Cabinet, at its weekly meeting Tuesday, reviewed the escalating violence, murders and criminal activities currently plaguing the Guyanese society and concluded that fear and insecurity were increasing "and there were forces in the society that were bent on promoting that fear and that insecurity", he said.

He told his regular post-Cabinet news conference Wednesday that the Office of the President and Cabinet lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of the leadership of the main Opposition People's National Congress Reform (PNC/R) and on sections of the media.

He indicated that the PNC/R and certain sections of the media "seem hell bent on destroying the fabric of the Guyanese society" and said they should be blamed for what is taking place here.

"It was Cabinet's contention that international experiences have shown that it was from such beginnings of forces cultivating fear and insecurity...that the sad results of sectarian violence would arise," Luncheon reported.

"Cabinet views their actions as part of a predetermined plan to destabilise Guyana," he added.

According to him, it is quite clear that the view of the PNC/R in opposition "is that if it cannot govern then no one else would be allowed to govern".

Luncheon recalled that this was a "solemn pledge" by PNC/R leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte.

Asked at a news conference yesterday to comment on the charges, the Opposition Leader said he does not pay any attention to Luncheon.

"We don't think that we can do more than we are doing - we have a policy, we have a philosophy (and) we have a party which is implementing that policy and that philosophy," he told reporters.

Hoyte accused the Government of using enormous resources at its disposal to attack the PNC/R.

"We are under attack by the Government; the Government has enormous resources - they use (television) Channel 11, Channel 65 and 69, maybe some other channels, they use the Guyana Chronicle, they use the Mirror, they use GINA (Government Information Agency) to subject us to persistent attacks", he charged.

"So what we have to do as a party is to remain strong. The moment we become weak we are dead. So let there be no doubt about that; we have to spend a lot of our time and resources in keeping our party organised and mobilised," he added.

Hoyte also accused the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) of a "race-hate campaign".

"We get a lot of talk about national unity and harmony among the races (and) while these beautiful words are being spoken, the reality on the ground is that some of the very people are doing the opposite to things which promote unity and harmony," Hoyte said.

"So it is a difficult situation (and) it has serious implications," he added.

Luncheon said the Office of the President was calling on the PNC/R to use the "same zeal with which they attack PPP/Civic leaders and Government ministers and the same resources they commit to highlighting the deficiencies of PPP/C leaders and ministers, to attack their colleagues who promote racial incitement, who propose violence, who threaten the lives and the properties of Guyanese..."

"Our feeling is that if the People's National Congress ever intends to be seen by the average Guyanese as a political party of a truly national character, they would have to expend significant energies to distance themselves from the violence, the racial incitements, the resort to threats and intimidation that characterise the public utterances of their leaders (and) their media supporters", he said.

Asked whether Mr. Hoyte is one of the elements in the PNC/R leadership that should be blamed, Luncheon said: "I will tell you what my mother says - `who the cap fit, let them wear it'!"

"And I think that all of us, having privy to the regular utterances of the PNC leadership, and to sections of the media, can't help but draw the same conclusion that the President and (I) have drawn," he said.

In the meanwhile, Luncheon said Cabinet has resolved to continue to fully discharge its responsibilities to the citizens of Guyana.

He noted, too, that President Bharrat Jagdeo, at the two recent annual Officers conferences of the Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force, served notice that law enforcement and justice administration would be given the most heightened attention by his administration to hasten the responses to the crisis and implement the necessary reforms.

Touching on the issue of military involvement in civilian law enforcement, the Cabinet Secretary pointed out that this "has a long history and perhaps an equally long practice, not only in Guyana and the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) countries but even further afield".

For the CARICOM countries, Luncheon felt it would be fair to identify Jamaica as the one jurisdiction that has seen the institutionalisation of the military in civilian law enforcement activities.

The involvement of the military here "rests on an identification by the Commissioner of Police that a particular situation is beyond the capability of the civilian law enforcement agency and on that basis, to solicit the Commander-in-Chief to commit military forces into the particular operation," he explained.

According to Luncheon, the President has also indicated the need to move beyond the stage of Joint Services collaboration and network in intelligence in its operations to "an institutionalisation of support".

In this regard, Mr. Jagdeo said specific sections of the Army would need to acquire training in civilian law enforcement tactics and strategies to allow them to be fully equipped to deal with civilian law enforcement issues, such as civilian unrest and armed criminal gangs.

Luncheon said the President has also stressed the need for the Police or sections of the Police Force to acquire military training so that they can utilise and be familiar with the armament, tactics and strategies the military can often bring to bear on campaigns to interdict, seize and arrest criminals and others.

"It is in the realm of institutionalising civilian law enforcement support being given to the Police by the military that the President stressed," he noted.

"In the efforts here that we have seen, for instance, in our recent years of civilian unrest where the Army has been called out frequently, on the recommendation of the Police Commissioner and in particular in the current situation, then yes...were there a better institutionalised arrangement in place, I am certain that much of the concerns of the average Guyanese who claim and sense the deficiencies and weaknesses of just the civilian law enforcement agencies in trying to recapture the (five armed and dangerous February 23 prison) escapees, then the support of the military would be almost automatic."

"...and were such mechanisms put in place (then) the State would be bringing to bear the greatest array of its resources - Army and Police - when confronted with issues of this magnitude," Luncheon explained.

"That I believe is the President's focus - to be able at specific points in time to invoke a mechanism whereby the greatest array of State resources can be used in the appropriate circumstances to address the issues arising from civilian law enforcement exercises."

In response to a question, Luncheon also noted that in those instances where the escapees are involved in particular criminal activities, investigators at the crime scene, through a variety of time honoured techniques, have been able to identify their presence and their involvement.