NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday sought a strong action plan to tackle terrorism, naxal violence and insurgency in the northeast.

A day ahead of the meeting of Chief Ministers to be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the BJP said the Government had admitted that infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir, naxal menace in some States, insurgency in the northeast and the network of terrorists were showing an increase, affecting internal security.

"Against this backdrop we expect the Government to come out with a strong action plan against terrorism and a joint strategy to tackle naxalism," party spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

The Mumbai train blasts in July proved that terrorism was no longer confined to Jammu and Kashmir.

The increase in the number of violence by naxalites from 470 last year to 487 this year was also a cause for worry.

Naxal operations had become more sophisticated, as they were using remote controlled explosive devices, machine guns and grenades, Mr. Javadekar said.

The BJP had repeatedly asserted that repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and offer of talks to naxalites without the pre-condition that they lay down arms had sent out a wrong political message on internal security.

The signal from the United Progressive Alliance was that it was soft on terrorists, naxals and insurgents, he said.

The Government should share with people the contents of a "no paper" on the subject of Kashmir that was presumably under discussion between Pakistan and India.

The BJP, he said, would like to know whether the Government was keeping within the parameters laid down by the parliamentary resolution on Kashmir.

The UPA Government had allowed the dialogue with Pakistan to "drift" away from the focus on Pakistan sponsored terrorism.

It had become "Kashmir-centric," the BJP alleged.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail