Patil claims 40 pc drop in terrorism in J

Varanasi, Apr 29 (UNI) Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today said there had been a 40 per cent drop in terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East during the Congress ruled United Progressive Alliance regime at the Centre.

''Terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East has dipped significantly by 40 per cent during the UPA regime.

Recently, at the Round Table Conference on Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reports of various committees and sub-comittees on terrorism in the Valley were tabled which that suggested a significant drop in terrorist activities,'' Mr Patil maintained.

Addressing a press conference here, the Home Minister added the government was not at all soft on terror, but was applying a balanced and humane approach to tackle it in the valley and North East.

''While we are dealing sternly with terrorists killing innocents, we are also ushering development for the terror torned province. Funds amounting to Rs 26,000 crore have been pumped in the state,'' he claimed.

''The naxal problem in Andhra Pradesh has declined by almost 60 per cent, but the same menace has shot up by identical percentage in both Jharkhand and Chattisgarh,'' he added.

While Andhra Pradesh is ruled by a Congress government, BJP governs the tribal state of Chattisgarh and a coalition government headed by an independent Madhu Koda is in power in Jharkhand.

Urging the media to abstain from reporting small incidents to suggest that terrorism was on the rise in the province, Mr Patil maintained, ''even I can point incidents like the terrorist strike on Parliament and the attack on the Akshardham temple in Gujarat to highlight the velocity of terror in the past.'' Trying hard to evade a battery of media queries related to terrorism, Mr Patil said, ''the media is behaving even more proactively than the opposition. Whatever I have to answer I will do it on the floor of Parliament and not before the media.'' UNI