Terrorist activities declined significantly under Modi: NIA DG

NEW DELHI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General Dinkar Gupta on Friday said that terrorist activities have declined significantly in the country in the last eight years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"It's an honour for me to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sir, your zero-tolerance policy to terrorism, the whole of government approach, along with the strong and resolute leadership provided by you has brought about a remarkable change in the security scenario of the country," NIA DG said while addressing the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Countering Financing of Terrorism.

Lauding the Centre's zero-tolerance policy to terrorism, Dinkar Gupta said, "It has brought a "remarkable change" in the security scenario of the country." He further emphasized that the policies of the government have cut off financing and other forms of support provided to terror activities.

"There has been a significant reduction in terrorist activities in India during the leadership of PM Modi in the last eight years. There has also been a large decrease in the overall economic impact of terrorism in India during this period," he added.

The conference provides a unique platform for participating nations and organizations to deliberate on the effectiveness of the current international regime on Counter Terrorism Financing as well as the steps required to address emerging challenges. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the two-day conference and stressed the need to focus on organised crime, stating that "one of the sources of terror funding is organised crime."

"One of the sources of terror funding is organised crime. Organised crime should not be seen in isolation," PM Modi said while addressing the two-day 3rd edition of the 'No Money For Terror' Ministerial Conference here. "These gangs often have deep links with terrorist outfits. The money made in gun-running, drugs and smuggling is pumped into terrorism. These groups help with logistics and communication too," the PM said.

The Prime Minister also emphasised that action against organised crime is an extremely important step in the fight against terror, seeking global collaboration in the fight.

"Action against organised crime is extremely important in the fight against terror. At times, even activities like money laundering and financial crimes have been known to help terror funding. Fighting it needs global collaboration," PM Modi said.

In such a complex environment, the Prime Minister said the United Nations Security Council, Financial Action Task Force, Financial Intelligence Units, and the Egmont Group, are boosting cooperation in the prevention, detection and prosecution of illegal fund flows.

"This is helping the war against terror in many ways over the past two decades. This also helps in understanding terror funding risks," he said.

It is being attended by about 450 delegates from across the world, including Ministers, Heads of Multilateral organisations and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Heads of Delegations. During the Conference, deliberations will be held in four sessions which will focus on 'Global Trends in Terrorism and Terrorist Financing', 'Use of Formal and Informal Channels of Funds for Terrorism', 'Emerging Technologies and Terrorist Financing' and 'International Co-operation to Address Challenges in Combating Terrorist Financing'.

The Prime Minister further said the "dynamics of terrorism are changing now" and that "rapidly advancing technology is both a challenge and a solution".

"New kinds of technology are being used for terror financing and recruitment. Challenges from the dark net, private currencies and more are emerging. There is a need for a uniform understanding of new finance technologies. It is also important to involve the private sector in these efforts. From a uniform understanding, a unified system of checks, balances and regulations can emerge. But we must be careful about one thing. The answer is not to demonise technology. Instead, it is to use technology to track, trace and tackle terrorism," the Prime Minister said.

A total of 78 countries and multilateral organisations, including Ministers from 20 countries are participating in the two-day conference being organised on November 18 and November 19 here in the national capital.

The conference will build on the gains and learnings of the previous two conferences held in Paris in April 2018 and in Melbourne in November 2019. It will also work towards enhancing global cooperation to deny finances to terrorists and access to permissive jurisdictions to operate.