National security advisor Ajit Doval expressed concern that various agencies - the Army, Intelligence Bureau, RAW and the NIA - were not working in tandem. He said there is a need for single counter-terrorist agency.
New Delhi: One of the biggest hurdles in fighting terrorism is the lack of one central counter-terrorism agency, said National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
He was speaking at the two-day NIA's national conference of chiefs of Anti-Terrorism Squad and Special Task Force (STF) on Monday and expressed concern that various agencies such as the Army, Intelligence Bureau, RAW and the NIA were "not working in tandem".
Physical action against terrorists, intelligence gathering and investigation of terrorism cases were not in tandem, he added.
He pressed for one single counter-terrorist agency that merges all the three components that are currently not working as one.
"I am happy that many states have ATS, STF and other specialised agencies that have a dual advantage. It has been my personal view that there could be one single counter-terrorist agency which could have all the three components integrated and merged but for some reasons that doesn't happen," Doval said.
"But in the states, their STF are collecting some amount of intelligence, taking physical action and if they contribute to the investigation of the cases, probably that helps," Doval added.
"Physical action only counters what is in the present while what happens in future is decided by what the course of the investigation is, what happens in court-of-law as the terrorists have to be established as criminals," said the NSA.
"What Army might be doing in Jammu and Kashmir, or IB or RAW doing somewhere or NIA is doing, probably where is the connect?" he questioned.
Ajit Doval praised NIA and said that impact that NIA has been able to make against terrorism in Kashmir is more than any other agency.
(With inputs from ANI)
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