Pak must dismantle terror infrastructure: India

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has urged Pakistan to completely dismantle the terror infrastructure from its soil and declare a zero-tolerance for any kind of terrorist activity.

Asked whether the terror attack in Lahore earlier this week brought a qualitative change in Pakistan's attitude, Chidambaram said, 'I hope so, I hope so."

But he said nabbing one or two people was not enough.

"The entire terrorist infrastructure must be dismantled. If the terror infrastructure remains intact, it is like riding a tiger and you know what happens when some body rides a tiger," he said.

Replying to another question about the reports that the terrorists were trying to infiltrate in to India from Pakistan, the Home Minister said that he gets such reports every day.

"There is a lot of information about militant or terrorist activity. Our response is to raise the level of preparedness and response swiftly and decisively in the event there is a terror threat or terror attack," he said.

After reviewing the security situation in Andhra Pradesh with Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and other senior officials, Chidambaram said that the preparedness level in Andhra Pradesh was much higher today than what it was three months ago. "Three months from today it will be even higher than what it is today. The government is taking every step to raise level of preparedness to meet every threat," he said.

The home minister said that the National Security Guard hub in Hyderabad will become operational by June-end. He said Andhra Pradesh was also raising a commando force with 256 members which will be trained by NSC and will be as effective as NSG for the urban policing.

Chidambaram was all praise for Andhra Pradesh on its success against Naxalites and for strengthening the intelligence set-up in the state.

He said that the control rooms of the central Intelligence Bureau and the state intelligence in Hyderabad along with the Subsidiary Multi Agency Center in Hyderabad and the special branch control rooms were all working 24/7. He said that the connectivity between them will be in place by the end of this month. The new technology and equipment to be put in place by May end will enable the exchange of information on real time basis.

As Andhra Pradesh has a 1000 km-long coastline, the issue of coastal security prominently figured in the review meeting. In addition to the 6 coastal police stations, the state government has sought another 15 coastal police stations in the nine districts, he said.

The state government has also identified 508 coastal villages where identification cards will be provided to the people under a new programme of the Centre, he said.

The home minister suggested to the state government to adopt the Kerala example of providing cellphones to the fishermen community who can provide information to police about any suspicious movement in the sea or on the shore.
Image: Home Minister P chidambaram after reviewing a security meeting with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy Hyderabad secretariat on Friday.