Summary:
NEW DELHI: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged home minister Rajnath Singh to devise a comprehensive strategy to arrest attempts at reviving extremism in the state, cautioning that these could threaten peace and stability.At a meeting with the home minister here, Amarinder Singh stressed on the need for an all-encompassing strategy to counter emerging extremism. He also sought allocation of additional funds to Punjab under MPF scheme for “strengthening the state special branch” and tackling various law and order and challenges faced by the state such as proxy war, trans-border terrorism and influx of drugs, weapons and explosives. He suggested strengthening of intelligence apparatus and prompt action against foreign handlers and extremist elements based in Canada, UK, US, Italy and Germany who were allegedly engaged in activities to revive terrorism in Punjab.Singh underlined the need to counter social media activities aimed at disturbing peace and stability in the state. He was of the opinion that strengthening the state government’s ‘Connect with Your Roots’ programme would also help in controlling such activities.Punjab has seen a spate of targeted killings, including that of an RSS member and a Christian pastor, in the past one-and-a-half years, which as per an investigation by the NIA was the alleged handiwork of extremist elements belonging to Khalsa Liberation Force , backed and driven by Pakistan’s ISI.According to NIA sources, KLF chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, who died in jail earlier this week, and his close Pakistan-based aide Harmeet Singh had allegedly masterminded the killings of members of a specific community with the aim of destabilising law and order in Punjab and reviving terror.Speaking to reporters after the Punjab CM’s meeting with the home minister, a ministry spokesperson said Rajnath Singh had agreed to look into the state’s demand for central assistance under the Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) scheme.The chief minister said under MPF, Punjab should be designated as a Category-A state for financial assistance at 90:10 Centre-state sharing basis on par with J&K and the eight north-eastern states..