The meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Harayana Chief Minister Bansi Lal, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalayan Singh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

The meeting, convened by Home Minister L K Advani to discuss the prevailing law and order situation and the need to build coordination among states to tackle terrorism, suggested that old laws be amended to provide effective countering of strategies being adopted by criminals.

For this, a legal backing was essential, the meeting felt.

It decided that special task forces should be set upto evolve and implement a plan of action to identify and stamp out terrorists and criminal gangs and to carry out coordinated operations against inter-state criminals.

The meeting strongly favoured that criminal justice system should be reoriented in view of the problems being faced in law enforcement, especially with a view to countering the designs of external agencies, official sources said.

The meeting felt that there had to be speedier disposal of cases and bail should also be given with due care. It also proposed suitable amendments to Motor Vehicles Act, Passport Act and Explosive Substances Act to make them more stringent, the sources said.

Senior Home Ministry officials briefed the chief ministers about the role of the Pakistani intelligence agencies and their surrogates in India in trying to destabilise the internal security situation in the country.

They were informed that the Centre had spent Rs 46,000 crore on the Army and the paramilitary forces for meeting the expenditure on internalsecurity duties. Similarly, the terrorists had damaged private and public property worth Rs 2000 crore during the past nine years.

The meeting stressed the need to build coordination among the states to tackle problems of terrorism and criminality having inter-state ramifications.

The meeting took note of the rapid developments in information and communication technology. It was unanimously felt that the police forces must be adequately strengthened with modern weapons and equipment as well as sophisticated means of communication to counter criminals effectively.

It was also decided to ensure greater coordination of intelligence and strategy between Central and state government agencies and joint action by the states.

The state police have to be adequately strengthened by modernisation of weapons, equipment and by providing state of the art communication equipment. This has become essential because criminals and terrorists have already upgraded their equipment whereas police forces are comparativelyworse off.