Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said the terms of reference of the proposed committee on Telangana and its composition would be made known soon, and reiterated his appeal to students to refrain from taking “extreme steps.”
“No major incidents of violence are taking place now, barring some local bandhs and agitation by students. I once again appeal to students not to take extreme steps like ending their lives, these are unnecessary and unwarranted. These sadden me deeply,” he told a news conference here.
Mr. Chidambaram said the Centre would set up a mechanism, as agreed upon at the January 5 meeting of eight major political parties, to take into account every shade of opinion. “There will not be any delay. Last week I said the committee would be set up early this week. We are at it. Today is the earliest day of the week. The committee will be set up and its terms of reference cannot be kept secret,” he said.
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On the internal security situation, he said Left-wing extremism remained a cause of grave concern. In 2009, Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern States witnessed the lowest level of violence in many years.
As for the increase in the attempts by militants to cross the International Border and the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Chidambaram said that in January this year alone, 10 infiltration attempts were neutralised by security forces.
Left-wing extremism was on the rise, he said and expressed apprehension that the trend would continue this year too. “The number of deaths in 2009 among civilians (591), security forces (317) and militants (217) indicated a rising trend. The increase in the number of incidents and casualties is not surprising because, after a review of the policy, the State governments decided to deploy a larger number of security personnel and engage the naxalites in the districts dominated by them with a view to re-establishing the authority of the civilian government. I expect this trend to continue in 2010.”
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