With this year witnessing more infiltration attempts than the last, agencies must stay vigilant
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday redflagged misuse of new-age tools, including social media, to spark communal tension but cautioned police chiefs against going overboard with their crackdown.Singh also nudged them to develop expertise in cyber security since a large-scale computer attack on critical infrastructure and the economy “can have potentially devastating results”.
“Any measure to control the use of such media (social media and bulk SMSes) must be carefully weighed against the need for the freedom to express and communicate,” the PM told the conference.
Singh’s advice comes in the backdrop of the home ministry blocking bulk SMSes for a fortnight and ordering more than 300 webpages to be shut down long after seeds of discord were sown between communities in Assam.
National security adviser Shivshankar Menon had on Thursday ticked off intelligence agencies for waking up to the online hate campaign only after the panic migration of people from the Northeast in Karnataka following the violence in Assam.
Singh’s speech reflected this assessment. He said that though security agencies busted 19 terror modules, they could not prevent attacks in Mumbai and Delhi last year and Pune this year. NEW DELHI: As India and Pakistan took the ‘big first step in normalising relations’ in Islamabad, PM Manmohan Singh advised the security establishment in Delhi not to let their guard down.
Without naming Pakistan, Singh told a security conference of
police chiefs in New Delhi to stay vigilant to the possibility of
terrorists using the sea route to mount an attack and prevent
infiltration of terrorists into J&K that was on the rise.
“In J&K, we are beginning to see more infiltration attempts, across the Line of Control and even the International Border. There are also indications about terrorist groups maintaining their ability to use the sea route,” the PM said hours before foreign ministers of two countries sat across the table to “look ahead to the future.”
There have been 67 infiltration attempts till July-end, more than double of the corresponding figure for last year.
Convinced that the two neighbours could not shut their doors to each other, Singh has been pushing for continuing dialogue between the two countries despite Pakistan's inaction against perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
“Vigilance, therefore, needs to be exercised not only on our land borders but along the coast line as well,” Singh told the chief of state and central police forces as well as heads of intelligence agencies. He noted the success of security agencies to hold the situation in J&K well under control but emphasised that “the threat from terrorism in the hinterland continues to be a cause for worry.”
Signalling that security agencies could not celebrate their successes, he reminded them that terrorists were able to strike in Mumbai and Delhi last year and in Pune this year.
“We are still in the process of developing capabilities to take pre-emptive action in respect of terrorist threats,” he said, calling for realignment of operational approaches, training of police personnel and more effective collaboration among states and between states and the Centre.
“In J&K, we are beginning to see more infiltration attempts, across the Line of Control and even the International Border. There are also indications about terrorist groups maintaining their ability to use the sea route,” the PM said hours before foreign ministers of two countries sat across the table to “look ahead to the future.”
There have been 67 infiltration attempts till July-end, more than double of the corresponding figure for last year.
Convinced that the two neighbours could not shut their doors to each other, Singh has been pushing for continuing dialogue between the two countries despite Pakistan's inaction against perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
“Vigilance, therefore, needs to be exercised not only on our land borders but along the coast line as well,” Singh told the chief of state and central police forces as well as heads of intelligence agencies. He noted the success of security agencies to hold the situation in J&K well under control but emphasised that “the threat from terrorism in the hinterland continues to be a cause for worry.”
Signalling that security agencies could not celebrate their successes, he reminded them that terrorists were able to strike in Mumbai and Delhi last year and in Pune this year.
“We are still in the process of developing capabilities to take pre-emptive action in respect of terrorist threats,” he said, calling for realignment of operational approaches, training of police personnel and more effective collaboration among states and between states and the Centre.
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