India Unveils First Counter-terrorism Policy PRAHAAR

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday unveiled the country's first national counter-terrorism policy, titled ‘PRAHAAR’, outlining a framework to address evolving terror threats through prevention, coordinated response, capacity building and adherence to the rule of law.

Rolled out by the Union home ministry, the strategy is structured around seven pillars, including prevention of terror attacks to protect citizens and national interests, swift response, and integration of internal capacities through a whole-of-government approach.

The policy emphasises intelligence-led prevention and a “zero tolerance” approach aimed at denying terrorists, financiers and supporters access to funds, weapons and safe havens. It also underscores adherence to human rights and rule-of-law-based processes, mitigation of conditions enabling radicalisation, international cooperation, and recovery and resilience through a whole-of-society framework.

Highlighting technological challenges, the document notes that encryption, the dark web and crypto wallets enable anonymous operations by extremist groups. “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,” it said.

The policy also points to a nexus between illegal arms syndicates and terrorist groups and states that coordinated interventions are being undertaken by intelligence and law enforcement agencies in various states to counter such linkages and disrupt terror funding under existing legal frameworks.

Without naming any country, the document states: "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. 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 adds that India has long been affected by cross-border sponsored terrorism and that global groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have attempted to incite violence through sleeper cells.

The document notes that terrorists operating from foreign soil have used technologies, including drones, to facilitate activities in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and that organised criminal networks are increasingly being used for logistics and recruitment. Social media and instant messaging platforms are cited as tools for propaganda, communication and funding.

Under the prevention strategy, primacy is accorded to intelligence gathering and dissemination, with emphasis on disrupting overground worker modules and terror-financing networks. The Multi-Agency Centre and the Joint Task Force on Intelligence under the Intelligence Bureau are identified as nodal platforms for real-time sharing of counter-terror inputs.

The response framework provides for coordinated action by central, state and district authorities, supported by standard operating procedures issued by the ministry.

The policy states that Indian anti-terror laws give due importance to human rights and that multiple levels of legal redress are available to accused persons through the judicial system.

It also addresses socio-economic factors, stating that poverty and unemployment among vulnerable communities are being addressed through government schemes to prevent exploitation by extremist elements.

On deradicalisation, the document says intelligence and law enforcement agencies continuously monitor recruitment attempts targeting youth. "Once identified, these youths undergo a graded police response, aimed at comprehensively addressing the problem of radicalisation and violent extremism in a multi-stakeholder setting. Legal action is initiated against the individual based on their level of radicalisation," it said.

Community and religious leaders, NGOs and other stakeholders are engaged to spread awareness about the consequences of radicalisation, while prison authorities are cautioned to prevent radicalisation of inmates. The policy also calls for periodic updates to the domestic counter-terror legal regime to address emerging challenges.

Emphasising international cooperation, the document notes that bilateral and multilateral efforts have facilitated disruption and designation of terrorist entities and deportation of fugitives.

The policy states that national action, supported by regional and global cooperation, remains central to addressing transnational terrorism and emerging technological threats.