Going
by the recent claims of Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, NCTC would see the
light of the day after next month’s Chief Ministers’ conference. Earlier
attempts to set-up an umbrella body on counter-terrorism failed mainly because
of opposition from states ruled by non-Congress parties. Their concern was that
the idea of unilateral operations by the NCTC would infringe on the states’
powers and hurt the federal structure of the country. But, there was also
another hurdle in the form of reservations about placing NCTC within the
Intelligence Bureau (IB). These two issues have now been addressed: by taking
out “operations part” of the NCTC and also by not locating the NCTC within the
IB.
Way
back in 2009, the then Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had outlined his
vision for “the broad architecture of a new security system that will serve the
country today and in the foreseeable future.” His idea was to institute an
umbrella body dedicated to counter terrorism on the lines of the American NCTC
with control over intelligence, operations and investigation of all matters
pertaining to terrorism. The NCTC’s goals, according to Chidambaram, “will
include preventing a terrorist attack, containing a terrorist attack should one
take place, and responding to a terrorist attack by inflicting pain upon the
perpetrators”. The aim of NCTC, according to the former Home Minister
Chidambaram, was to reduce the failures of busting terror modules to zero.
Even
a die-hard critic would not question the need for NCTC. Response to threats
should depend on their nature. Undoubtedly, India is one of the worst affected
countries by terrorism and, in the recent period, it has witnessed more
terrorist incidents than any other country in the world. India confronts varied
forms of threats that range from militancy in Jammu & Kashmir, insurgency
in the northeast of India, Left Wing Extremism in Central India, and jihadi
terrorism threatening the hinterland. Then there are other threats, over and
above the identified main forms, such as illegal migration, drug-trafficking,
smuggling of counterfeit currencies, small arms proliferation, organised crime
and cyber warfare. All these determine the nature of terrorism confronted by
India. Yet, the country lacks a single overarching body dedicated to counter
terrorism. The time limit for constituting the NCTC was initially set as
end-2010, but is yet to see the light of the day. Now, the present Home
Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has indicated his readiness “to tweak controversial
proposals to break the impasse.” Any new counter-terrorism body would be a
failure unless it is evolved based on consensus of all states of India.
To
avoid duplication, Chidambaram wanted all related agencies involved in
counter-terrorism (although they are part of different ministries) like
Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Joint
Intelligence Committee (JIC), National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO),
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Aviation Research Centre (ARC),
Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) to report to the
proposed NCTC (under the Ministry of Home Affairs) on matters related to
terrorism. However, there is an intense resistance to this “submission”. There
is a pervasive fear that such an arrangement would lead to over-centralisation
of powers in the Home Minister and the Ministry of Home Affairs emerging as
“super ministry”.
Although
the above apprehension is farfetched, it is the responsibility of the Center to
convey in unambiguous terms NCTC’s focus i.e. “terrorism only”. It should be
acknowledged that intelligence/investigation/security agencies have a far wider
mandate than terrorism. Even on matters terrorism, the methodology of working
would be cooperation and coordination and not subordination of one agency to
the other. The final objective is to bring about synergy and cohesion in
counter-terrorism efforts, by doing away with overlapping, duplications,
bottlenecks and unnecessary hurdles. To achieve this objective, it is enough if
NCTC functions as an umbrella organisation with representations from
intelligence, investigation and security agencies. It should be in a position
to integrate all instruments of national power, including diplomatic, economic,
social, political, military, intelligence, and law enforcement to ensure unity
of effort. It should happen at central, state and local levels. The tentacles
of the NCTC should penetrate deep down upto district levels instead of being
another top-heavy organisation.
It
need not follow any international model – US, UK or European – but that which
suits India’s capabilities and threats. It has to be innovative and proactive
in its approach rather than defensive and reactive. ‘Prevention’ and
‘protection’ should be the main watch words. For this, the Centre should
constantly monitor terror/militant groups, their support network, sponsors,
sanctuaries, mode of operation, threat potential, and leadership and make
periodic threat assessments for policy makers. In this regard, it can
effectively use ‘Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCNTS), National
Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Central Monitoring System (CMS) and Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Personnel for NCTC could be pooled
from relevant intelligence, investigation and security agencies headed by the
senior most experienced officer on rotation basis with simple command
structure. In this way, turf wars could be avoided, with the potential and efficacy
of the agencies maximised.
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See more at:
http://www.vifindia.org/article/2013/april/01/national-counter-terrorism-centre-nctc-issues-and-options#sthash.BqjqFhLk.dpuf
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