Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the government had macro-level information about a terrorist attack but nothing specific that commuter trains in Mumbai would be targeted.
He also seemed to rule out bringing back the tough POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activities) law to deal with terrorists but admitted there was need to upgrade intelligence gathering and strengthening disaster management capabilities.
"It is far from true that POTA is the only means to deal with terrorists. There are many other ways. We will strengthen our intelligence gathering ability and we will look at the security apparatus, both at the central and state levels to do that," Singh told reporters on board the special aircraft taking him to St Petersburg Russia for the G-8 summit.
Manmohan Singh said terrorist acts had taken place even when POTA was in place. The law was repealed in one of the first acts of the Manmohan Singh government in 2004 because of widespread criticism from civil liberties and human rights groups of its misuse and it being used to target minorities.