The Hindu : Front Page : Blasts aimed at derailing ties, says Manmohan

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Sunday, May 18, 2008
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Blasts aimed at derailing ties, says Manmohan

Siddharth Varadarajan

We have to be mindful of terrorists’ nefarious designs

— Photo: PTI

FRIEND AND ADMIRER: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses a joint session of Bhutan Parliament in Thimphu on Saturday. He assured the ‘youngest democracy’ that it could always count on India.

Bagdogra: In his first remarks to the press after this week’s bombings in Jaipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said terrorist elements wanted to create communal disturbances and prevent the normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.

“We have to be mindful of these nefarious designs” while finding effective means of dealing with the problem, he said, when asked whether the blasts had vitiated the atmosphere on the eve of the next week’s talks between India and Pakistan.

The Prime Minister was speaking to reporters at the end of his two-day visit to Bhutan, a country he described as India’s “closest and most friendly neighbour.”

Dr. Singh said the time had come to recognise “such an entity as federal crime” and that a separate agency was needed to investigate all crimes with “multi-state aspects” such as terrorism and white-collar crime.

This task cannot be “effectively discharged by a single agency of any particular state,” he said.

He acknowledged that states were reluctant to surrender their powers but it was necessary for everyone to have an open mind.

He also urged all parties to refrain from politicising the debate over the fight against terrorism.

He denied that the recent spate of terrorist incidents reflected a weakening of India’s intelligence agencies. “It is certainly true that new challenges have arisen, the technology of terror has been miniaturised, and the terrorists have the advantage of surprise,” he said.

This did not mean there was no room for improving the functioning of the intelligence agencies, “but there is an element of surprise and we have to recognise this reality.”

On the nuclear deal with the U.S., the Prime Minister refused to characterise the upcoming May 28 meeting of the UPA-Left coordination committee as the government’s last chance to move ahead.“Let us see what happens.” But he said he was hopeful “good sense would prevail.”

He said he had always maintained the deal was in the interest of the country and would enlarge India’s energy options while preserving its strategic programme.

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