India's 1st counter-terror policy 'Prahaar' unveiled, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• India's first counter-terrorism policy, 'Prahaar', was unveiled by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• Prahaar is built on zero tolerance, intelligence-led prevention, and coordinated response to extremist violence.
• The policy aims to deny terrorists access to funds, weapons, and safe havens, both domestically and internationally.
• Prahaar emphasizes that India does not associate terrorism with any religion, ethnicity, or civilization.
• The policy acknowledges the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy by some countries in the region.
• Terrorist groups are using social media, encrypted communication, and drones to execute attacks in India.

Detailed Insights:

• Prahaar is structured on seven key pillars: prevention, responses, aggregating internal capacities, human rights and rule-of-law based processes, countering conditions that enable terrorism, alignment with global efforts, and recovery and resilience.
• India has been affected by cross-border terrorism, with Jihadi terror outfits, Al Qaeda, and ISIS attempting to incite violence.
• Terrorists operating from foreign soil use advanced technologies, including drones, to facilitate terror-related activities in regions like Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
• Terrorist groups are increasingly collaborating with organized criminal networks for logistics and recruitment.
• Technological advancements like encryption, the dark web, and crypto wallets provide anonymity to terrorist groups, making it difficult to track their funds.
• Disrupting terrorist access to CBRNED (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive, digital) material remains a significant challenge.
• The misuse of drones and robotics by state and non-state actors for lethal purposes is a growing concern.

PRAHAAR

Key Concepts Involved:

• Terrorism: The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
• Radicalization: The process by which an individual or group adopts extreme political, social, or religious ideals that reject the status quo.
• Sleeper Cell: A group of people who secretly live in a country or area and work for a foreign government or organization, becoming active only when they are needed.