Male (Maldives), Sept 24: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tonight said all necessary steps were being taken to flush out the terrorists from Gandhinagar`s Swaminarain temple and asserted his government was strong to tackle the scourge of terrorism.

"We will deal with terrorism with a firm hand. Government is strong to tackle the scourge and it has the people`s trust and faith," he said while addressing the Indian community at a reception here hosted by Indian High Commission to Maldives S M Gavai. Vajpayee, who is on a four-day visit to Maldives, said he has spoken on telephone with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Gujarat governor S S Bhandari on the terrorist attack. Advani, he said, would be flying to Gandhinagar tonight.

Vajpayee appealed to the people of Gujarat not to be provoked by the incident and asked them to maintain calm.

He said "terrorists are still inside the temple and efforts are on to flush them out. People have been killed in sizeable numbers and many are injured".

Observing that terrorists did not want elections to take place in Jammu and Kashmir, he said "it has taken place and people are coming out in big numbers to vote. Terrorists are frustrated and are trying to take revenge".

The Prime Minister said the entire world was coming out against terrorism and the network in Afghanistan has been demolished. "Where are the Taliban and al-Qaeda elements now?", he said.

Vajpayee said the intentions of terrorists were clear and they wanted to create trouble in the country.

Bureau Report