Pranab Mukerjee: Worrying bout of communal violence in country

, Nov 5: Voicing concern over "worrying bout" of communal violence in some parts of the country, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday favoured strengthening the ability of local administration to quell such tensions in the initial stages.

"These are challenging times for our police forces. There has been a worrying bout of communal violence in some parts of our country, accompanied by deterioration in inter-community relations.

"There is need to strengthen the ability of our district and local administration to notice such tensions in their initial stages and take necessary measures to contain them quickly," the President said. Mukherjee was speaking at the passing outside parade of IPS probationers at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

Mukerjee: Nation must deal with communal violence head on

The President also noted that India continues to be targeted by terrorism from abroad besides threats from within to internal security. "The government is committed to dealing with Left-wing extremism in a comprehensive manner. It is pursuing a two-pronged approach of conducting pro-active and sustained operations against extremists and focusing attention on development and governance issues in extremist affected areas," he said.

The country must meet these challenges "head on", he said, adding the actions of "our police forces must respect the human rights of the people and the letter and spirit of our constitution".

Noting that India's first Home Minister had created the All-India Services with great expectations, he said Patel had wanted civil servants to maintain utmost impartiality and incorruptibility in administration. Patel had also advised civil servants not to take part in politics and not involve themselves in communal wrangles, he said.

PTI