In what could boost arrival of Indian and foreign tourists to Indian Kashmir, Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh Wednesday said security situation in the region has improved considerably.
New Delhi, June 5/Nationalturk- Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh Wednesday said security situation in Indian Kashmir has improved considerably.
“The year 2012 saw a significant improvement in the security situation in Kashmir,” PM Singh said while addressing the chief ministers’ annual conference on internal security in the Indian capital.
He said their strategy to prevent cross-border infiltration of militants from across Line of Control (defacto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir) and our intelligence based counter-terrorism operations in the region have resulted in decline in level of militancy violence by about one-third in 2012 as compared to 2011”.
In fact, Singh said, militant violence parameters in 2012 have been the lowest since the upsurge in militants activities in the region two decades ago. “The record inflow of tourists and pilgrims during 2012 also points to an improved security situation in Kashmir,” he said.
He said implementation of several infrastructure projects in Kashmir is progressing well. “The Himayat and Udaan schemes which aim at providing additional gainful employment to the youth have also achieved a fair measure of success. These are all welcome developments,” added Prime Minister.
‘Naxalite violence has no place in our democracy’
Referring to left-wing Naxalite and Maoist violence, he said Government of India and state governments must work together to combat Naxalism.
“Naxalite and Maoist violence has no place in our democracy .The government has instituted several measures in 34 Naxal-hit areas to combat the Naxal menace,” he said.
He said the challenge of Naxalism has received serious attention of the government for quite some time now.
2-pronged strategy adopted to deal with Naxalite-violence
“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. A number of measures have been taken as part of this two-track strategy. These include strengthening the security apparatus, improving road connectivity in 34 most Left Wing Extremist affected districts, relaxation of norms of various development schemes in the affected areas, and the Integrated Action Plan for 82 selected tribal and backward districts,” Prime Minister said.
“We have achieved some successes too. 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. Indian government and States need to work together to eliminate such large-scale attacks,” added Prime Minister.
The Naxalites had attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in Chattisgarh State, killing 27 people including former minister and few more top Congress leaders and dozens of party workers and policemen.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk India News
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