ISI could infiltrate through Sri Lanka: Chidambaram

The government is alive to the threat of Pakistan's ISI attempting to infiltrate its operatives into south India via Sri Lanka and has taken steps to counter this, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

The government is alive to the threat of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) attempting to infiltrate its operatives into south India via Sri Lanka and has taken steps to counter this, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

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"There is no specific report of an infiltration attempt via Sri Lanka but we cannot rule this out," Chidambaram said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha. "We are aware that the ISI has a rather long arm and can reach out to other countries in south Asia."

In this context, he noted that all applications made in Sri Lanka for an Indian visa were being put through "greater scrutiny".

This apart, coastal vigilance had been "significantly strengthened" in Tamil Nadu and Kerala post the Mumbai terror attacks, Chidambaram said.

He was responding to a supplementary from D Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whether the government was aware that with the growing cooperation between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, "the ISI could become active and target the southern coast".