India’s first anti-terror policy will be released soon

The Union government is finalizing India’s first anti-terror policy, which will provide a template for all states to combat and respond to terror-related incidents, a senior government official said. The Hindu. Digital radicalisation, the abuse of open borders and conversion networks funded by foreign players are among the key issues being discussed in the run-up to the policy’s release.

Last November, Home Minister Amit Shah had announced that a national counter-terrorism policy and strategy would be introduced soon.

A year later, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said. The Hindu that “the Ministry of Home Affairs is finalizing the document and the NIA has also given inputs.” The NIA is organizing an anti-terror conference in Delhi on December 26 and 27 where the outlines of the policy are likely to be shared.

Discussions after Pahalgam

After the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, the NIA held meetings with anti-terror units of all states and apprised them of the measures to be taken to prevent and prevent such attacks. They also discussed the use of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), a secure platform that allows law enforcement agencies to access government and other databases.

In recent months, NIA Director General Sadanand Date and National Security Guard chief Brighu Srinivasan have briefed a number of state police chiefs on foreign-funded conversion fraud, online radicalization and Aadhaar spoofing, among others.

A National Policy and Action Plan for Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) was introduced in 2015.

Open concerns about borders

An Uttar Pradesh police official said online radicalization and misuse of the open border with Nepal have been identified as priority issues likely to be included in the new counter-terrorism policy.

“There have been cases when members associated with the Khalistani terrorist network came to Nepal with foreign passports. They left the passport in the neighboring country, entered India through open air and went to Punjab through the UP-Bihar-Nepal border,” the UP police official said.

Digital radicalization

The interrogation of the doctors arrested in connection with the November 10 suicide car attack near Delhi’s Red Fort also revealed that they were radicalized online, an NIA official said.

Another state police official said deliberations are underway to get feedback from states on ways to tackle online radicalization.

“An organized foreign-funded radicalization has come to our attention. A religious center in Canada linked to Pakistan’s ISI has emerged as one of the prime suspects in radicalizing the youth here through social media. While there are only a handful of police officials trained to spot these trends, concerted efforts are needed to strengthen the mechanism at the police station level. This will lead to early detection,” the second state police official said.

Critical issues

In a post on

“This strong convergence of NIA, NSG, IB and UP Police reaffirms our commitment to closing the gaps, strengthening our defenses and protecting the sovereignty of India’s most populous state,” the UP Police said.