Advani sees 'anti-India' elements behind attacks

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, JUNE 28. The Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, today hinted at the possibility of involvement of ``anti-India'' elements in the attacks on Christians and places of worship of minorities, and exhorted State Governments to ``promptly get into the depth of these cases and punish the guilty whoever they are.''

``These incidents do not appear to be emanating from any tension between the communities as the sequence of events indicates. The possibility of anti-India elements trying to create disaffection in society and give the country a bad name cannot be ruled out. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to find out the truth,'' he said.

The Home Minister was addressing a day-long, high- level meeting of Chief Secretaries and police chiefs of States here, convened by his Ministry to review internal security.

The meeting was a precursor to the proposed August 5 conference of Chief Ministers, to be chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee.

Mr. Advani described the attacks as ``very unfortunate'' and told the top officials from States that the Centre was conducting its own probe on the incidents. It was the responsibility of the Government to treat every citizen equally.

``Every citizen in this country, under our Constitution and laws, has a right to be treated equally in every way without any discrimination and we must ensure that nobody feels otherwise. That is the responsibility of the Government and administration,'' he said.

While referring to the proxy war being waged by Pakistan, its agents, mercenaries and the ISI, Mr. Advani deplored the talk of ``jehad'' (Holy War) by asserting that there were more Muslims living in India than in Pakistan.

In his formulation, Pakistan's aim ``is not confined to annexation of Jammu and Kashmir but dismemberment of our country.'' Pakistan was not likely to change its policy but ``we have to ensure their failure in this misadventure.''

Mr. Advani cautioned the officials against Pakistan's design of promoting, abetting and sponsoring terrorism. ``The epicentre of religious fundamentalism has come to stay in our neighbourhood which seems to have become the headquarter for terrorists operating in a number of countries the world over.''

On internal security, he said State Governments should treat it with utmost priority. Terrorism, extremism, insurgency and crimes of the underworld seemed to have become a ``routine feature'' in many parts of the country. Violence perpetrated by terrorists in the past 15 years had claimed more lives than the casualties in all the wars India was forced to fight.

The other areas of concern highlighted by the Home Minister were the North-East and situation in Bihar. ``Extremist groups, private armies and warring caste groups are carrying out mass murders and carnage and things do not appear to be improving in Bihar. The situation there has serious portents and ramifications,'' he said.

`Total agreement'

Later, briefing presspersons, the Union Home Secretary, Mr. Kamal Pande, said there was ``absolute and total agreement'' among States on the need to have an anti-terrorist law.

The Law Commission's draft on anti-terrorism law had been sent to all the State Governments and their comments on it would reach the Centre by June 30.

Another area of general consensus, barring a few States, was the need to set up a Federal Law Enforcement Agency (FLEA) to investigate crimes related to terrorism, money laundering, militancy and cyber-crime.

The State Governments also agreed to galvanize the enforcement machinery in management of internal security and have closer cooperation in intelligence sharing.

The States were told to revamp their intelligence gathering machinery and reorient their apparatus to tackle militancy and banned organisations. A massive revamp of intelligence gathering network could well be on cards, the Home Secretary indicated.

Mr. Pande said the States also agreed to amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to check access to anti-national elements, diversion of funds and allow free flow of funds to genuine organisations for public welfare.

Modernisation of police forces was discussed at length and all the States sought increased allocation for the purpose. However, the States were told to earmark a minimum percentage of its budget for police modernisation, he said.

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