Ministry of Home Affairs releases India’s counter-terrorism policy and strategy- PRAHAAR

JK News Today

Jammu, February 23: The Union Home Ministry on Monday released National Counter Terrorism Policy and Strategy , summoning all the terror threats emanating from across borders and strategic response to them, to keep the nation and citizens safe from all such threats which come by land, air and sea.

The counter-terrorism strategy of India, ‘PRAHAAR’, is essentially in pursuit of goals : Prevention of terror attacks to protect Indian citizens and interests; Responses, which are swift and proportionate to the threat posed; Aggregating internal capacities for achieving synergy in a whole-of-government approach; Human rights and ‘Rule of Law’ based processes for mitigation of threats; Attenuating the conditions enabling terrorism, including radicalization; Aligning and shaping the international efforts to counter terrorism; Recovery and resilience through a whole-of-society approach.

India has since long been affected by sponsored terrorism from across the border, with Jihadi terror outfits as well as their frontal organizations, continuing to plan, coordinate, facilitate and execute terror attacks in India. India has been on the target of global terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which have been trying to incite violence in the country through sleeper cells. Violent Extremists operating from the soils of foreign countries have hatched conspiracies to promote terrorism.

“ Their handlers from across the border frequently use latest technologies, including use of Drones, for facilitating terror-related activities and attacks in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Increasingly, terrorist groups are engaging organized criminal networks for logistics and recruitment to execute and facilitate terror strikes in India. For propaganda, communication, funding and guiding terror attacks, these terror groups use social media platforms as well as ‘instant messaging applications’. Technological advancements like encryption, dark web, crypto wallets etc. have allowed these groups to operate anonymously. Disrupting/Intercepting terrorist efforts to access and use CBRNED (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive, Digital) material remains a challenge for Counter Terrorism (CT) agencies. The threat of state and non-state actors misusing drones and robotics for lethal purposes remains another area of concern, even as criminal hackers and nation states continue to target India through cyber-attacks”

Prevention of Terror Attacks India follows a pro-active approach to prevent and counter terrorist threats. This approach is primarily ‘Intelligence-Guided’, in which primacy is accorded to intelligence gathering and its dissemination to executive agencies for neutralization of threat. Operationalization of Multi Agency Centre (MAC) along with the Joint Task Force on Intelligence (JTFI) in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) remain the nodal platform for efficient and real time sharing of CT related inputs across the country and subsequent prevention against disruptions. Close partnerships for CT operations have been created with Central Agencies and State Police Forces under the mechanism of MAC/JTFI in IB. Terrorists and violent extremists misuse internet for communication, recruitment, glorification of jihad and other terror related activities, the strategy disclosed.

THE WAY FORWARD The coordinated multi-agency actions have greatly contributed towards success in Indian counter terrorism efforts. However, there remains a scope for further cooperation and collaboration among various agencies for intelligence collection and investigation. Further, the domestic counter terrorism legal regime needs to be amended from time to time to respond to the emerging challenges. In addition, there is a continual need for capacity building of the Counter Terrorism units/ATSs of States/UTs to respond to, neutralize and investigate terror-related incidents. To this end, uniformity in their structure, resources, training, and methodologies of investigation becomes important. To make appropriate cases against the perpetrators of acts of terrorism, there is a need to associate legal experts at every stage of investigation, right from registration of FIR to its culmination in prosecution. Terrorist groups based outside, nowadays use the infrastructure, logistics and terrain knowledge of local outfits for launching attacks. National actions, coupled with international and regional cooperation, are key elements in addressing trans-national terrorism challenge. India remains committed to international cooperation and collaboration. To build consensus on the understanding of terrorism and the rights of victims of terrorism, India will continue to work for a comprehensive framework on international terrorism while pursuing its counter-terrorism policy and strategy ‘Prahaar’, which aims to criminalize all terrorist acts and deny access to funds, weapons and safe havens to the terrorists, their financiers and supporters. India would continue its efforts together with the international community, to counter the global challenge of misuse of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for terrorist purposes. Besides, investment in technology and partnerships with private enterprise have been included to mitigate futuristic terror threats.