India beefs up anti-terror stance
India has unveiled a new anti-terrorism policy proposing a broad framework aimed at tackling criminal hackers and nation-states that target it through cyberattacks.
The policy aims to deal with all terrorist acts and deny access to funds, weapons, and safe havens to terrorists, their financiers, and their supporters, according to The Hindu.
“The threat of state and non-state actors misusing drones and robotics for lethal purposes remains another area of concern,” the Indian Home Ministry said in the policy framework document.
The ministry added that there is a move to establish a uniform anti-terrorism structure across India’s 29 states. A standardization of processes and procedures would ensure synergy in responses to terror attacks, it said.
The federal government announced in 2024 that a national counterterrorism policy and strategy was being drafted to fight the terrorist ecosystem.
Following the terror attack in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in April last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) held discussions with anti-terror units to brief them on the steps aimed at preventing and pre-empting such attacks.
The attack prompted a military response from India, which conducted airstrikes on what it alleged were terrorist bases in Pakistan. After a four-day escalation, the two nuclear-armed nations announced a ceasefire.
Social media platforms as well as instant messaging applications and technological advancements such as encryption, the dark web, and crypto wallets are used by terrorist organizations to operate anonymously, the Home Ministry said in the document.
Terrorist cells operating from abroad tap the infrastructure, logistics, and terrain knowledge of local outfits, it added. National actions, coupled with international and regional cooperation, are key elements required to check such acts, according to the policy document.
