Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought broader national consensus between the Centre, States and political parties in efforts to tackle naxal violence.
Referring to the recent naxal attack on a political rally in Chhattisgarh that claimed the lives of 30 people, Dr. Singh affirmed that such violence has no place in a democracy.
Speaking at the Chief Ministers meeting on internal security at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi this morning, Dr. Singh said, an all-party meeting has been called on the 10th of this month seeking broader consensus among political parties on the strategy to tackle the naxalite challenge.
The Prime minsiter asked the Centre and State government to come up with concrete measures to deal with naxal violence and prevent violent incidents like the violent attack in Chattisgarh.
Dr. Singh said, the time has now come to view the challenges of terrorism, communal violence and Left Wing Extremism in a holistic manner. The Prime minister called for complete objectiveness in our approach to these issues and to act in national interest rising above narrow political and ideological divides.
Dr. Singh appealed to all political parties and all sections of society to work together to find effective ways and means of meeting these grave challenges. He hoped the State governments will cooperate fully with Centre's efforts to further strengthen defensive and offensive capabilities against Left Wing Extremists.
Dr. Singh also said the two pronged strategy of dealing firmly with violence while promoting development in naxal affected areas need to be further strengthened.
Stongly condemning the mindless and barbaric naxal attack on political leaders, workers and innocent civilians in Chattisgarh Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde read out the Chief Minister conference resolution to counter Naxal activities.
Terming the Naxal attack as an attack on democracy, the resolution strongly disagreed with the ideology of the maoists. The Chief ministers resolution appealed to the youth of the naxal affected states to give up violence and pursue their goals through legitimate and democratic means.
In his speech earlier, Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde pointed out that India continues to face threats to internal security from jihadi terrorists. He said, terrorists are adopting high tech gadgets including satellite phones and modern equipments.
Mr. Shinde said large quantities of explosives including RDX are finding their way through porous boders in to Punjab.
Sikh terrorists are being trained by the ISI in Pakistan. The home minister said, the Centre is doing its best to support the states in fighting terror to give a firm reply to forces attempting to destabilise the country.
MOS in Prime Minister's Office V. Narayasamy, Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Chattisgarh Chief minister Raman Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, were also among the dignitaries who attended the conference
