Cross-border terror camps being reactivated: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Warning that terror camps across the border are being reactivated, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there are attempts to induct fresh batches of militants into the country and marked out the prevailing security environment as "uncertain".

Highlighting the need for the security apparatus to be be one step ahead of the terrorists, he said the recent blasts in Mumbai and Delhi were "grim reminders" of the challenges posed by terrorism to national security.

"There are reports of cross-border camps for terrorists being reactivated, and of attempts to induct fresh batches of militants into the country," Singh said after giving away meritorious service medals to officers at the three-day Directors General and Inspectors General conference organised by Intelligence Bureau.

Dwelling on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir which has seen a "gradual, yet substantial" improvement in recent months, he noted that it has been a "peaceful" summer but made it clear that there was no room for any complacency on the security front in the state.

"We have initiated a process of broad-based consultation to find a way forward in J and K. We need to give the processes of dialogue and democracy a chance to secure a just and honourable settlement that meets the aspirations of all sections of the people," he said.

He noted that left-wing extremism has claimed the lives of many innocent people and policemen.

"Our social fabric continues to be targeted by organised terrorism, abetted by misguided zeal and false propaganda among youth and marginalised sections of society. We have to contend with Left-wing militancy, parochial and chauvinistic movements, and tensions cause by socio-economic imbalances and iniquities and rapid urbanisation," the Prime Minister said.