Naxal violence has no place in democracy: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that Naxal violence has no place in democracy and the Centre and state governments must work together to deal with the "very grave threat" posed by Maoists.
Condemning the recent Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, he asked states to come up with some concrete measures to deal with the threat.
Addressing Chief Ministers at the annual Internal Security Conference, he said time has come to view the challenges of terrorism, communal violence and Left Wing Extremism in a holistic manner, rising above narrow, political and ideological divides.
"I think each one of us needs to be completely objective in our approach to these issues, acting in national interest rising above narrow political and ideological divides.

"I would appeal to all political parties and all sections of society to work together to find effective ways and means of meeting these grave challenges," Singh said.
Assuring states that the challenges posed by Naxalism have received serious attention from the Centre for quite some time now, the Prime Minister said, "We have adopted a two-pronged strategy to deal with the challenge: conducting proactive and sustained operations against Maoist extremists; and, addressing development and governance issues in Left Wing Extremism affected areas."

He emphasised that the two-pronged strategy needed to be strengthened and pursued with rigour.
"Even as we intensify our efforts to strengthen the security and intelligence apparatus in areas affected by Maoist violence, we should be able to ensure that people residing in Left Wing Extremist affected areas are able to live in an environment of peace and security and derive full benefits of our development efforts," he said

Singh said an All-Party meeting will be held on June 10 to build a broader national consensus on the strategy to tackle the Naxalite challenge which comes in the aftermath of the brutal attack by Maoists on Congress leaders and workers and their security personnel in Chhattisgarh.