: Press Information Bureau

 

 

 

 

 
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