Indian Mujahideen in focus at top police meet

Amid government's concern on the issue of home-grown terror, the annual meet of country's top police officers will for the first time have a special session on banned terrorist group Indian Mujahideen, most of whose members are Indians.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also have separate interactive session with DGPs and IGPs of all state at the three-day conference beginning on Thursday during which they will brief him on key policing and internal security issues.

This is for the first time that a session at such a high-level meeting will specially focus on growing activities of IM, which has been involved in several terror strikes in recent past, and how to check it.

Unlike Lashkar-e-Tayiba or Harkat-ul-Jihadi, almost all members of the banned IM are Indians, though they are given training in Pakistan and get financial and other help from the neighbouring country.

Recent violence in Assam and subsequent exodus of north eastern people from different parts of the country, illegal activities in cyber world, increased infiltration attempts from across the Indo-Pak border and ongoing operations against Maoists will be high on the agenda at the conference, official sources said.

The Prime Minister and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will also deliberate with DGPs and IGPs from all states, Union territories and central security agencies on ways to combat terror and other emerging threats, strengthening of counter terrorism capabilities like possibility of setting up of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and enhancing border and coastal security.

Activities of Pakistan-based terror groups, enhancing intelligence capabilities and situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast will also be deliberated threadbare, the sources said.

This will be the first major meeting Shinde will attend after he took charge of the Home Ministry.