Ahmedabad, December 20: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the internal security situation in the country has vastly improved, particularly in the North-East and the Left Wing Extremist (LWE) affected states.

Saying that security scenario in the North-East region has witnessed "steady improvement" in recent years, the Minister said all parameters of violence have improved in 2018 in comparison to corresponding period of 2017.

"There is 17 per cent decline in total incidents and 38 per cent reduction in the casualties of civilians," Singh said while addressing on the inaugural session of the conference of Director Generals and Inspector Generals of Police at Kevadia. He said India's security concerns have been conveyed to Myanmar even as efforts are on to harness the trade potential with the eastern neighbour and beyond. Talks With Taliban? MEA Issues Clarification, Reiterates India's Participation at 'Non-Official Level'.

"A number of our militant groups are operating from the territories of neighbouring countries, particularly Myanmar. Our concerns have been highlighted in the bilateral meetings with these countries. In order to plug the gaps on the Indo-Myanmar border, an Inter-Ministerial Committee headed by MHA has formulated a revised protocol for effective implementation of Free Movement Regime."

Rajnath Singh said violence in the LWE-affected areas continues to improve since the last eight years and major operational successes was witnessed in core Maoist areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha which resulted almost two-fold increase in the losses suffered by LWEs this year. "After a comprehensive review the number of districts covered under SRE (Security Related Expenditure) scheme were reduced from 126 to 90."

Referring to the communal situation, the Minister said it remained under control this year with a decrease of 12 per cent in communal incidents as compared to the corresponding period in 2017. "Misuse of social media for religious denigration also witnessed a significant decline during this year," he added.

Singh said terrorism in the hinterland has also been stamped out. "Law enforcement agencies, through concerted action coordinated by Intelligence Bureau, have managed to overcome the first tide of propaganda and mobilization by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Consequently, India witnessed very few incidents of Islamic State inspired violence. In concerted counter-terrorism operations, law enforcement agencies have arrested nearly 125 terrorist suspects as against 117 arrested in 2017," said the Minister.

"The new phase of Islamic State propaganda emanating from Afghanistan-Pakistan region is also being countered effectively." Singh said the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir continues to be vitiated even though the stone pelting incidents have declined and that the attempts by militants to infiltrate, making attacks intermittently and doing recruitments locally continue.

"Terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) remains in the form of training camps, launching pads and communication control stations. The separatists also exploit every possible situation to agitate the people to fan further anti-India sentiments which leads to law and order situation."

He directed the security establishment to check efforts to revive terrorism in Punjab. "Pakistan continues to abet terrorism. During January 1, 2017 to November 29, 2018, 17 ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) backed espionage modules have been neutralized in the country resulting in the arrest of 25 espionage agents which include two Pakistanis," he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 20, 2018 10:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).