At the 6-hour-long meeting, Union home minister Amit Shah stressed on the need to strengthen information sharing and enhancing liaison between counter-terrorism and anti-drug agencies of the states
Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday chaired a meeting of officials of Intelligence Bureau (IB) from across the country to discuss issues related to cross-border terrorism, narcotics smuggling, terrorist financing, organised crimes, cyber crimes and use of drones from across the border, people familiar with the development said.
During the six-hour-long meeting that started at 11am and continued till 5pm in national capital New Delhi, the home minister stressed on the need to further strengthen the process of information sharing and enhancing liaison between counter-terrorism and anti-drug agencies of the states.
“Union home minister Amit Shah chaired a high level meeting of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers from across the country in New Delhi today and reviewed the internal security situation of the country. The meeting held extensive discussions on various issues related to national security including counter terrorism, threat from extremism, cyber security related issues, border related aspects and threats from cross border elements to the integrity and stability of the nation,” a statement by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) later said.
At the meeting, the statement said Shah underlined the government’s commitment to ensure the country’s security and the lauded the IB, India’s domestic intelligence agency for its “very important contribution in maintaining peace in the country since Independence, anonymously without any expectations.”
“Our fight is against terrorism as well as its support system; till we do not fight strictly against both of them, victory over terrorism cannot be achieved,” he said, according to the statement.
He also said there was a need to control the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) by dismantling its the financial and logistical support system.
The home minister told the officials at the IB’s headquarters in Delhi and its Subsidiary Intelligence Bureaus (SIBs) in states to make the country’s coastal security impenetrable. “For this, we should keep a close eye on even the smallest and most isolated port,” he added.
“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 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA. The NIA has been given extra territorial jurisdiction powers as well as authority to confiscate the property acquired by terrorists. Now, we have decided that NIA branches will be established in all the states by 2024,” Shah said at the two-day conference last month.
The home minister, in multiple meetings on internal security this year, has stressed on the need for agencies to keep a watch on radical outfits and individuals, break the nexus of organised criminals and Pakistan backed terrorists and crackdown on narco-terrorists, who are pushing huge amounts of drugs through land and maritime borders of India, as well as Khalistani sympathisers.