NEW DELHI, Jan 19:
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today 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.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present on the occassion, welcomed the suggestion of a separate cadre of officers but remained silent about the specialised Ministry.
In his key note address on the seventh NIA Day, Vohra said to tackle situations like Pathankot attack, a dedicated pool of officers having expertise in various aspects of national security should be created and be named as National Security Administrative Service.
He said he had proposed during the first NDA Government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee the creation of a separate Ministry of National Security out of the Home Ministry to be led by leaders like Rajnath Singh and manned by specialists of National Security Administrative Service.
Later, in his address, Rajnath Singh said Vohra has given a welcome suggestion of raising a cadre of National Security Administrative Services to handle security related matter.
“I will discuss the matter soon,” he said.
Terming terrorism as a global menace, Singh said India will stand by any alliance of countries which is ready to take on this challenge.
“Terrorism is not only a challenge for this country but a global challenge. India stands with countries who are ready to accept this challenge. India is part of every treaty in this regard,” he said.
The Home Minister said the country has faced many challenges including from foreign invaders but has always maintained its sovereignity and unity.
“However, difficult the challenges may be now, no one will be able to put a question mark over country’s unity and soverignity. I can assure you that,” he said.
Lauding the role of NIA, Singh said the agency has performed its duties in a professional manner.
“I have information (that) prosecution success rate is 95 per cent and 92 per cent conviction rate. Excellent. But I feel that NIA like organisation needs more manpower. Many offices are yet to set up. Once offices are complete, the NIA’s efficiency will certainly increase,” he said.
Earlier, speaking on the occasion, NIA Director Sharad Kumar said NIA is probing cases pertain to Jehadi terror, northeast insurgent groups, fake currency, terror financing and Left wing extremism.
“The investigations into these cases require persistent efforts by dedicated team of investigators to piece together diverse threads of deep rooted conspiracies which many a times are spread across various States and several countries,” he said, cautioning that threats to our security from local and trans-national terrorists still linger.
“I can assure all of you that the NIA will continue to work in an efficient fashion in detecting and prosecuting terrorism related offences, but will also deter and prevent such crimes through efficient and professional investigations,” he said.
Vohra said Pathankot terror strike could have been prevented if lessons were learnt from previous terror strikes with a main focus on securing country’s International Border with Pakistan which is not yet “well guarded”.
Speaking about the recent infiltrations by terror groups through International Border (IB), including the recent attack on Pathankot air base, Vohra said BSF with its limited capacities cannot guard the borders which is a long stretch of over 200 to 250 kilometers including the Punjab IB.
The Governor noted that the five-six terror attacks which took place from September 2013 onwards via Kathua through the IB, part of which falls in Jammu and Kashmir, should have been followed up as closely as the Pathankot attack.
He said that the attack on Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur could have been avoided, if the previous terror attacks were subjected to a tight investigation.
“…And if Dinanagar 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,” Vohra, who has been the Governor of the border State for last eight years, said.
The Governor, who has also served as 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.
He was replying to a question over the reluctance of State Governments in handing over terror cases to Central probe agencies. Punjab Government had refused to hand over the Dina Nagar police station attack probe to NIA.
The July 2015 terror attack on a police station in Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district of Punjab resulted in 10 deaths, including that of three terrorists. Superintendent of Police Baljeet Singh was also killed in the attack.
Highlighting the sensational issue of sabotage of national security related decisions, Vohra said, “Considering the level of sabotage and subversion which have progressively got established in our country, in our systems, various actions and decisions taken with regard to national security, enforcement have the high potential of being sabotaged”.
The Governor was posed a question by an NIA officer who claimed that the Malda riots in West Bengal were carried out by people with criminal intent who destroyed records of a police station so that when NIA takes over, there are no document and evidence to pursue the probe.
Vohra replied that he had seen such sabotage during his tenure in various capacities in Punjab, during post Blue Star period, and in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The point that you made about certain elements in the State system, whether among the public or the criminal elements or elements within the State police who would subvert the NIA’s objectives—by burning records or doing things like that so that when it comes to prosecuting an offence, you don’t have the wherewithal, you don’t have the evidence.. This is bound to happen,” he said.
Vohra also suggested that a separate Ministry should be carved out from the Home Ministry to deal with national security related incidents and a separate cadre of officials who are specially trained to handle these issues be raised to man the proposed ministry.
The Governor asserted that in the wake of terror attacks, standard operating procedures must be strictly followed. (PTI)
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