Don't harrass innocent minorities in the fight against terrorism :PM

New Delhi, Sep 5 (UNI) The prevailing insecurity among the minorities, especially among the Muslims, figured at a crucial meeting of Chief Ministers on internal security with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making a fervent plea for making efforts to remove any feelings of persecution and alienation in their minds.

Briefing the deliberations of the six-hour long meeting, chaired by Dr Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil told mediapersons that the meeting felt that "no section of the people should be blamed without going into the details of any incident." "When incidents take place, police try to arrest people.... they have a duty to do it. But while doing so, innocent people should not suffer," he said.

Addressing the meeting, attended by all the Chief Ministers except five, Dr Singh warned that the adverse consequences of insecurity among minorities could be extremely deleterious for our polity.

''It is unfortunate that terrorism has resulted in certain sections of our population being targeted as a result a wrong impression has been created about the radicalisation of the entire Muslim community,'' he said.

The Prime Minister said it is imperative to embark on a pro-active policy to ensure that few individual acts do not result in tarnishing the image of the entire community and remove any feelings of persecution and alienation from the minds of the minorities. Instead of 'Clash of Civilisations' the idea of 'Confluence of civilisations' should be propogated and education and mass media be encouraged to promote the integrated vision, he said.

Asserting that the government has the obligation to redress the legitimate grievances of minorities, he said Chief Ministers must pay personal attention to ensure that minorities were effective partners in processes of social and economic change.

While dealing with terrorism, regard and respect for fundamental human rights of citizens, particularly of minority communities, ought to be the core concern of law enforcing agencies, the Prime Minister emphasised and said innocent people should not be harassed in the fight against terrorism.

''If a mistake is made, effective corrective measures must be taken well in time. Government agencies must establish contact with community leaders and show adequate sensitivity to their concern.

CMs ought to put in effective mechanism to achieve these objectives,'' he added.

UNI SH/AJ/SN KD VA KP1848