The Centre on Monday unveiled a national counter-terrorism policy titled ‘Prahaar’, which it described as India’s first such framework, outlining a multi-layered strategy anchored in “zero tolerance”, intelligence-led prevention and coordinated disruption of extremist violence.
Issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the policy is structured around seven pillars — prevention, response, aggregating internal capacities, human rights and “Rule of Law”-based processes, attenuating conditions enabling terrorism including radicalisation, aligning international efforts, and recovery and resilience through a whole-of-society approach.
"There has been a history of sporadic instability in the immediate neighbourhood of India, which has often given rise to ungoverned spaces. Besides, a few countries in the region have sometimes used terrorism as an instrument of State policy," the document said, without naming Pakistan.
"Notwithstanding this, India does not link terrorism to any specific religion, ethnicity, nationality or civilisation. India has always denounced terrorism and its use by any actor for achieving any stated or unstated ends unambiguously and unequivocally," it added.
Stating that India has consistently stood by victims of terrorism and believes there can be no justification for violence, the document said this approach informs New Delhi's policy of "zero tolerance" against terrorism.
The policy flags cross-border terrorism and global terror outfits as key threats.
"India has since long been affected by sponsored terrorism from across the border, with Jihadi terror outfits as well as their frontal organisations continuing to plan, coordinate, facilitate and execute terror attacks in India. India has been on the target of global terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which have been trying to incite violence in the country through sleeper cells," it said.
It noted that terrorists operating from foreign soil have used technologies including drones to facilitate terror-related activities in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
"Increasingly, terrorist groups are engaging organised criminal networks for logistics and recruitment to execute and facilitate terror strikes in India. For propaganda, communication, funding and guiding terror attacks, these terror groups use social media platforms as well as 'instant messaging applications'," it added.
Highlighting the technological dimension, the document said, "Technological advancements like encryption, dark web, crypto wallets, etc. have allowed these groups to operate anonymously. Disrupting/intercepting terrorist efforts to access and use CBRNED (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive, Digital) material remains a challenge for Counter Terrorism (CT) agencies. The threat of state and non-state actors misusing drones and robotics for lethal purposes remains another area of concern, even as criminal hackers and nation states continue to target India through cyber-attacks."
Under the prevention pillar, primacy has been given to intelligence gathering and dissemination, along with disrupting terror funding networks under existing legal provisions.
The policy underlines coordination between central agencies and state police forces through the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) and the Joint Task Force on Intelligence (JTFI) in the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
"Operationalisation of Multi Agency Centre (MAC) along with the Joint Task Force on Intelligence (JTFI) in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) remains the nodal platform for efficient and real-time sharing of CT (counter terrorism) related inputs across the country and subsequent prevention against disruptions," it said.
It also pointed to action against overground worker (OGW) modules and illegal arms networks.
"Law enforcement agencies also regularly disrupt the overground workers (OGW) modules, through which terrorists are extended logistic, material and financial support. In recent times, a nexus between illegal arms syndicates and terrorist groups has emerged, and for combatting it, coordinated interventions are being made by the intelligence agencies along with the respective law enforcement agencies in various Indian states. Special emphasis is given to disrupting terror funding networks through the legal framework under Indian laws," it said.
Responding to a terror attack, the document said, is a multi-agency exercise involving central, state and district authorities, guided by a standard operating procedure issued by the MHA for coordination at the apex level.
On legal safeguards, the policy said, "Indian laws, including anti-terrorism laws, give due importance to human rights. India adheres to the 'Rule of Law', where laws are just, applied evenly and protect fundamental rights," adding that "multiple levels of legal redressal are available to any accused through an elaborate infrastructure of justice system from the districts, through states, right up to the higher judiciary at the central level".
The document also addresses socio-economic vulnerabilities.
"The government engages a team of doctors, psychologists, lawyers and other members of civil society, including NGOs, religious and community leaders, to sensitise and reintegrate the affected community," it said.
Calling for periodic amendments to the domestic counter-terror legal regime, the policy added, "Terrorist groups based outside, nowadays, use the infrastructure, logistics and terrain knowledge of local outfits for launching attacks. National actions, coupled with international and regional cooperation, are key elements in addressing trans-national terrorism challenge."
It further expressed India’s commitment to working with the international community to counter the misuse of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for terrorist purposes, stating that investments in technology and partnerships with private enterprises have been included to mitigate futuristic terror threats.
