NCTC .. National Counter Terrorism Centre ... a new beginning ... fourth pillar of the anti-terror institutional architecture ... NIA, NSG hubs, NATGRID and now NCTC

Govt finally clears umbrella anti-terror organization

Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jan 13, 2012, 03.28AM IST

NEW DELHI: Government on Thursday finally gave its approval to set up a 'specialized' anti-terror body, National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which will work as a single-window entity to pool together and collate terror-related intelligence inputs, draw plans to neutralize terror modules and coordinate action among different terror agencies to defuse threats.

A core team of this body comprising its director and other top officials will be put in place by end-March or early April, completing the counter-terror institutional architecture that Union home minister P Chidambaram had planned after the 26/11 strikes.

The NCTC will work as an "integral" part of the Intelligence Bureau, but will be exclusively focused on counter-terrorism on the lines of specialized anti-terror agencies in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Israel, Russia, China and Japan.

As part of Centre's post-26/11 blueprint, NIA, National Intelligence Grid and NSG hubs designed to facilitate the spreading of the commandos across the country, have been set up. The NCTC, the remaining piece, was held up because of reservations among certain quarters of the government over its scope. The final design has accommodated the concerns of various wings of the government that were stakeholders in the decision.

Asked whether the proposed set up for the NCTC reflected a dilution of his earlier plans, Chidambaram said, "It's not a comedown. This is a beginning. Eventually based on our experience, based on what we find our shortcomings, deficiencies or the safeguard that has to be built, it will eventually grow into a kind of organization that I envisaged."

Talking to reporters after the Cabinet committee on security gave "in principle" clearance to the NCTC, the home minister said its function will include drawing up of plans and coordinating all actions, particularly counterterrorism.

Chidambaram said the core team will be the "nucleus" around which the NCTC will be built. "After obtaining the necessary approvals from department of expenditure and DoPT, we will begin the work of appointing the core team," he said.

Spelling out the brief for the NCTC, Chidambaram said the agency will also coordinate with relevant probe and intelligence agencies to ensure that the perpetrators of terror are brought to justice, besides maintaining comprehensive database of terrorists, their associates and supporters.

"It will ensure that all agencies have access and receive all intelligence support", he said, adding it will be under Intelligence Bureau and report to its director, Union home secretary and the home minister. The home minister, however, did not disclose finer details of its functioning. At present, the IB's anti-terror function is being looked after by the multi agency centre (MAC), that will be subsumed into it........http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQ0gvMjAxMi8wMS8xMyNBcjAxMjAx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

FICN .... a tool to fund terror. India to share details with Pakistan - the country which harbours the kingpin Dawood Ibrahim

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NIA busts fake currency racket, arrests 14 persons

Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jan 11, 2012, 06.13AM IST

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed to have busted a major 'fake Indian currency notes' (FICNs) racket and arrested 14 persons - including leaders of the gang operating out of Malda in West Bengal - during a nationwide swoop. The accused were found to have direct links with their coordinators in Pakistan where these notes were printed.

Four persons including the Indian kingpin Morgen Hussain were arrested from Malda while four others were caught in Hyderabad, three in Tamil Nadu and one each in Gulbarga (Karnataka), Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Delhi.

"Arrests show that the gang - part of an international network - had virtually a pan-India presence. Raids are still continuing in nine states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and West Bengal," said an official. He added that the seizures and subsequent probe supported India's claim about Pakistani spy agency ISI's role in its grand design to "destabilize the monetary stability of India" through pumping in huge numbers of FICNs.

"Such a high quality of FICNs cannot be printed without government-linked agency's role or support. Though NIA had mentioned this in its earlier chargesheet in similar cases of Mumbai, the current seizures and disclosures made by the conduits have substantiated the charges," the official said.

Referring to interrogation of the accused and technical surveillance, the NIA claims that the gang used to get its consignment of high quality FICNs - printed in Pakistan - through its network in Bangladesh and Nepal. It was found during the probe that the fake currency notes -- in denominations of Rs 1000, Rs 500 and Rs 100 - were smuggled to Bangladesh via air route before finally reaching its destination in different north-eastern and West Bengal villages.

Besides using usual smuggling network, suppliers of these FICNs in Bangladesh also used to throw the bundles of fake currency notes into the Indian villages bordering Bangladesh. "The accused persons with their aides used to collect the said FICN and distribute the same to the agents spread all over the country," the agency said.

"The gang members used to transport the FICNs through trains and other modes of transport to all the states for its circulation. The local agents used to collect 60% of the value of FICNs from the circulators in genuine notes," it added.

As per the deal, the genuine currency was then remitted to the bank accounts of the key persons by depositing amounts to the maximum of Rs 49,000 to avoid being detected as suspicious transactions.

"The network used bank accounts and ATMs for transferring back the genuine currency earned out of circulating the high quality, high value fake currency to the suppliers of the same based in Malda. The raids, which had begun on January 6, have led to the recovery of large number of ATM cards, bank passbooks, SIM cards and FICNs," the NIA said.

The agency, which got help from different state police during the raids, has, meanwhile, alerted the BSF to tighten its vigil along the Indo-Bangladesh border in the entire north-eastern region..............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JUFUvMjAxMi8wMS8xMSNBcjAxMjA1&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Maoists .... are getting ready for their 10th Congress

Reds scout for congress venue, govt sounds alert

Vishwa Mohan | TNN

New Delhi: With Maoists scouting for a ‘safe’ place to hold their 10th party congress, the Centre has asked all naxal-affected states to closely monitor the movement of locals and Maoist sympathizers. Intelligence inputs and documents seized during various raids reveal that CPI (Maoist) is determined to hold the meet in January-February. “Top leaders, including their chief Ganapathi, are expected to attend the meet,” said a security official.
    Plans for the event, a part of the Maoist calendar, have been circulated among party cadres in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The ninth party congress of the outfit was held five years ago ‘somewhere’ in the jungles along the Bihar-Jharkhand border in February, 2007. This was when the Maoists adopted a number of resolutions, including their opposition to special economic zones.
    Documents seized by security forces indicate that during the next meet, CPI (Maoist) will promote some of its central committee members to its politburo and some from the regional committees to the central committee, which decides operational matters. They will also use the meet for a major recruitment drive, said security officials.
    The politburo, the highest decision-making body, is at present functioning with only six members since the death of two members, Kishenji alias Koteshvar Rao and Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, in encounters and the arrest of six others — Kobad Gandhi, Narayan Sanyal, Sushil Roy, Pramod Mishra, Akhilesh Yadav and Amitabh Bagchi. Similarly, 23 of the 37 central committee members are in jail........http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMDEvMTAjQXIwMDkwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

NCTC is coming up to strengthen anti-terror efforts

Turf wars take op wing away from NCTC

Josy Joseph & Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jan 6, 2012, 01.16AM IST

NEW DELHI: More than three years after 26/11, the proposal to streamline intelligence sharing and assessment by setting up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) will be considered by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) next week.

A countrywide encrypted network for the anti-terror umbrella body is in the final stages of implementation and sources confirmed that NCTC proposal, initiated in the wake of Mumbai attacks, is likely to be approved by CCS next week. The much-delayed proposal is understood to have been held up due to various turf issues, and has been tweaked a bit.

According to the proposal, NCTC will be the nodal agency for all counter-terrorism activities, with all intelligence agencies such as Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) reporting to it on matters related to terrorism.

NCTC will, however, not have any operational wing, as envisaged earlier. It will depend on state police (anti-terror cell) for operation against any terror module. It will also coordinate with National Investigation Agency (NIA), the body that was created to probe all terror-related cases post 26/11.

With terror groups adept at moving across borders and accessing technology and manipulating financial systems, NCTC is seen as vital to breaking down intra-institutional walls and ensuring a synergy among state, border and national level agencies. NATGRID will also be under NCTC.

Even as the final administrative clearance for the umbrella organization against terrorism is days away, a dedicated nationwide network for secure communication between almost 500 agencies involved in counter-terror activities is coming up. This encrypted network with terminals in every state would be the communication backbone for NCTC.

Sources said the network is under trial and could be in full-fledged operation in a few months' time. The network connects Multi Agency Centre (MAC), which would be subsumed into NCTC, and all agencies reporting to it, in Delhi and state capitals. Between the Centre, where almost two dozen agencies coordinate with MAC, and states almost 500 stakeholders are involved in counter-terror activities.

Sources said CCS is expected to approve NCTC's creation through an executive order. There will not be any need to bring a new legislation for setting up this anti-terror body, unlike NIA that was created through an Act, they said.

It is still not clear if NCTC would continue to have the same reporting structure as MAC, which is under the overall command of Intelligence Bureau. In the original proposal sent by the home ministry, it had even suggested that NCTC could be under PMO, or a separate ministry for internal security could be created to administer NCTC and other bodies involved in fighting terrorism in the lines of US Department of Homeland Security.

In the US, NCTC, set up within three years of 9\11 terror attack, comes under the Department of Homeland Security and it has direct control over the anti-terror division of both CIA and FBI...............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEyLzAxLzA2I0FyMDE2MDA=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Jammu and Kashmir firing incident ..... What if when both the probes come out with contradictory findings?

CISF begins parallel probe in Uri firing case

Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jan 5, 2012, 02.15AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), whose personnel were allegedly involved in firing at the NHPC power plant in Uri, has initiated an 'independent parallel inquiry' into the incident that saw killing of a Kashmiri boy on Monday.

The inquiry, which began under an inspector general (IG)-level officer, will not interfere with the ongoing police probe.

Officials here said that though the paramilitary force during its 'inquiry' would look into the details of its fact-finding report which stated that its men opened firing only when a mob attempted to vandalize the premises after ransacking the peripheral security blockades, it would "fully cooperate" with the Jammu & Kashmir Police that registered a case and arrested five CISF personnel.

CISF director general N R Das, who visited the incident site and spoke to his men and NHPC employees a day after the incident, briefed Union home secretary R K Singh about instituting an inquiry on Wednesday.

The ongoing 'inquiry' will also take into account whether the personnel, deployed for guarding the power plant, had adhered to the 'guidelines' on their 'duties and powers' enshrined in the CISF Act. A circular, issued by the force in last September, had stated that "the CISF personnel should be utilized effectively for protection of installation against mob violence particularly where there is delay in arrival of police".

It had issued certain dos and don'ts for its personnel, stating that "the CISF is duty bound to protect the property of undertaking under all circumstances". The incident occurred on Monday when locals were protesting outside the power plant against shortage of electricity in the area.

Referring to the paramilitary force's report, sources here said that the mob was stationed near the premises for three hours and police were unable to control it. When the 'agitated' mob attempted to vandalize the premises of NHPC, the CISF personnel had first fired in air and then below the waist in which a boy was killed at Boniyar on Monday.

They said that unlike CRPF, the CISF personnel had no 'non-lethal' weapon to deal with the crowd. Though the ministry would provide the force such weapons, the need was not felt earlier because of different nature of duties if its personnel.

Officials here, however, said though no one was denying strict action against the CISF personnel, there was a need to clarify on the issue through 'inquiry' whether they would be tried under the local laws or under the CISF Act that has provisions of punishing guilty for such a conduct during discharging duty......................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JSC8yMDEyLzAxLzA1I0FyMDA4MDM=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Jammu and Kashmir firing incident ...... A tricky question before the government

CISF claims AFSPA cover

Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jan 4, 2012, 04.48AM IST

NEW DELHI: CISF's preliminary report on Monday's incident at a North Kashmir power plant said on Tuesday that its men opened fire only when a mob attempted to vandalize the premises after ransacking the peripheral security blockades.

The report, sent to the Union home ministry after a day-long visit of CISF chief N R Das to the spot, said though the CISF men strictly followed the standard operating procedure before opening fire, the force needed to conduct an independent parallel probe into the incident without interfering with the police probe. Das will submit his 'detailed' report to home secretary R K Singh on Wednesday.

"Five CISF personnel have been arrested in connection with the firing. A case has been registered and the law will take its own course," said a CISF official.

CISF officials privy to the report and the nature of the incident, however, pointed out there was a need to go into 'finer' legal points before taking action against their personnel who fired at the mob. They said even if their men were not on counter-insurgency duty, their conduct can be covered under the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) - in contrast to what J&K CM Omar Abdullah said after the incident on Monday. Reacting to the incident, Omar had tweeted on Monday that there would be no protection under AFSPA for the five arrested CISF personnel as they weren't on counter-insurgency deployment.

Officials here, however, said though no one was denying strict action against the CISF personnel, there was a need to clarify on the issue whether they would be tried under the local laws or under the CISF Act, which has provisions of punishing guilty for such an action during discharging duty.

An official pointed out that since the AFSPA is an area-specific law, the CISF personnel who were on 'static' duty would also be covered under it leading to application of the CISF Act in their case...............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMDEvMDQjQXIwMTEwMw==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Prohibition of cow slaughter .... MP, Gujarat, J&K and Chhattisgarh

President nod to MP cow slaughter bill

Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jan 1, 2012, 03.38AM IST

NEW DELHI: In a departure from past practice in dealing with politically sensitive issues in BJP states, President Pratibha Patil gave her assent to the Madhya Pradesh Prohibition of Cow Slaughter (amendment) Bill 2010 meant to raise the quantum of punishment for offenders and shift the burden to prove innocence to accused.

The amended Bill - Madhya Pradesh Govansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sansodhan) Vidheyeal 2010 - was sent for Presidential assent last year. In the past, the Centre has been chary of clearing "hindutva related" issues referred by BJP ruled states.

Under the amended Bill, which is the improvised version of the existing Prohibition of Cow Slaughter Act 2004, the punishment for cow slaughter will be at least a year and maximum seven years along with fine of Rs 5,000. Earlier, the punishment for such an offence was three years of imprisonment or fine of Rs 10,000 or both.

The amended legislation has also made the provision of punishment for offences like storing or transporting beef with a minimum term of six months, which can be extended up to three years.

The 2004 law had not spelt out any minimum jail term for such an offence, making it possible for offenders to get away with their crime by paying stipulated fine. Besides the BJP-ruled MP cow slaughter and storing or transportation of beef are currently banned in other states like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and J&aK.

Officials, privy to the development, said the MP Bill had got Presidential assent as it was just an 'amended legislation' unlike the Karnataka Bill which was a newly drafted legislation that was passed by the state Assembly only last year........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMDEvMDEjQXIwMTEwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom