New Delhi, Nov 07, 2024, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Nov 7: The government will soon bring a national counter-terrorism policy and strategy to fight terrorism, terrorists and their ecosystem, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday.
He also said that while law and order is a state subject and states have the geographical boundaries and constitutional limitations, terrorism doesn't and hence all security agencies -- central and states -- must work in close coordination, chalk out joint strategies and share intelligence.
Shah said this while addressing an anti-terrorism conference organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) here. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Tapan Kumar Deka, Deputy National Security Advisor Pankaj Singh, and NIA Director General Sadanand Vasant Date were present.
The two-day conference is being attended by senior police officers from States/UTs, officers from Central agencies/departments dealing with issues related to counter terrorism and experts from related fields such as law, forensics and technology.
Shah said that NIA is not just an investigating agency and under its aegis, anti-terrorist activities across the country should be compiled and promoted and measures should be taken so that the investigating agency stands firmly in the court and the anti-terror mechanism is strengthened.
"Although much remains to be done, but if we take an overview of the work done over the past 10 years, it can be considered satisfactory," the Home Minister said.
Shah said states have their own geographical and constitutional limitations, while terrorism and terrorists have no boundaries. Terrorists engage in both international and interstate conspiracies, and to develop an effective strategy against them, we need to build a strong system through conferences like this, he said, adding, this will help curb activities such as terrorism, narcotics, and hawala operations, which threaten the country’s borders and economy.
He expressed confidence that this conference will not only serve as a platform for discussion but will also bring forth actionable points that will strengthen our fight against terrorism.
He said that the true utility of such conferences lies in taking the actionable points down to the police station and beat levels. From the beat officers to the Director General of NIA, the entire system should be successfully made aware of the threats posed by terrorism.
The Home Minister said that the world recognises that numerous steps have been taken by India to combat terrorism since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.
He mentioned that fighting terrorism does not merely mean uncovering a few conspiracies, rather, it means legally empowering the agencies fighting terrorism and creating an ecosystem that strengthens our fight against it.
Shah noted that on August 2, 2019, amendments were made to the NIA Act, which added new offences and granted extra-territorial jurisdiction, allowing the NIA to conduct investigations abroad as well. On August 14, 2019, amendments were also made to the UAPA, empowering authorities to seize property and designate individuals and organisations as terrorists.
He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has coordinated efforts for de-radicalisation. Various ministries have developed their own strategies, and the MHA has established an institutional framework for this purpose.
The Home Minister said that in 2020, a 25-point integrated plan was formulated to control the funding of terrorism, with a range of measures from jihadi terrorism to northeast, Left-Wing Extremism, fake currency to narcotics. From FCRA to radicalisation financing to smuggling of illegal arms, the work was done to break the 'ecosystem' with coordination among various agencies and it has yielded very good results. He said that significant changes were made in the functioning of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC).
Shah mentioned that the National Memory Bank was established, and steps were taken to implement it effectively. A central database based on intelligence was also created. Several databases have been developed, which can benefit efforts to root out terrorism.
He said more than 15 organisations have been declared as Terrorist Organisations and Unlawful Associations, and recently, seven more organisations have also been designated as Terrorist Organisations.
Shah said that since 2014, there has been no major terrorist incident in the country and mentioned that in last 10 years, there has been a 70% reduction in terrorist incidents.
He also said that in the last five years, the implementation of several databases has been carried out. NATGRID is a centralised data access solution, and there is a need to develop a work culture among officers up to the Superintendent of Police level to effectively use it.
He added that initiatives like NCORD, NIDAAN, and MANAS are being utilised with AI by the NIA. These databases should be used at all levels of police forces in all states.
The Home Minister said that the NIA has investigated cases under the UAPA and has successfully achieved a conviction rate of nearly 95%.
Shah emphasised that unless all forces utilise technology, "we cannot effectively combat the menace of terrorism, which is a boundless and invisible enemy, and to win the war against it, we must equip our young officers with the necessary technological tools".
To win the fight against terrorism, a "whole of government approach" is essential, and, "we need to create an integrated, actionable system".