State Dept report focuses on India's counter-terror moves

Seven major terrorist strikes in the country in 2008 — with the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai being the pivotal event — has once again earned India the dubious distinction of being “ranked among the world’s most terrorism-afflicted countries in 2008,” according to the US State Department.

In its “Country Reports on Terrorism, 2008,” released on Thursday, the State Department said India’s counter-terrorism measures are inadequate since they are “hampered by its outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems.”

As compared to the 2008 report, what is noteworthy in this year’s report, however, is the significance placed on the close coordination between counter-terror measures being taken by the US and India. The CIA and FBI have been closely interacting with their Indian counterparts to investigate last year’s Mumbai attacks.

 

India’s investigative agencies had received flak in last year’s report too.

Hence, the setting up of the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and the amending of prevailing laws to give some teeth to the police and the security establishment to combat terror have been appreciated.

The Mumbai attacks exposed the network of illicit funding through ‘hawala’ and charities, and India’s vulnerable maritime security. Since 26/11, the two countries have began dialogues to address these two issues too.

The other area of coordination India and air carriers want to work on is in screening fraudulent documentation, revealed the report. But there is room for further cooperation in terms of synchronisation of security systems. Currently, an “advance passenger information system to receive inbound passenger information from air carriers operating in India” has also been set up by India, but it is incompatible with or the US and EU systems.

Naxal violence has also found mention in the report. Interestingly, India characterises Naxal violence as a law and order problem with a socio-economic dimension to it, but the US has a divergent view, duly noting the growing “red corridor” in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal as another form of the spread of terrorism.