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| J&K situation still fragile: PM | | | New Delhi | Sept 17
The situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of Amarnath land row is still fragile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today. "The situation is still fragile and needs careful handling," he said.
The Prime Minister made the remark while speaking at the concluding session of the two-day Governor's Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He said the recent controversy relating to the temporary allotment of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board has offset some of the gains made by the state.
Singh noted that there had been a marked improvement in security in the state in recent years. It was an outcome of the Rs 25,000 crore development packages, Round Table Conference and the confidence building measures, he said.
The Prime Minister said in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has placed special emphasis on infrastructure development.
The state witnessed prolonged violence triggered by the controversial transfer of forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board leading to fall of the Ghulam Nabi Azad government and imposition of Governor's rule.
Meanwhile, under attack for the way internal security has been handled, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government was not soft on fighting terrorism and indicated that it was open to the idea of bringing a tougher law to deal with it.
"There is no question of the Government being soft on terrorism," Prime Minister said at the concluding day of the two-day Governor's Conference being held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The Prime Minister regretted that the public debate on terrorism has tended to be driven by politics and centre on certain laws enacted or repealed by different governments.
"Our Government has no fixed, inflexible or ideological view in this regard," he said, adding, Government was "actively considering" legislation to further strengthen the anti-terrorism law in line with the global consensus on the fight against terrorism.
Singh did not make any reference to anti-terror law POTA repealed by the UPA government. BJP has been strongly pitching for enactment of POTA-type tough law to act as a deterrent.
Within the Government and ruling Congress, there have been mixed voices with one section favouring a tougher law, while some others felt the existing laws were strong enough to combat the menace.
Singh admitted that the recent bomb blasts in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi indicated that "there are still vast gaps in intelligence. These need to be overcome." Ruling out establishment of a central agency to coordinate counter-terrorism strategy, he said instead there was need for better coordination among the existing agencies. |
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