Naxalism, militancy are down: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that in the past four years Maoist activities had come down to eight districts while militancy in the north-east has decreased by 80 per cent.

Even on Wednesday, a senior commander of LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), Naveed Jatt, was killed in Kashmir, he said.

"In the last four years, Naxalism came down from 90 to eight or nine districts," the Minister said in this Himachal Pradesh town, some 140 km from the state capital.

Singh said the militancy in the north-east had decreased by 80-85 per cent. "In Kashmir, in the last three-four days, our forces killed 18-19 terrorists. Even today (Wednesday) our forces killed the commander of LeT Naveed Jatt."

The Minister was here on a day's visit to preside over the meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Panna Pramukh meeting of Mandi parliamentary constituency.

Prominent party leaders like Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J.P. Nadda, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, state party President Satpal Singh Satti and former Chief Ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar participated.

Pakistan will be forced to stop cross-border firing, Rajnath Singh said.

"If a single bullet is fired from Pakistan, then India should not count the number of bullets fired in retaliation," he said.

He said India would help Pakistan getting rid of militancy. "But for this Pakistan has to come forward."

Earlier, Rajnath Singh launched Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) here.

Himachal Pradesh is the first state to launch pan-India single emergency number 112 under ERSS.

Addressing the gathering, he applauded the initiatives of the state for being the first state to launch the single emergency number.

He requested other states and Union Territories to make all-out efforts to commence the rollout of ERSS project.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Thakur thanked the Home Minister for approving a National Disaster Response Force battalion for the state, Rs 4.2 crore for modernization of police and for approving enhancement of monthly salary of Special Police Officers in Chamba district.

The ERSS emergency service will connect to the police, fire, health and other helplines.

Under this project, one emergency response centre (ERC) has been established in Shimla along with 12 district command centres, covering the entire state.

--IANS

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