Amit Shah chairs high-level meet on internal security
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to assess the internal security situation in the country, and stressed on the threats of terrorism and the need for coordination among central and state agencies.
The meeting was attended by top officials of central agencies and forces apart from polic e officials of various states through video conference.
“Highlighting the continued threats of terrorism and global terror groups, terror financing, narco-terrorism, organised crime-terror nexus, illicit use of cyber space, movement of foreign terrorist fighters, etc. Home Minister stressed upon the need for better coordination and synergy among the central and state security agencies in countering the ever-changing CT and security challenges,” a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.
The meeting was held just days after security forces said there were indications that last month’s Ludhiana court blast was linked to Khalistani and narco-terror elements operating from Pakistan. One person died and several others were injured in the blast inside the Ludhiana District Court Complex on December 23.
Sources said Monday’s meeting was a periodic review organised by the Multi Agency Centre of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), but it was not routine for a home minister to attend it.
“The last time a home minister attended the MAC meeting was in 2012. So that way, it’s significant, in the sense that the home minister wants to keep a close eye on the intelligence sharing mechanism of the country and wants to keenly watch internal security developments,” a Home Ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.
MAC is the nodal agency for exchange of intelligence collected by various agencies and police forces across the country.
The officials, however, added that the meeting did not zoom in on any single issue. “No particular case or incident was focus of the meeting. Various issues concerning internal security of the country were discussed,” another official said, requesting anonymity.
The meeting was also attended by intelligence wings of armed forces, revenue and financial intelligence agencies attended the meeting.
