Thursday, July 20 2006 16:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In the wake of the Mumbai blasts and Chhattisgarh massacre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (July 20, 2006) asked the states to gear up their machinery to meet challenges posed by terrorism and the naxal menace, underlining that responses in the past have been inadequate.

"We need to gear ourselves to meet these challenges. Business cannot be carried on as usual. We just recognise that past responses are inadequate in dealing with these problems which are of a different intensity, magnitude, scale and scope," he told the Chief Secretaries of the state governments.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of the serial blasts in Mumbai and terrorist incidents in Kashmir as also naxalite attacks in Chhattisgarh and some other parts.

The Prime Minister said the recent incidents of terrorism in Mumbai and Kashmir have brought out the extent of penetration of terrorist elements. "We cannot allow them to succeed and get away with their crimes," he said.

"We need to marshall all our resources, utilise all available technology and improve the capabilities of our manpower in meeting these challenges," Singh said.

He noted that he had said in the past naxalism is probably the single biggest challenge to the country's internal security.