PRAHAAR: India's Bold Anti-Terror Shield for Border Threats

Cross-Border Terror: Drones, Hackers, and Sleeper Cells

The policy calls state-sponsored terrorism from across India's borders a perennial and preeminent issue, along with global jihadist organisations including Al-Qaeda and ISIS seeking to radicalize young Indian people with the help of sleeper cells and online propaganda.
“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 says.

“Their handlers from across the border frequently use the latest technologies, including the use of drones, for facilitating terror-related activities and attacks 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,” it adds.

Intelligence Hub: MAC and JTFI

Central to 'Prahaar' is an intelligence-driven model of prevention with the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) and Joint Task Force on Intelligence (JTFI) within the Intelligence Bureau being the pivotal focal points for the real-time sharing of counter-terrorism inputs from central authorities to state police forces. 

The document puts particular emphasis on proactive disruption from the destruction of their over-ground worker (OGW) networks to strangling terror financing channels instead of just reactive policing. A focus is given to preventing misuse of the internet for the purpose of both recruitment and propaganda, with the law enforcement apparatus being charged to take systematic action on online extremist platforms. 

Uniform State Response

According to the Ministry, uniform anti-terrorism structural action is proposed between States following common practices and mechanisms in the implementation of such mechanisms and processes thus generating synergistic and uniform responses to terror attacks.
The policy also aims to criminalise every terrorist act and to prevent access to funds, weapons and safe havens to terrorists, their financiers and supporters. 

FIR Experts: From Probe to Terror Convictions

The policy points out that to properly punish the perpetrators of terrorism there is a need to bind legal specialists at all levels of investigation, from registering FIR to prosecution.
“Terrorist groups based outside (from abroad) 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 the transnational terrorism challenge,” it says.