New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said terror outfit ISIS has not been able to set foot in India despite the country having a sizeable Muslim population.
“India is the second largest country as far as Muslim population in the world is concerned. I can say with full responsibility that despite such a large population (of Muslims), the ISIS has not been able to set foot,” said the home minister.
Barring two terror attacks in Punjab in 2015-16, the security situation in the country had by and large remained under control, the minister said at a press conference here on three years of the Modi government.
The minister also released a report card of the achievements of the Modi government in the field of internal security. More than 90 sympathisers of ISIS had been arrested due to better coordination between state and central security agencies. Five terrorists of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) were given capital punishment as part of the government’s focused efforts to check terrorism, he said.
“The home ministry has a major responsibility to provide security to the country. I can say that we have, together, provided security to the country. There is an improvement in the security situation in the country. We have been successful in countering the challenges posed by the ISIS,” the home minister said.
The ISIS and the Ansar-ul-Ummah, frontal organisation of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group, have been included in the list of banned terrorist organisations. While comparing the previous UPA regime with the NDA tenure, Mr Singh said a total of 239 militants were neutralised from 2011 to 2013. “This number has gone up to 369 during 2014-17”.
He said there has been 45 per cent reduction in infiltration attempts from Pakistan since the surgical strike by the Army in September 2016, compared to the corresponding six months in the previous year. “We will end Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and ensure peace,” he said.
Mentioning anti-Naxal measures being taken by the government, Mr Singh said there had been 25 per cent reduction in Naxal attacks in 2014-17 as compared to 2011-14. He said a major development is done in Naxal-affected states, including Chhattisgarh.
