New Delhi, Jan 08: Hours after Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani spoke of a "serious threat" to internal security from illegal Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals staying in the country and the need to "throw them out", the Centre and States on Tuesday decided to introduce National Identity Cards to combat the problem. A pilot project for issuance of Identity Cards would be launched in 13 states from April one at a cost of Rs 140 million covering a population of 28.5 lakh, Union Home Secretary N Gopalaswami told reporters after a day-long Conference of Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police (DGPs) on Internal Security here.

The states where the project would be started are Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Pondicherry and Delhi.
Inaugurating the Conference, Advani voiced serious concern over 11,500 Pakistanis and 15 million Bangladeshis illegally staying in India and directed the State Governments to launch "special drives" to detect and deport them as they posed a serious threat to national security. Bureau Report