PM asks state govts to be tough on terror

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked Chief Ministers of states and senior security and government officials to be tough on terror and send out a clear message that terrorism could not be justified under any circumstance and would be fought at all costs.
Addressing the 15th annual Conference of the high-profile National Integration Council (NIC), of which he is the Chairperson, the Prime Minister also asked them to reaffirm the collective resolve to fight terrorism in all its manifestations and with all the means at disposal.
“This Council must unequivocally send out a message that pursuit of violence cannot be justified under any circumstance and reaffirm our collective resolve to fight the menace of terrorism in all its manifestations with all the means at our disposal,” the Prime Minister said in his address.
He said the deliberations at the conference provide unique opportunities for exchange of views on issues of vital national importance.
Common citizenship, unity in diversity, secularism, equality, justice–social, economic and political–and fraternity among all communities constituted the foundation of national life, he said.
The first meeting of the NIC was held in Delhi in June 1962.
Pointing out that the country had come a long way since 1962 and had made remarkable progress in many areas, the Prime Minister, however, stressed that the need to confront divisive forces remained as important as it was about 40 years back.
The last meeting of the NIC was held in October 2008 He asked the Central and State Governments to work together to confront the challenges to India’s internal security and expressed the government’s resolve to strive hard for greater coordination not only between the Centre and States but also between States.