‘Terror ecosystem has to be destroyed, ruthless approach needed’
n STATE TIMES NEWS
New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a new dawn of development and peace over the past nine years under the BJP-led government, leading to a 70 per cent decline in terror-related incidents as compared to the previous 10 years.
Shah also said there has been an 81 per cent decline in civilian deaths and 48 per cent fall in fatalities among security personnel during these nine years.
Inaugurating a two-day anti-terror conference organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the home minister talked about the significant reduction in incidents of violence in the militancy-hit Union Territory during the nine years from June 2014 to August 2023 compared to the 10 years from June 2004 to May 2014.
Terror-related incidents fell from 7,217 during June 2004-May 2014 to 2,197 between June 2014 and August 2023, marking a 70 per cent decline, the home minister said.
He said 2,829 civilian deaths were reported from June 2004 to May 2014. Civilian deaths witnessed an 81 per cent decline from June 2014 to August 2023 with only 336 people losing their lives.
Similarly, fatalities among security forces have witnessed a decline of 48 per cent with 1,060 personnel losing their lives in terror attacks from June 2004 to May 2014 and 555 from June 2014 to August 2023, the home minister said.
On terrorism, Amit Shah said anti-terror agencies will have to adopt such ruthless approach that no new terrorist group is formed in the country.
Not only terrorism, but the entire ecosystem of the terrorists has to be destroyed, he added. The Home Minister said tough decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government have yielded very good results in handling challenges posed by cryptocurrencies, hawala, terror-funding, organised crime syndicates and narco-terror links.
Still a lot more is to be done, he said inaugurating the two-day anti-terror conference organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“All anti-terror agencies will have to adopt such a ruthless approach that new terrorist organisations cannot be formed,” he said.
Shah said there is a need to not only combat terrorism but also dismantle its entire ecosystem, and for this “we must work with the spirit of the whole of government and Team India”.
He said under the leadership of Modi, the central and state agencies have succeeded in firmly curbing all forms of terrorism in the country in the last nine years.
He said the task of NIA, anti-terror squads and state task forces should not be limited to investigation but they should also think out of the box and take innovative measures to counter the terrorism.
The home minister said the fight against terrorism requires collaboration from the global level to the grassroots, involving various states within the country, as also international cooperation.
He said to deal with terrorism, the Centre and the states, their agencies and inter-agency cooperation will have to think in vertical and horizontal ways.
The home minister also awarded medals to NIA officials for excellence in service.
Shah said model anti-terrorism structure should be established under the purview of NIA, the hierarchy, structure, and SoPs of investigation of all anti-terrorism agencies in all states should be made uniform for better coordination between central and state agencies.
He said that to deal with terrorism, the Centre and the states, their agencies and inter-agency cooperation will have to think in vertical and horizontal ways.
Shah said the government has prepared many database verticals in the last five years.
All the agencies of the Centre and the states should make multidimensional and artificial intelligence-based use of the database, only then will we be successful in the fight against terrorism, he said.
The database should be used for investigation, prosecution, prevention and action, the home minister said and stressed upon every police station as well as young police officers to make their maximum use.
He asked the NIA and the Intelligence Bureau to prepare common training module for all central and state-level counter-terrorism agencies, so that uniformity can be brought in the methodology of fighting against terrorism.
He said the number of terrorism incidents in 2001 was 6000, which reduced to 900 in 2022.
Praising the NIA for achieving more than 94 percent conviction rate, Shah said more work is needed in this direction and asked all the states to take steps to increase the conviction rate.
Highlighting major successes in the fight against drugs, he said during Operation Samudragupta, conducted this year by the NCB, narcotics worth more than Rs 12,000 crore were seized simultaneously.
Apart from this, 10 lakh kg of drugs have also been disposed of, he said.
Shah said terrorism has no boundaries and no state can face terrorism alone and collective effort will be needed to root out this evil. He suggested making five actionable points in every session of the two-day conference to be sent to the home ministry.