New Delhi, October 13
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) today undertook a comprehensive review of the country’s internal security, particularly the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources the CCS, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, discussed in particular the role of Bangladesh in providing shelter to terrorist outfits of North-East.
The spurt in terrorist incidents in the North-East since the Gandhi Jayanti Day, came up for detailed discussions. In this context, the ongoing fencing work on the Indo-Bangladesh border was also thoroughly reviewed.
Fencing along the 4096-km-long Indo-Bangladesh border has been going on for almost four years now and despite some teething troubles one-third of fencing has been completed. The project is going on well and the entire work is expected to be completed on schedule by 2006.
The government has already revised the allocation for Indo-Bangladesh border fencing from Rs 1,334 crore last fiscal to Rs 2,876 crore this fiscal year. However, the government is well aware of the fact that fencing is not the solution for all problems.
The Bangladesh factor in North-East insurgency situation was discussed from all possible angles. Though Indo-Bangladesh relations have been taking a down-the-slope trend ever since the Begum Khaleda Zia government came into power, New Delhi continues to stay engaged with Dhaka in meaningful diplomatic discussions.
The annual Indo-Bangla Foreign Office consultations are expected to take place here in November end or beginning of December. “All issues, including Bangladesh support to the terror network in North-East, would come up for discussions at the forthcoming Foreign Office consultations,” a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs told this correspondent.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and
Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram were among those who attended today’s CCS meeting.External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh could not attend today’s CCS meeting as he had still not returned from his Bhutan visit at the time of the meeting. Mr Natwar Singh is leaving tomorrow for Vietnam for observing the 50th anniversary of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru-Ho Chi Minh meeting.
When asked by The Tribune what India was doing to pressurise Bangladesh diplomatically on New Delhi’s charge of running more than 200 terrorist training camps on Bangladeshi soil, Mr Natwar Singh refused to comment.
“I would not like to say anything on this. This is a
sensitive issue. They (Bangladesh) are hosting the next SAARC summit,” Mr Natwar Singh said.
