'UPA must have strong integrated anti-terror plan'

New Delhi, Sep 4: Expressing serious concern about the state of internal security in the country, the BJP today urged the government to come out with an integrated action plan to combat all types of terrorism rather than asking the states to come out with their proposals.

Cross border terrorism, naxal violence and insurgency in the north-east were all on the rise and the gross neglect of vital security aspects by the UPA government has resulted in gross allround failure, BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar told mediapersons here.

He said the known cases of infiltration in the first half of this year had touched 476 compared to 170 during the same period last year while the casualties caused by naxal violence had touched 487 from 407 last year. The fact that naxal groups were brandishing sophisticated weapons and communication system was a sad commentary on the effectiveness of the governments in over 165 districts of the country, he added.

Noting that the government had failed to convince the international community about the involvement of the Pakistani elements in the Mumbai blasts, the spokesman said that the terrorist infrastructure continued to flourish in Pakistan. While the NDA was able to extract a commitment from Pakistan that it would not allow its territory and the area under its administration to be used for terror purposes, the UPA government's dilly dally approach on combating the scurge had jeopardised the national interests,'' Mr Javadekar said.

''UPA's actions like repeal of the POTA, resolution of Kerala Assembly to release bomb blast accused Madhani and its ham handed actions against terrorism had all emboldened the terrorists and their sponsorers, he added.

The Government should take all parties into confidence and share if the 'no-paper' initiatives taking place between India and Pakistan governments at an informal level were different from the country's accepted policy, he demanded.

The BJP Spokesman regretted that India is busy declaring that the terror incidents will not stall the peace talks, the Pakistan President was busy coining a new vacabulary to confuse the situation.

''It was sad that some Indian leaders and the political forces in Jammu and Kashmir too were using the same words like joint managment, demilitarisation, self rule, freelance terrorism and irrelevant borders,'' he noted.

UNI