NEW DELHI: India today described Pakistan-based terrorist groups as "dark forces" which are "implacably" opposed to the country and asserted that they would be defeated whenever confronted.

Home minister P Chidambaram said militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, responsible for innumerable deadly terror strikes in India, held a meeting at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on Thursday and it was clear that these groups were "implacably" opposed to India.

"Their weapons are mayhem and violence; and their goal is forcible annexation of Kashmir. Let me make it clear that these dark forces will not succeed in their designs. We will defeat them whenever and wherever we confront them," he said in his opening statement at the conference of chief ministers on Internal Security in New Delhi.

Chidambaram said there has been no significant terrorist attack and no significant communal violence in the last 14 months which was a matter of satisfaction but that did not mean that the country was not vulnerable to terror strikes.

"That, I hasten to add, does not mean that there has been no violence or that we are not vulnerable to terrorist attacks; or that there are no triggers for communal disturbances.

"We must remain vigilant. We must continue the work on enhancing capacity. And we must reform our institutions and systems of governance in order to pre-empt terrorist threats and prevent communal discord," he said.

(Source: "Pak-based terror groups will be defeated: Chidambaram", Times Of India, 07 February 2010)