Amid intelligence agencies warning of further intensification of terror attacks in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday sought closer cooperation between the Centre and states to counter "externally-inspired and directed terrorist outfits in the country.
Taking serious note of such threats, the Centre has completely revamped the security apparatus in nuclear establishments in the country. While doing some plain talking about the threat from terror groups, the prime minister regretted that terrorism has created a wrong impression of radicalisation of the entire Muslim community. The "prevailing insecurity" among minorities, especially Muslims, could be "extremely deleterious for our polity", Singh said in his address to the Chief Minister's Conference on Internal Security.
"It is, hence, imperative that we embark immediately upon a pro-active policy to ensure that a few individual acts do not result in tarnishing the image of an entire community, and remove any feelings of persecution and alienation from the minds of the minorities," he said. He also asked chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states to be "specially sensitive to the nuances of each situation."
Summing up the day-long deliberations, Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters that there was a general consensus on improving intelligence gathering mechanism and the police-population ratio.
