Punjab CM seeks Rajnath help to tackle ‘emerging extremism’
NEWDELHI: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday met with Union home minister Rajnath Singh and sought the Centre’s intervention to prepare a comprehensive strategy to deal with “re-emergence of extremism” in the state.
A senior home ministry official said the CM apprised the former of attempts being made “to create disturbance in the state through targeted killings”.
The meeting comes nearly a month after the ministry of home affairs (MHA) had told a parliamentary panel that Sikh men were allegedly being trained at ISI facilities in Pakistan to carry out terror activities in India.
“The chief minister stressed on the need for preparing an allencompassing strategy to counter the emergence of extremism,” the ministry official said.
According to a statement issued by the Punjab government after the meeting, the CM suggested strengthening the intelligence apparatus, besides ensuring action against foreign handlers based in Canada, the UK, the US, Italy, Germany who are “actively engaged” in revival of terrorism in Punjab.
The home minister assured the chief minister of providing all possible central assistance, a spokesperson said.
“The Punjab chief minister said a number of targeted killings have taken place over the last one and half years and expressed concern over such incidents. The chief minister also underlined the need to counter activities on social media aimed at disturbing peace and stability in the state,” a statement issued by the MHA read.
The ministry had last month told the Committee on Estimates, headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, that Sikh youths settled in Europe, the US and Canada were being “misguided and instigated against India with false and mali- cious propaganda”.
The chief minister appreciated the support being provided by the central agencies in probing the targeted killings. The NIA is investigating these killings, suspected to be carried out as part of a conspiracy to disturb communal harmony in the state, the MHA statement added.
The spokesperson also said that Rajnath Singh agreed to look into Punjab’s demands under the Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) scheme, under which Punjab would be a Category-a state and avail financial assistance on a “90:10 Centre-state” sharing basis along the lines of Jammu and Kashmir and eight northeastern states.