New Delhi: India on Tuesday accused Pakistan of
not being serious in punishing the perpetrators of the Mumbai
terror strike and said even the terror infrastructure which
facilitated such attacks was intact.
"Pakistan is not serious about prosecuting and punishing
those responsible for perpetrating the Mumbai attack. They are
still in Pakistani soil," he told a press conference when
asked to comment about the kind of response by Pakistan to the
dossiers given by India.
Chidambaram also said the terror infrastructure, which
helped attacks like the one in Mumbai to be carried out, was
intact across the border.
"That is my complaint against Pakistan and that is my
disappointment with Pakistan," he said.
Asked about Islamabad`s repeated questions on the
dossiers, he said, "I hope that they will not be able to
invent more questions".
India had handed the latest dossier to Pakistan on
August 22 for action against Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT) founder
chief Hafiz Saeed, a prime accused in the 26/11 attacks,
saying there was "cogent and convincing evidence" to prosecute
him.
On the proposed review of the Armed Forces Special Powers
Act, Chidambaram said his ministry has placed the matter
before other concerned ministries and after getting their
views, it would be placed before the Union Cabinet.
The Home Minister said the Centre has approved 38 new
battalions, including two Mahila Battalions, to be raised by
the CRPF.
"This addition will take the CRPF`s strength from 207 to
245 battalions and the sanctioned manpower from 267,757 to
more than 305,000 personnel under one command," he said.
Asked about the circulation of fake Indian currency
notes, Chidambaram said such notes are being routed through
Nepal though they are manufactured elsewhere.
The issued had figured in his talks with Nepalese Prime
Minister Madhav Nepal and the issue would be discussed in
detail during the forthcoming Home Secretary-level talks in
November in Kathmandu.
On tackling Naxalism, he said the Centre was adopting
two-pronged approach of development and police action but the
Naxalites were anti-development and therefore deliberately
target developmental activities.
"Our response therefore will be police action to wrest
control of the territory that is now dominated by Naxalites,
restoration of civil administration and undertaking
developmental activities," he said.
The Home Minister said the government was confident of
persuading a number of Naxalites to surrender and opt for
rehabilitation.
"Hence, revised guidelines and a package for surrender
and rehabilitation of Naxalites were issued on August 26 in
order to encourage Naxalites to lay down arms," he said.
Chidambaram said sanction was issued on August 11 for the
release of special assistance under a Central Scheme for
setting up of seven temporary Counter Insurgency and
Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) Schools during this fiscal to Assam (2),
Bihar (2), Chhattisgarh (1), Jharkhand (1) and Orissa (1).
He said a total amount of Rs 172.48 crore was sanctioned
for various infrastructure projects in the Central
paramilitary forces as under: CRPF - Rs.42.67 crore, SSB - Rs
47.50 crore, BSF - Rs.62.85 crore, Assam Rifle - Rs.19.46
crore.
Besides, Rs. 36.74 crore was sanctioned for the
acquisition of land.
The Home Minister said 932 posts were sanctioned in the
CISF for deployment at seven installations. This included 68
posts for the Electronics City, Bangalore.
"This will be the second private sector enterprise that
will receive CISF cover," he said.
On police reforms, Chidambaram said two Police
Establishment Boards (PEB) in each Union Territory would be
set up which would decide all transfers, postings, promotions
and all service related matters.
Bureau Report
