First & foremost NIA is an investigative agency. IB is overburdened. We need an internal agency specialising in detecting terrorist ecosystem with a focus on Islamic terrorism in all its facets since I don't think we can have an anti terrorist agency dedicated to identifying elements of one religion only given the way our set up is configured.![]()
Red Fort attack preparation in the works for 3 years
The Red Fort bombing has made it imperative for security agencies to focus their efforts on unearthing and uprooting terror modules all over the country. | India Newswww.hindustantimes.com
Put another way this could run into problems with the judiciary & the opposition along with their supporting ecosystem in the media would throw as many spanners in the works as only they can .
Ideally we begin with identifying & monitoring domestic networks extending it to cover Paxtan & BD later. Whether it should then have powers to neutralize these elements is upto the GoI though IMO that'd be the preferred option.
We should also consider extending the operations of this agency to our immediate neighborhood encompassing all the nations we share a border with namely all SAARC nations including China & Myanmar.
Periodic reviews must be undertaken to identify lacunae in the operations & mandate such that if need be we must be prepared to extend its operations globally.
R&AW ought to continue as our premier external espionage agency focusing on other aspects . They also ought to have a small cell dedicated to Islamic terrorism so that we don't put all our eggs in 1 basket.
This can also serve the purpose of a back up as well as having a system of checks & balances since espionage & counter espionage are by their very nature extremely messy operations prone to being compromised.
Goes without saying both organisations ought to be insulated from each other's operations as such activities are in any case highly silo ised.


