Greater coordination among govt agencies required to deal with internal security threats: V K Singh

New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) Greater coordination and synergy among various government agencies, including police and security forces, is required to effectively deal with the internal security threats in the country, ex-Army chief and former Union minister V K Singh said on Friday.

Speaking at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue 2024 here, Singh raised the growing concern over the use of social media as a "weapon" to manipulate the masses and said honing the required skills among those working with various government organisations can help effectively counter such efforts.

He also stressed the need to reach out to society across all levels to ensure that they work on the same ethos as the armed forces do, which is "country first, always and every time" with no division along the lines of caste, creed and religion.

"We have been into counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism (operations) for a very long time. We have learnt our lessons as the military. The nation has also stood by us to provide us with means so that we can fight properly. However, the problems persist on the ground," Singh said.

He added that things will change only after there is greater synergy in the efforts of the various agencies and organisations, including law enforcement agencies and security forces.

"How do we synergise with other agencies? How do we work out our protocol so that operations become successful? It is an issue debated for a long time, yet we still find problems. And the reason is very simple. I believe that everybody believes in his own 'jhanda' and 'danda'," Singh said.

This is where the ego comes in and the clash of ego leads to problems in synergising the efforts, he added.

"The major issue is ego.. 26/11 (2008 Mumbai terror attack) is a classic example. I am not going to discuss that. But look at it, you will find the flaws where things went wrong and where things went right," Singh said.

"I might sound pessimistic but things have not changed much… Lot of problems are still the same and that is why, we need to look at it more critically at our level," he said, adding, "There is a need for greater coordination. Barriers should be broken to bring synergy." Internal security is the one field which can make or break a nation, "given the type of societal pressure and social diversity we have, given the type of fissures (in society) that come up over various things", Singh said.

No nation which remains divided can reach the level where it wants to reach, he added. PTI PK IJT