INDIAN PRIME minister Manmohan Singh said yesterday his government had “credible information” that Pakistan-based militant groups were planning fresh attacks on the country.
Addressing a meeting on internal security in New Delhi attended by provincial chief ministers, Mr Singh called upon India’s security forces to remain vigilant to avert any such attacks and for all state agencies to share intelligence.
Indian security agencies have been frequently and severely criticised for their repeated failures in thwarting terrorist attacks.
“Cross-border terrorism remains a most pervasive threat,” Mr Singh said in what security analysts said was an attempt by India to further pressure Pakistan to act against militant groups that it blames for last November’s Mumbai terror strikes that killed 166 people.
Pakistan has denied any official involvement in the Mumbai attack, but accepted that the 10 gunmen responsible for it were in part trained in their territory.
Over the past few months, under pressure from India, the US and other western countries, Pakistan has arrested five people that India claimed were behind Mumbai’s siege. These include members of the proscribed Lashkar-i-Taiba (LiT or Army of the Pure) Islamist group based near the eastern Pakistani border city of Lahore.
Mr Singh said Islamic militants were operating far beyond the confines of the insurgency-hit northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
Two wars and an 11-week long border engagement have been fought over Kashmir.
“There has been a surge in infiltration this year [in Kashmir], which is disturbing,” Mr Singh said.
India has long accused Pakistan of arming and training cross-border militants to fuel Kashmir’s 20-year-old insurgency that has claimed over 65,000 lives, a charge Islamabad denies.
Indian federal interior minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told the chief ministers that even though India had faced no terror attack after the one on Mumbai, that in no way indicated that the threat had “vanished or receded”. Mr Singh also told the provincial chiefs that India faced another serious security challenge from Maoists, who in recent months had expanded their area of operation and inflicted heavy casualties on the security forces.
Maoists were active in over half of the country’s 29 states, particularly in eastern and central India, where they claim to be fighting for the rights of marginalised and exploited labourers and farmers.
Estimates of Maoist numbers nationwide range between 10,000 and 20,000, but little is known about their shadowy leadership.
To deal with the Maoists, Mr Chidambaram announced a multi-pronged strategy. “We will talk, we will act, we will restore order and we will undertake developmental activities in the Maoist-affected areas,” he said.