Terrorists targeting to disrupt economic growth: govt

Terrorists backed by various external agencies have expanded their focus beyond the Kashmir valley with an objective of creating communal tension and affecting the country's economic growth, the Home Ministry has said on eve of the first anniversary of the Mumbai attacks.

Giving details of steps taken to counter the "nefarious designs" of terrorists, the government today said, "the focus of terrorists has also changed and their targets are spatially spreading beyond the Kashmir valley to the hinterland with the dual purpose of disturbing the communal harmony and destabilising the economic prosperity of our country."

"The challenge that we face today is from terrorist organisations that are not only equipped with latest technologies and have immense access to funds, but are having active backing of various external agencies," a Home Ministry official said.

"It is important that we are totally committed to a comprehensive approach to tackling terrorism and put in sustained intensive efforts to end this menace," the official said.

In order to strengthen Intelligence gathering and sharing machinery, strength of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been augmented and the Multi-Agency Centre in the IB has been strengthened and reorganised to enable it to function on a 24x7 basis.