New Delhi:
Addressing the chief ministers on internal security, Home Minister P Chidambaram said that India saw two terror attacks in 2010 and that in both cases, the state governments had been warned of possible strikes.
Referring to the blast at Pune's German Bakery in February 2010, and an explosion at the Varanasi Ghats in December, he said, "In both cases, there was specific intelligence that was shared with the State Government concerned. In the case of the Pune attack, the State police authorities had issued an advisory to the establishments in the area including the German Bakery that was attacked. In my view, it would be unrealistic to expect that intelligence can be any more specific than what was gathered and shared in the two cases. The lessons that must be learnt are that ... vigilance must be 24x7." (Read: Full text of Chidambaram's statement)
Mr Chidambaram's insistence that the UP government had been warned about a strike in Varanasi caused moderate friction between the Centre and Mayawati's government after the explosion in December.
Mr Chidambaram, who has earlier run into trouble for his comments on "saffron terror," seemed to refer once again to Hindu right-wing groups who have lately been linked to terror attacks, "New groups have raised their heads that are suspected to be behind some terrorist attacks that took place in recent years. We cannot shy away from naming these groups or exposing their designs. Whatever their religious affiliations, I have no hesitation in condemning every group that resorts to terror as a means of advancing dubious religious causes or fundamentalist goals."
Mr Chidambaram said that while 2010 was a calmer year for India, "this does not mean that I have no worries or that you have no cause for worry. I worry about security at our airports, I worry about coastal security, I worry about the slow pace of procurement, I worry about the quality of training imparted to security personnel. My biggest worry, however, is that we might slide into complacency and begin to think that 'God is in heaven, and all is well with the world.' Pune and Varanasi should jolt us out of complacency."
Referring to the blast at Pune's German Bakery in February 2010, and an explosion at the Varanasi Ghats in December, he said, "In both cases, there was specific intelligence that was shared with the State Government concerned. In the case of the Pune attack, the State police authorities had issued an advisory to the establishments in the area including the German Bakery that was attacked. In my view, it would be unrealistic to expect that intelligence can be any more specific than what was gathered and shared in the two cases. The lessons that must be learnt are that ... vigilance must be 24x7." (Read: Full text of Chidambaram's statement)
Mr Chidambaram's insistence that the UP government had been warned about a strike in Varanasi caused moderate friction between the Centre and Mayawati's government after the explosion in December.
Mr Chidambaram, who has earlier run into trouble for his comments on "saffron terror," seemed to refer once again to Hindu right-wing groups who have lately been linked to terror attacks, "New groups have raised their heads that are suspected to be behind some terrorist attacks that took place in recent years. We cannot shy away from naming these groups or exposing their designs. Whatever their religious affiliations, I have no hesitation in condemning every group that resorts to terror as a means of advancing dubious religious causes or fundamentalist goals."
Mr Chidambaram said that while 2010 was a calmer year for India, "this does not mean that I have no worries or that you have no cause for worry. I worry about security at our airports, I worry about coastal security, I worry about the slow pace of procurement, I worry about the quality of training imparted to security personnel. My biggest worry, however, is that we might slide into complacency and begin to think that 'God is in heaven, and all is well with the world.' Pune and Varanasi should jolt us out of complacency."
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