While opening the NIA office in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the government has "left no stone unturned" in building the anti-terror investigation agency and reiterating the "zero-tolerance policy" towards terrorism and left-wing extremism.
He also underlined the need to tighten anti-terrorism laws and set a goal of 100% conviction rates. The Home Minister praised the NIA for becoming a "primary anti-terror agency" in the globe and set the goal of increasing the conviction rate from the existing 94.23 percent to 100 percent.
“We’ve zero-tolerance toward left-wing extremism and terrorism. We have left no stone unturned in strengthening NIA. As part of our zero-tolerance policy against terrorism, we have made every possible effort to share terrorism-related information with the states irrespective of the political party. The laws that are against the activities that support terrorism have to be strengthened, and the target to achieve a 100 per cent conviction rate has to be set. The NIA has achieved success in bringing up the conviction rate that had slipped to 75 per cent in 2014 to 94.23 per cent,” Speaking at the ceremony, where Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was also present, he stated.
“I believe that the NIA has achieved success in fulfilling all the aims of its establishment with dignity,” Shah added. "The Modi government has pledged to uproot the left-wing extremism also which has now narrowed down to very few districts. In 2009, 2258 incidents had taken place. There has been 77 per cent decline in the incidents in 2021 which came down to 509," he said.
The Home Minister described the NIA branches that had been established in various states at the time and stated that the government intended to establish a branch in each state before the start of the upcoming general elections in 2024. “We have tried to free Kashmir from terrorism completely after the formation of our government at the Centre. Peace is seen in the region after the abrogation of Article 370. We can see the absolute power of our agencies in controlling terror activities today,” he said.