25 Aug 2010
SIKH MILITANCY ONCE AGAIN FEARED
From Our Delhi Bureau
NEW DELHI: Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Mathur on Wednesday talked of revival of the Sikh militancy in Punjab, saying the Pakistan-based agencies were behind it.
Pointing out that the militants' roots were already there, he told a 2-day conference of the Directors General of Police of states that the Pakistan agencies were behind the Sikh militancy earlier also and the government has definite inputs of their hand behind the Khalistan Zindabad Force and some other outfits springing up in Punjab.
Home Minister P Chidambaram, who inaugurated the conference, spoke of finding "that elusive starting point" in the next few days to break the vicious cycle of violence in Jammu and Kashmir that the government is not able to stop and restart the process of a dialogue for a solution.
He said the starting point will be from where "we could reach out to protestors, reassure them of their rights and dignity, restore peace and order, redeem the promises made and restart the process of a dialogue that will lead to a solution."
He said the security forces have been told to act with great restraint in Kashmir which is caught in "a vicious cycle of stone pelting, lathicharge, teargas and firing, leading to casualties and resulting in more stone pelting."
The situation has not yet returned to normal but nevertheless, he said, 4.57 lakh pilgrims completed the Amarnath Yatra as against 3.92 lakhs last year and 5,16,970 tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir, the number that far exceeds 3,55,960 tourists last year.
Taking pride that last 21 months have been remarkably free from terrorist attacks barring the attack on the German Bakery in Pune, Chidambaram said it does not mean the threat of terrorism has gone away. "There is no let-up in attempts to infiltrate militants into India, no let up in attempts to radicalise young men and women in India," he said.
It was in this context, that he expressed concern over "the recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past" and asked the assembled police chief to be ever vigilant and continue to build capacity in counter-terrorism.
IB chief also drew attention of the state police chiefs to the worrying rise of the Maoist menace in various states and felt their activities would not come down in time to come. He said the most worrying part was the technology training that the Maoists are getting.
As regards "fragile" Kashmir situation, Mathur said the counter-militancy operations in the state are not that effective as the Jehadi organisations in the state are getting support from the neighbourhood.
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