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| Tabs tighten on terrorism, India unites | | PM spells out agenda | | AGENCIES
New Delhi, Dec 11: Calling on all concerned quarters to act swiftly against terrorism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday apologised for the Mumbai terror attacks that killed and injured hundreds.
Making the concluding speech at the discussion on Mumbai terror in the Parliament, the PM expressed apology for the terror attacks that occurred on Nov 26-29 and killed nearly 200 people including scores of foreigners.
"I apologise to the people of the country that this dastardly act could not be prevented," he said referring to the Mumbai strikes and acknowledged that acts of terrorism have witnessed an increase resulting in death of hundreds of citizens.
He observed that there was an urgent need to restore the sense of security among the countrymen.
Singh said India has so far exercised "utmost restraint" but it should "not be misconstrued as a sign of our weakness".
Declaring that "all means and measures" would be used to deal with terrorism, he said the government cannot "countenance a situation where safety and security of our citizens are violated with impunity by terrorists and other militant forces".
Dr Singh said that the attacks originated from Pakistan and that country needs to do more to rein in the extremists and terrorists. He said that the terror infrastructure must be dismantled immediately and that the international community should be galvanised to take this up with Pakistan.
To this end, the PM appreciated the banning of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front office of the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba, by United Nations Security Council.
He emphasised that there could be no ‘double-standards’ in the fight against terrorism. “There are no good terrorists or bad terrorists,” he added.
The PM also said that the use of terrorism and proxy war could no longer be tolerated as state-policy.
The government has to work at three levels, he said. He identified these step as galvanising the international community into dealing "sternly and effectively with the epicentre of terrorism, which is located in Pakistan", pressing Pakistan bilaterally to act against terrorists and prepare the country to meet "these kinds of assaults".
Dr Singh admitted that the attacks had exposed gaps in the security and intelligence system. Each state will now have a separate commando unit at its disposal, he added.
The PM said that states had been asked to strengthen intelligence at the district level and make the inputs 'actionable.' He said terror would be the focus of collection, analysis of intelligence.
Singh said the need for stronger measures to protect the coastline had been highlighted earlier "but the progress on ground in this regard has obviously been tardy and too slow."
Pointing out that government was strengthening maritime security against "asymmetric threats" from the sea, the prime minister said a decision has been taken to make Coast Guard the single force responsible for protection of the coastline instead of multiple agencies as at present.
Indian Navy will provide the necessary back-up support to the Coast Guard, he said adding the decision will come into effect immediately.
Special security arrangements are also being put in place for all major ports and guarding sensitive installations in the vicinity of the shore line.
Arrangements for securing the air space, taking into account conventional as well as non-conventional threats, have been streamlined, he said.
Real time monitoring of aircraft movement jointly by the Air Force and the civil authorities has begun, Singh said, adding air defence measures to prevent intrusion of rogue or unidentified aircraft are in place.
He said the Mumbai attacks had highlighted the need to be able to act in response to such incidents with much greater speed and in this regard, a comprehensive crisis management response has been worked out.
The government has decided to decentralise the National Security Guards and disperse them to be located in major metropolitan areas, the Prime Minister said.
At the same time, arrangements must be put in place so that rapid response units can reach other locations without loss of time, he said.
Dr Singh concluded the speech saying that "since truth and righteousness were on our side, we will win."
He moved a resolution expressing the Parliament's 'sense of outrage'. The resolution was passed unanimously. |
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