Lack Of One Central Counter-Terror Agency, Biggest Hurdle To Fight Terrorism: NSA Ajit Doval
Mumbai: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval said on Monday that the biggest obstacle in fighting terrorism is the lack of a central counter-terrorism agency and also that various agencies like the Army, Intelligence Bureau, RAW and NIA were “not working in-tandem”.
Doval was speaking at the two-day NIA National Conference of Heads of Anti-Terrorism Squad and Special Task Force (STF) that started here on Monday.
He said that “physical action” against terrorists, “intelligence” gathering and “investigation” of terrorism cases were not with each other. He also said that the Center lacked “a single counter-terrorist” agency that merges all three components (physical action, intelligence and investigation).
“I am pleased that many states have ATS, STF and other specialized agencies that have dual benefits. It is my personal view that there can be a single counter-terrorist agency that can integrate and merge all three components, integrated and merged but for some reasons that don’t happen,” said Doval.
“But in the states, their STFs are collecting some amount of intelligence, taking physical action and if they contribute to the investigation of the cases, it will probably help,” said Doval.
The NSA stated, “Physical action only tells what is in the present, while what happens in the future is decided by what the course of an investigation is, what happens in the courtroom because of setting terrorists as criminals d matter.”
Doval also attacked Pakistan for using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
Doval said, “If a criminal has the state’s support, it becomes a major challenge. Some states have mastered it, in our case Pakistan has made it an instrument of their state policy.”
The National Security Advisor also praised the impact that the NIA can have against terrorism in Kashmir, more than any other agency.
“The greatest pressure on Pakistan today is due to the action of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it has put so much pressure on them that perhaps no one else could have taken action.”
(With ANI Inputs)
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