Amit Shah on Thursday said that efforts were being made to set up an anti-terror network by setting up NIA branches in all the states by 2024 to strengthen the war against terrorism.
Union Home and Cooperation minister, in his address at Chintan Shivir at Surajkund, Haryana, said that the government, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, has followed a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and that agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being strengthened to win this war.
The legal framework is being strengthened, Shah added, under which provision has been made to declare individual terrorists by amending the NIA and UAPA laws.
The home minister said that the NIA, the primary counter-terrorist task force of India, has been given extra territorial jurisdiction and along with this the agency has also been given the right to confiscate the property acquired/ related to terrorism.
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The NIA was founded in 2008 with the headquarter in New Delhi after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. The federal agency has at present 14 branches across India, excluding the New Delhi.
Till 2019, the NIA has over 40 organisations in its ‘Banned Terrorist Organisations’ list, out of which at least 10 are from north east India.
From Nagaland, NIA has banned “National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) [NSCN(K)], all its formations and front organisations”.
The Chintan Shivir of Home Ministers is being attended by Chief Ministers of the States, Home Ministers of States and Lieutenant Governors and Administrators of Union Territories.
(With inputs from PIB New Delhi)
