In A First, Centre, State to Join Hands to Counter Narco-Terror

New Delhi: In what is arguably the first acknowledgement of the fact that terror and narcotics are intertwined, the Government of India (GoI) has created a panel to draw a blueprint to counter the narco-terrorism being fueled from the western as well as eastern frontiers. A 10-member panel has been created by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to create a policy paper to effectively counter the issue on a pan-India level.

The report will be submitted to the MHA, and if approved, action will be initiated to strengthen the existing Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), or to create agencies to counter-narcotics and terror funding at large.

This is arguably the first time that the government has acknowledged that there exists a co-relation between terror funding and narcotics and that an effort is being made by anti-national elements to wage a narco-terror war against India. The issue will also be taken up during the annual meeting of all DGsP and IGsP conference scheduled to be held on December 6-8, 2019 in Pune.

It may be noted that currently, narcotics are being countered at the national level by the NCB. On the local level, similar actions are taken by the narcotics control departments of police. A national-level body will address and counter the narcotics terrorism at a pan-India level and facilitate the coordination between state and central agencies.

According to the report, the body, once created, will also liaison with global terror-funding watchdogs such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for countering the issue at a global level. Most recently, India’s vehement pursuance of the matter had also resulted in FATF grey listing of Pakistan for terror funding.

Source: TNN

Image Courtesy: IT