Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: April 11, 2009
http://www.dailypioneer.com/168849/Taliban-serious-threat-to-India-Manmohan.html
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday expressed
concern over the spreading influence of the Taliban and said it posed a serious
threat to India. He also said terrorists could try to disrupt poll process
in the country.
The Prime Minister's remarks during a media
interaction came in the wake of unconfirmed reports of the Taliban trying
to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir in the last few weeks. In fact, reports
suggested that the Taliban fighters had sneaked into the State through Kupwara
and Gurez sectors.
"It is a serious threat," the Prime
Minister said in reply to a question on reports about Taliban militants trying
to sneak into India.
"There is no doubt that terrorists with
evil designs have not given up efforts to influence the poll process,"
he said, adding, "The fact is that successful poll process in Jammu and
Kashmir was not liked by elements abroad."
When asked why India, like US, has not been
able to stop terrorist attacks in the country, the Prime Minister said, "We
have not been able to do things in the Draconian manner in which the US handles
the issue."
Admitting that India has not been successful
in warding off terror attacks, the Prime Minister said it required greater
attention. In a virtual rebuff to former Home Minister Shivraj Patil, the
Prime Minister said, "Under a new Home Minister we have come up with
a new strategy. There is no other way but to strengthen the police and intelligence
machinery to tackle terror designs."
The Prime Minister's admission about lurking
threat from Taliban comes in the backdrop of Army carrying out an intensive
operation spread over more than five days to deal with a large group of infiltrators
in Kupwara sector in the last week of March.
That encounter saw 18 terrorists and eight
Army men, including an officer, getting killed. Similarly, the encounter in
the mountainous terrain of Gurez soon after, which was under more than ten
feet of snow, saw the Army killing one militant and the hunt was on to trace
other terrorists who could have infiltrated into the country.
The security forces, so far, denied that the
Taliban had made its presence felt in Jammu and Kashmir and sources said here
on Friday there was no credible evidence to prove the presence of the Taliban.
They, however, admitted that the present lot
of militants, most of them owing allegiance to the Laskhar-e-Tayyeba were
better trained and equipped with GPS, snow boots and weaponry. Moreover, the
encounter in Kupwara in March saw the militants fighting the security forces
in a very well-trained and disciplined manner.
