UNION HOME Minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked state police forces and anti-terror agencies to adopt such a “ruthless” approach that no new terrorist group can be formed. “We need to not only combat terrorism but also dismantle its entire ecosystem,” he said. Inaugurating a two-day anti-terror conference organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Shah said the fight against terrorism requires collaboration, from the grassroots to the global level. “The Centre has taken a tough stand on all challenges like cryptocurrencies, hawala, terror funding, organised crime syndicates, narco-terror links, which has yielded very good results, but a lot still needs to be done. To deal with terrorism, the Centre and the states, their agencies. will have to think in vertical and horizontal ways,” he said. While praising the NIA for achieving over 94 per cent conviction, Shah asked all the states to take steps to increase the conviction rate too. “Terrorism has no boundaries and no state can face terrorism alone. We have to come together to root out this evil,” he said. He said the number of terror incidents has fallen from 6,000 in 2001 to 900 in 2022, under the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Calling for a coordinated approach against terror, he said: “In the last five years, the Centre has prepared many database verticals… All anti-terrorism agencies must adopt such a ruthless approach so that a new terrorist organisation cannot be formed,” he said. Shah said a model anti-terrorism structure should be established under the purview of the NIA, and the hierarchy, structure, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) of investigation of all anti-terrorism agencies should be made uniform for better coordination between central and state agencies. He said there should be a common training module for all central and state-level counter-terrorism agencies, so that uniformity can be brought in their methodology. “The task of the NIA, anti-terrorism squad, and special task force should not be limited to investigation, but they should also think out of the box and take innovative measures to counter terrorism… All the agencies of the Centre and States should make multi-dimensional and Artificial Intelligence-based use of database, only then will we be successful in the fight against terrorism,” Shah said, adding that the database should be used for investigation, prosecution, prevention and action. The NIA’s national level terror database includes the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System with over 90 lakh fingerprint records, Integrated Monitoring of Terrorism with data of 22,000 terrorist cases, National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-Offenders with data of over 5 lakh narco offenders, National Database of Human Trafficking Offenders with data of about 1 lakh human traffickers. Shah also awarded medals to NIA officers for excellence in service.
Must dismantle entire terror ecosystem, need ruthless approach: Shah
