Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the large presence of security forces in the North Eastern states was necessary to deal with the threat of violence and cases of extortion. Addressing the conference of DGPs and IGPs in New Delhi on Thursday, Chidambaram said some splinter groups and some smaller groups in theNortheast were still holding out and refusing to accept the offer of talks. The Home Minister, however, said there was remarkable improvement in the security situation in some of the North Eastern states but it has not attracted the attention that it deserves.Mr. Chidambaram said last year he had referred to the appointment of two interlocutors to talk to various groups in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. Expressing happiness on progress in this direction, he said government has reached cease fire agreements with both NSCN(IM) and NSCN(K),Suspension of Operation agreements with NDFB, UPDS, DHD, ANVC, KNO, UPF and, more recently, with ULFA. He added,the commencement of formal talks with NSCN(IM) and ULFA has been enthusiastically welcomed by the people.Terming as unfinished agenda his plan of setting up a National Counter Terrorism Centre, the Home Minister hoped that he will be able to secure an early government nod for it. He said the other ambitious project was NATGRID which got the Government approval on June 6th this year .He said, it is proceeding according to schedule and the phases that have been approved will be completed in 18 months.Mr. Chidambaram said, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the epicentres of terrorism. He said, four out of five major terrorist groups are based in Pakistan and three of them continue to target India. He said that no country in the world is immune from terror attacks including the United States and the worst affected by terrorism are Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.Mr. Chidambaram also said that many home grown terror groups have acquired the capacity to make bombs. He conceded that the recent blast in Delhi and Mumbai is a blot on government's record.The Home Minister described left wing extremism as a challenge to the country and there is no decline in the Naxal violence in Jharkhand and Bihar. Mr. Chidambaram said , there is a decline in communal violence in recent years in the country.The Home Minister said that country's security forces are being modernized to deal with multiple threats. He also suggested that violence in Tribal areas should be dealt with non-lethal ways. Mr. Chidambaram also emphasized on the need of communication between different investigation agencies to check the delays in any probe.Our correspondent reports that the conference will prepare a broad outlook to deal with terrorism, extremism and left wing extremism besides effectively dealing with communal violence. The three day conference has been organised by the Intelligence Bureau.