Terrorists getting aggressive,adopting new technologies:Antony

New Delhi, Aug 4 (PTI) Union Defence Minister A K Antony
on Tuesday warned that terrorists were becoming more
aggressive by adopting new technologies in their operations
but said the defence ministry will prepare itself to meet
these threats.

"Terrorists are getting more and more aggressive in their
activities the world over and they are adopting newer
techniques and technologies in their operations," Antony said
after releasing the Guidelines for Management of Chemical
(Terrorism) Disasters prepared by the National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA) here.

"The defence ministry will also prepare itself (along
with NDMA) to meet these threats from terrorists," he said.

Stating that the 132-page guidelines were "comprehensive",
the Minister said they would go a long way in effective
prevention and management of chemical disasters in the
country.

He said the guidelines were intended for disaster
management including prevention, surveillance and intelligence
gathering, apart from capacity building and infrastructure
development for an effective response, relief and
rehabilitation of areas hit by chemical disaster.

Expressing the hope that the new guidelines would help
effective prevention and management of chemical disasters,
Antony said the challenge lies in practical application of
these on a war-footing.

NDMA vice-chairman General (retired) N C Vij said the
guidelines also looked at manpower issues to handle chemical
terror attack and disasters.

Vij said his agency was in touch with the Human
Resource Developement (HRD) Ministry to include disaster
management as a subject in all educational institutions from
schools to colleges, including technology and medical
institutes.

He said the guidelines ensured that India was prepared
for any chemical threat, saying they related to disaster
mitigation and prevention.

"We should be prepared. The moment we are aware of the
nature of threat, the problem comes down many notches.
Already, we have issued these guidelines and laid down various
responsibilities for organisations so that we are
well-prepared," he said.

To a question, Vij, a former Army chief, said the
terror groups operating in India did not have chemical warfare
capabilities.

"I do not think capabilities of that kind (chemical
warfare) exists. There is a good amount of information
available to us on all these groups. Intelligence agencies,
too, have doubled their efforts in this regard," he added. PTI
NCB
SDE
NNNN




The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.