AMN / WEB DESK
Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Amit Shah Thursday said that efforts are being made to set up an anti-terror network by setting up NIA branches in all the states by 2024. Shah said that to achieve a decisive victory in the fight against terrorism, the legal framework is being strengthened, under which provision has been made to declare individual terrorists by amending the NIA and UAPA laws.
Addressing the first day of a two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ at Surajkund, Haryana Home Minister said that the NIA has been given extraterritorial jurisdiction and along with this the agency has also been given the right to confiscate the property acquired/related to terrorism. Shah said that by 2024, a target has been set to establish branches of NIA in all the states of the country.
Chief Ministers of the States, Home Ministers of States and Lieutenant Governors and Administrators of Union Territories are participating in the Chintan Shivir.
Shah said, taking inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this Chintan Shivir, is being organized which will provide a common platform to face challenges before the Nation such as cyber-crime, the spread of narcotics and cross-border terrorism in unison. He said today the nature of crimes is changing and they are becoming borderless, which is why all States will have to battle these by having a common strategy.
Home Minister said that the areas affected by Left Wing Extremism, Jammu and Kashmir and the North East, which were once hot spots of violence and unrest, are now becoming hot spots of development. He said the security situation in the North East has improved significantly in the last eight years and since 2014 there has been a 74 percent reduction in insurgency incidents, 60 percent in casualties amongst security forces and about 90 percent in civilian casualties. Apart from this, efforts have been made to establish lasting peace in the region by signing agreements with the NLFT, Bodo, Bru, Karbi Anglong under which more than 9,000 militants have surrendered. He said with the restoration of peace in the North East, AFSPA has been withdrawn from more than 60 percent of areas. Highlighting the improvement in the situation in the LWE-affected areas, Shri Shah said the incidents of violence in these areas have come down by 77 percent and deaths in these incidents have reduced by more than 85 percent. Shri Shah said after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on 5th August 2019, a new beginning of peace and progress has begun there.
He said that today most of the security hotspots in the country have become almost free from anti-national activities due to mutual cooperation and coordination between the Centre and the states. Shri Shah said the zero-tolerance policy of the Government of India against narcotics is yielding good results and in the last 8 years, 3,000 cases have been registered while drugs worth more than Rs. 20,0000 crore have been seized.
Shah said cybercrime is a big threat to the Nation and the world today and the Ministry of Home Affairs is ready to fight against it. He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs is continuously working on reforms in CRPC, IPC and FCRA and soon their revised blueprint will be tabled in Parliament. Shri Shah said the States should make maximum use of forensic science to increase the conviction rate and the Central Government has provided all possible help by forming the NFSU. He also emphasized that border States will have to make more coordinated efforts with Central agencies and security forces to ensure border security and coastal security. Shri Shah said the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also taken several initiatives in disaster management and requested all Chief Ministers to personally monitor the implementation of these initiatives.
The Union Home Minister said there is a need to make proper use of all resources of internal security available to fight challenges before the Nation. He said for this there has to be resource optimization, rational utilization of resources and integration of resources, which would further improve coordination between the States. Shri Shah said the Government is working on the principle of “one data, one entry” and under this, NIA has been given a national database related to terrorist cases, NCB has a national database related to narcotics cases, ED has a database related to economic offences and NCRB has been given the responsibility of creating a fingerprint database – NAFIS and National Database of Sex Offenders (NDSO).