Maintaining that the Government is committed to strengthen and empower the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to fight terrorism more effectively, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said more offices of the terror investigation agency will be opened and equipped with latest hi-tech gadgetry. He was addressing the NIA Day function here.
Meanwhile, delivering key note address at Radha Vinoda Raju Memorial lecture on the occasion, Jammu & Kashmir Governor NN Vohra suggested creating a separate Ministry out of the Home Ministry to handle security-related issues along with a separate cadre of specialised officers to man it.
The Home Minister, who was present, welcomed the suggestion of a separate cadre of officers but remained silent about the specialised Ministry.
Speaking about the recent infiltrations by terror groups through International Border (IB), including the recent attack on Pathankot airbase, Vohra said BSF with its limited capacities cannot guard the borders which is a long stretch of over 200 to 250 kilometres including the Punjab IB.
He said the attack on Dina Nagar Police Station in Gurdaspur could have been avoided, if the previous terror attacks were subjected to a tight investigation. “...And if Dina Nagar would have been properly investigated, Pathankot, I am sure, would have been almost impossible because we would have been able to know the routes taken by the terror groups to infiltrate the IB. I also hold very strongly that IB is not well guarded,” said Vohra, who has been the Governor of the border State for last eight years.
The Governor, who has also served as the Union Home and Defence Secretary besides Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister in 1997, maintained that he had informed the centre about it. “I think there are issues... But we need to do much more. BSF, with its present capacities, cannot safeguard IB which is long stretch of over 200 to 250 kilometres almost including the border in Punjab. It is a difficult area and we need to look at that,” Vohra reiterated.
Speaking on the occasion, Director General, NIA Sharad Kumar said that two more NIA centres will soon be set up at Raipur and Jammu. He said the NIA has a success rate of 95 per cent in investigation and 92 per cent conviction rate in 119 cases handed over to the NIA since its institution in 2009, which lends credibility to the forefront investigation agency dealing with terrorism incidents. late Radha Vinoda Raju was the first chief of NIA, which was set up after the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attacks.