Government unveils PRAHAAR to combat cross-border terror, cyber threats

Highlighting the role of advanced technology and partnering with private enterprise in tackling future terror threats, India on Monday outlined a comprehensive push to further strengthen its counter-terrorism framework through legal reforms, better coordination and enhanced global cooperation with the help of PRAHAAR.

Through PRAHAAR, apart from investment in technology, partnerships with private enterprise have been included to mitigate futuristic terror threats.

The counter-terror policy PRAHAAR aims to criminalise all terrorist acts and deny access to funds, weapons and safe havens to terrorists, their financiers and supporters, according to official sources.

In a nutshell, it is aimed at prevention of terror attacks to protect Indian citizens and interests; responses, which are swift and proportionate to the threat posed; aggregating internal capacities for achieving synergy in a whole-of-government approach; human rights and ‘Rule of Law’ based processes for mitigation of threats; attenuating the conditions enabling terrorism, including radicalisation; aligning and shaping the international efforts to counter terrorism; and recovery and resilience through a whole-of-society approach.

India has reaffirmed its commitment to pursue its counter-terror strategy and to work with the global community to curb misuse of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for terrorist activities.

According to official sources, coordinated multi-agency action has significantly improved India’s capacity to prevent and investigate terror attacks, but at the same time it has been stressed that intelligence-sharing and operational coordination must be further strengthened to address evolving threats.

The government has emphasised the need to periodically update the domestic counter-terror legal regime to respond to new challenges.

Continuous capacity building of Counter Terrorism Units and Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATSs) in states and Union Territories has been identified as a priority, with focus on uniformity in structure, training, resources and investigative procedures.

The policy has also highlighted the importance of associating legal experts at every stage of terror investigations — from registration of FIRs to prosecution — to ensure stronger cases and improved conviction rates.

Noting that terrorist groups based outside India increasingly use local networks for logistics and support, official sources said that national efforts must be backed by robust regional and international cooperation to counter transnational terrorism.