NARMADA (GUJARAT): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the internal security situation in the country has vastly improved, particularly in the North East and the Left Wing Extremist (LWE)-affected states.
Saying that security scenario in the North East region has witnessed “steady improvement” in recent years, the Minister said all parameters of violence have improved in 2018 in comparison to corresponding period of 2017.
He said India’s security concerns have been conveyed to Myanmar even as efforts are on to harness the trade potential with the eastern neighbour and beyond.
Singh said that violence in the LWE-affected areas continues to improve since the last eight years and major operational successes was witnessed in core Maoist areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha which resulted almost two-fold increase in the losses suffered by LWEs this year.
Referring to the communal situation, the Minister said it remained under control this year with a decrease of 12 per cent in communal incidents as compared to the corresponding period in 2017.
Singh said terrorism in the hinterland has also been stamped out.
“The new phase of Islamic State propaganda emanating from Afghanistan-Pakistan region is also being countered effectively,” Singh said.
He also said that the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir continues to be vitiated even though the stone pelting incidents have declined and that the attempts by militants to infiltrate, making attacks intermittently and doing recruitments locally continue.
He directed the security establishment to check efforts to revive terrorism in Punjab.
“Pakistan continues to abet terrorism. During January 1, 2017 to November 29, 2018, 17 ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) backed espionage modules have been neutralized in the country resulting in the arrest of 25 espionage agents which include two Pakistanis,” he said. (IANS)
