Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked states to aggressively coordinate with central agencies in their campaign against terrorism. At a two-day counter-terrorism conference, Shah said there has been a 70 per cent decline in terror incidents in India in the last decade. The minister also stressed that the government will soon come up with a national anti-terrorism policy and strategy to fight terrorism, terrorists and their ecosystem.
Shah said that if you compare the period between 2006 and 2013 and between 2014 and 2021, there has been a 70 percent decline in incidents of terrorism. In the remaining 30 percent, police action has also been taken against terrorists after terrorist incidents. The Home Minister said the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the country’s main anti-terrorism investigation agency, has achieved a 95 per cent conviction rate and states should follow it and make greater use of the Prevention Act of Illegal Activities (UAPA).
Amit Shah said sections of the UAPA should be invoked wherever necessary and if the UAPA is invoked, it is the responsibility of the supervisory authority to ensure that the NIA is involved in that investigation. Over 95 per cent success in terrorism investigations According to the data provided by the agency, the NIA has taken up 632 cases and filed charges in 498 cases. The Home Minister said the challenge now is for state and central agencies to move from a “need to know” to a “duty to know” about terrorism-related inputs and intelligence.
National Anti-Terrorism Policy
The central government is all set to unveil the National Counter Terrorism Strategy Policy, under which states will be encouraged to coordinate with the Center through the Multi-Agency Center (MAC) platform. MAC is a coordination platform run by the Intelligence Office for real-time intelligence sharing. The Home Minister said that the NIA has prepared a model SOP for terrorism investigation and arrangements are also being made for model formulations of ATS and STF.
The official spokesperson said the two-day NIA conference aims to develop synergies among various stakeholders by establishing channels for coordinated action against the menace of terrorism in the spirit of a “whole of government approach” and present concrete contributions for the formulation of future policies. Deliberations and discussions at the conference will focus on important issues, including the development of prosecution and the legal framework in counter-terrorism investigations, the exchange of experiences and good practices, the challenges and opportunities related to emerging technologies, international legal cooperation and various legal frameworks across India. Counterterrorism theaters include strategies to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem. Senior police officials from states/UTs, officials from central agencies/departments dealing with counter-terrorism issues and experts from related fields like law, forensic science, technology, etc. are participating in the conference.
