NEW DELHI: India’s Home Minister Shivraj Patil yesterday stressed the need for taking strong measures and extra caution to counter the scourge of terrorism.
In his inaugural address at the two-day conference organized by Intelligence Bureau (IB), Patil said that in India, “Terrorism is visible in Jammu & Kashmir, in the northeastern states, in some states which are covered with thick forests and which are not developed as other parts of the country are, in hinterland and in some cities of importance, for trading and industrial activities.”
He highlighted the role played by media in combating the menace. “Creating awareness about it and alerting us all to take steps to control and nip it in the bud,” Patil emphasized the need “to find effective solutions” to combat terrorism.
Describing terrorism as “nothing but a kind of violent cowardice,” Patil said: “Religions or cultures do not preach terrorism.” He, however, ruled out the possibility of introducing any law similar to or tougher than Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Patil said: “It is not possible to have a law like POTA on the statute book.” But, he pointed out that provisions required to facilitate investigation of cases related to terrorism, which do not go against basic principles of criminal justice and human rights were being looked into.
“Law making is a balancing act, which should aim at doing real justice which means punishment of the culprits and protection of the innocent, solve problems and not creating more problems. If real culprits are punished, terrorism will be controlled. If innocent persons are punished, terrorism may find justification to exist, which should be avoided,” Patil said.
The measures underlined by Patil to counter terrorism include provision of more funds for strengthening forces, more police stations, more training centers and modernizing transport & communication facilities. Accepting that police-population ratio in India “is not very comfortable,” Patil gave stress to need of overcoming this deficiency.
In view of terrorist activities taking place in areas which are close to international borders, areas covered with thick forests and/or those without good transport facilities, Patil pointed out: “Helicopters and planes can be made available to the forces to reach the places where they are needed in time.”
Plans to provide “special kind of security arrangements for cities should be made and used,” Patil said. These include use of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. In addition, “ big cities should have control rooms, mobile police stations and the cooperation of the unions and associations of the employees, traders, industrialists and professionals to get the necessary information and other help in time,” he said.
