While promising to “strain every nerve” to render determined action for ensuring the security of the nation, Union Minister for Home P Chidambaram on Thursday admitted that given the seriousness of the threat posed by cross-border terror, the country could not “go back business as usual.”
In a sua sponte statement on the November terrorist singe on Mumbai, Minister Chidambaram said the government, in the next few weeks and months, would take certain hard decisions and prepare the country and the people to face the challenge of terrorism.
His deputy, Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal made a similar statement in the Rajya Sabha.
Appealing for support Chidambaram called on all sections in Parliament and people to stand united to brave the challenge, he said: “Nothing should divide us — not religion, not language, not caste. In our fight against terror, there will be need for self-restraint, discipline and even some sacrifice. I seek your support; and I have no doubt that, with your support and the support of the people, we shall overcome and vanquish the forces of terror.”
Informing of decisions taken to enhance security in wake of the November 26 attack, he said gaps in intelligence gathering had been identified and steps to equip agencies with the latest gadgetry were underway. While o9ther decisions included raising India Reserve battalions in a number of States with Central assistance and the establishment of 20 counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism schools in various parts of the country for training commando units of the State police.
A set of Bills to strengthen the legal provisions on prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of terrorist acts are soon to be introduced in Parliament.
The Bills pertains to the setting up of a National Investigation Agency and amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Recently appointed to the position, Chidambaram said the interrogation of the captured terrorist had yielded valuable material evidence. “The origins of the 10 terrorists who entered India have been established conclusively. There is also abundant evidence gathered from the inflatable rubber dinghy, the fishing vessel (used by the Mumbai attackers) and the bodies of the terrorists that has enabled the investigators to reconstruct the sequence of events from the origin to the targets.”
In an obvious reference to Pakistan Chidambaram said: “Several terrorist organisations operating from territories beyond India’s borders have been identified as the source of the terrorist attacks in India that have occurred over the last several years.” He further opined that South Asia was fast emerging the flashpoint of the war on terror.
Similar sentiments were voiced by US president-elect Barack Obama through his presidential campaign, when he spoke of pulling troops out of Iraq and taking the war on terror to South Asia, the venue, where the war started.
After analysing intelligence inputs that warned of a terror strike in Mumbai, Chidambaram admitted that there was a tendency to treat some inputs that were not specific or precise as not actionable intelligence. Further, the responsibility for acting upon intelligence inputs was quite diffused.
Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta speaking days after the attack had said that the inputs, of a possible attack on Mumbai via the sea route -- received from intelligence agencies, were not “actionable”
Minister Chidambaram said the National Security Guard units would soon be placed at strategic regional hubs. The armed forces’ commando units would also be drawn on to create more regional hubs until a decision, to locate NSG units in those hubs, was taken.
He further added that the Mumbai terror attacks underlined the vulnerability of the country’s 7,500-km-long coastline. A coastal security scheme, approved in January 2005, was being reviewed and it would soon be integrated to form a part of a larger security system. A Coastal Command will come into existence to supervise and coordinate maritime security.
In a sua sponte statement on the November terrorist singe on Mumbai, Minister Chidambaram said the government, in the next few weeks and months, would take certain hard decisions and prepare the country and the people to face the challenge of terrorism.
His deputy, Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal made a similar statement in the Rajya Sabha.
Appealing for support Chidambaram called on all sections in Parliament and people to stand united to brave the challenge, he said: “Nothing should divide us — not religion, not language, not caste. In our fight against terror, there will be need for self-restraint, discipline and even some sacrifice. I seek your support; and I have no doubt that, with your support and the support of the people, we shall overcome and vanquish the forces of terror.”
Informing of decisions taken to enhance security in wake of the November 26 attack, he said gaps in intelligence gathering had been identified and steps to equip agencies with the latest gadgetry were underway. While o9ther decisions included raising India Reserve battalions in a number of States with Central assistance and the establishment of 20 counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism schools in various parts of the country for training commando units of the State police.
A set of Bills to strengthen the legal provisions on prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of terrorist acts are soon to be introduced in Parliament.
The Bills pertains to the setting up of a National Investigation Agency and amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Recently appointed to the position, Chidambaram said the interrogation of the captured terrorist had yielded valuable material evidence. “The origins of the 10 terrorists who entered India have been established conclusively. There is also abundant evidence gathered from the inflatable rubber dinghy, the fishing vessel (used by the Mumbai attackers) and the bodies of the terrorists that has enabled the investigators to reconstruct the sequence of events from the origin to the targets.”
In an obvious reference to Pakistan Chidambaram said: “Several terrorist organisations operating from territories beyond India’s borders have been identified as the source of the terrorist attacks in India that have occurred over the last several years.” He further opined that South Asia was fast emerging the flashpoint of the war on terror.
Similar sentiments were voiced by US president-elect Barack Obama through his presidential campaign, when he spoke of pulling troops out of Iraq and taking the war on terror to South Asia, the venue, where the war started.
After analysing intelligence inputs that warned of a terror strike in Mumbai, Chidambaram admitted that there was a tendency to treat some inputs that were not specific or precise as not actionable intelligence. Further, the responsibility for acting upon intelligence inputs was quite diffused.
Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta speaking days after the attack had said that the inputs, of a possible attack on Mumbai via the sea route -- received from intelligence agencies, were not “actionable”
Minister Chidambaram said the National Security Guard units would soon be placed at strategic regional hubs. The armed forces’ commando units would also be drawn on to create more regional hubs until a decision, to locate NSG units in those hubs, was taken.
He further added that the Mumbai terror attacks underlined the vulnerability of the country’s 7,500-km-long coastline. A coastal security scheme, approved in January 2005, was being reviewed and it would soon be integrated to form a part of a larger security system. A Coastal Command will come into existence to supervise and coordinate maritime security.
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