Govt determined to crackdown on terrorists

Mumbai, July 14: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government was determined to crackdown on terrorists who wanted to destroy the unity of the country.

''We will leave no stone unturned to neutralise terrorists and smash them,'' Dr Singh said at a press conference after visiting various hospitals to meet the victims of the July 11 serial blasts in suburban trains in the city.

''There is a need to improve intelligence, and the government has directed various security agencies to step up efforts.'' He said terror modules existed in Mumbai, and asked Pakistan to stop giving help to these outfits.

''Pakistan must fulfill its assurances....,'' he added.

On relations with Pakistan, Dr Singh said he had explained to Islamabad at the highest level that if terrorism was not contained, it would be extremely difficult to carry forward the peace process or any other processes. He recalled that Pakistan in January 2004 had given an assurance that it would not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist activity against India.

''That assurance has to be fulfilled before the peace process can make progress.'' He said it was in the interest of countries in South Asia who were for peace and ''have always believed that the destinies of all countries in South Asia are interlinked''.

Replying to a question, he said the government had information at the macro level that terrorists could strike in the metropolis, but there was no specific information at the micro level that local trains could be the targets.

''We have to upgrade our intelligence capabilities,'' he said.

The Prime Minister asserted that all those responsible for the dastardly attacks would be brought to book, and the law of the land would take effective measures to deal with them. Asked if Pakistan should not be declared a terrorist state in view of its continued support to terrorism, Dr Singh evaded a direct reply, but said India had used all possible opportunities to draw the international community's attention towards terrorism of which this country had been a victim for the past 15-16 years.

Today there was more awareness than ever before that terrorism was a global menace, and all countries must fight it together.

It was time that the international community was activated more forcefully to fight terrorism, he added.

On whether the serial blasts could be the handiwork of Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Students Islamic Movement of India, he said the government had some clues but it would not like to go public about them.

He said he would not like to jump the gun or prejudge the issue when the investigating agencies were doing their job.

Asked if police should not be given more powers to crackdown on terrorism, he said police must be given all powers to tackle terrorism, but the government could not do any thing that was not within the concept of the rule of law.

UNI