Stating that until recently the country was “mistakenly led to believe that it does not harbour any al Qaeda jehadis”, the CPI(M) on Thursday asked the Government to beef up internal security and work for “political solutions to longstanding problems that feed terrorism and an overall environment that doesn’t foster terrorism”.

Taking a strong view of terrorism, the editorial in the forthcoming issue of the party mouthpiece, People’s Democracy, also reminded the Government that till date, “no clinching evidence on the perpetrators” of 7/11 had emerged.

Citing what it called the famous so-called introduction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by US President George Bush to his wife saying that, “He is Prime Minister of a country of nearly 200 million Muslims and not one is with the al Qaeda” and Singh himself telling CNN two years ago that no Indian had joined the al Qaeda “because India is a functioning democracy”, the party drew attention to the involvement of two Bangalore-based doctors in terror plots in the UK.

“However, to draw the conclusion that India is safe from terror attacks or is no breeding ground for terrorists is not merely misplaced but goes against our own wretched experience of home-grown terrorism that has claimed thousands of lives and continues to breed insecurity,” the party said, underlining, “India probably has the largest variety of terror groups which defy any schematic classification”.

Mentioning the 24 security personnel done to death by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, the party said “the need to recall all these is only to emphasise the fact that India is the home of a variety of terrorist groups and it gives no solace or relief to remain under the illusion that there are no members of the al Qaeda”.

... contd.