New Delhi: Amid attacks on churches in Orissa, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government will not tolerate any effort to disturb communal harmony or secular fabric of the country.

Singh sought to assure Gladys Staines, whose husband Christian missionary Graham Staines was killed in Orissa, that the government is taking all steps to ensure the restoration of normalcy and to bring about harmony and peace in affected areas.

"I assure you that the Government of India will take necessary steps to safeguard the fundamental rights and liberties of all sections of our society and protect their religious freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution," Singh said in a letter to Gladys Staines.

"Please be assured that we will not tolerate any efforts aimed at disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our country," he said. Singh said the government will take all necessary steps to protect all citizens irrespective of community or caste in accordance with the law of the land, Prime Minister's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said in a statement here.

The Prime Minister said he had spoken to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and reviewed the situation in the wake of communal violence in Kandhamal district around Christmas.

Source : PTI