The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that Naxal violence has no place in a democracy. He appealed to all the political parties to rise above political and ideological differences to view challenges of terrorism, communal violence and left-wing extremism in a holistic manner.
“I think each one of us needs to be completely objective in our approach to these issues, acting in national interest rising above narrow political and ideological divides. I would appeal to all political parties and all sections of society to work together to find effective ways and means of meeting these grave challenges,” Singh said while addressing Chief Ministers on the issue of National Security on Wednesday.
Assuring States that the challenges posed by Naxalism have received serious attention from the Centre for quite some time now, the Prime Minister said, “We have adopted a two-pronged strategy to deal with the challenge: conducting proactive and sustained operations against Maoist extremists; and, addressing development and governance issues in left-wing extremism-affected areas.”
He emphasised that the two-pronged strategy needed to be strengthened and pursued with rigour.
“Even as we intensify our efforts to strengthen the security and intelligence apparatus in areas affected by Maoist violence, we should be able to ensure that people residing in affected areas are able to live in an environment of peace and security and derive full benefits of our development efforts,” he said.
An all-party meeting will be held on June 10 to build a broader national consensus on the strategy to tackle the Naxalite challenge, which comes in the aftermath of the attack by Maoists on Congress leaders and workers and their security personnel in Chhattisgarh, he added.
The Prime Minister stressed that the Centre and States should join hands to ensure that such events do not recur.
Singh said the Chhattisgarh Naxal attack was a “setback” to the success story achieved by the Government in tackling Maoists.
“In the last couple of years there has been a substantial reduction in the number of incidents and deaths caused by left-wing extremist groups and an increase in the number of Naxalite surrenders. But, major violent attacks by Naxalites like the recent one in Chhattisgarh are setbacks that have occurred periodically,” he said.
He said the Centre had already started taking steps like further strengthening its defensive and offensive capabilities. “I hope the State Governments will cooperate fully with us and add to the effectiveness of these efforts,” he said.
On Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister said, “Our strategy to prevent cross-border infiltration by militants and our intelligence based counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir have resulted in a decline in the level of terrorist violence by about one-third in 2012 as compared to 2011. In fact, terrorist violence parameters in 2012 have been the lowest since the upsurge in terrorist activities two decades ago.”
The record inflow of tourists and pilgrims during 2012 also points to an improved security situation in the State, he said while adding the implementation of several infrastructure projects in the State was progressing well.