Manesar, Oct 14: Operation Sindoor ensured the devastation of headquarters, training centres and launchpads of terrorist groups in Pakistan, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday, asserting that no place is safe for terrorists anymore.
Addressing the 41st Raising Day of the anti-terror ‘Black Cat’ commando force National Security Guard (NSG) here, Shah also said the Indian security forces are resolutely determined to go to the depths of the Earth to punish every act of terror.
“Operation Sindoor has ensured the devastation of Pakistani terror headquarters, their training centres and launchpads… In Operation Mahadev, our security forces carried out precise action to eliminate the terrorists who carried out the terror attack in Pahalgam. It has further strengthened the confidence of the citizens in the security forces,” he said.
Under Operation Sindoor, the Indian defence forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in May, following an attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, which claimed 26 lives.
The home minister said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism.
If one analyses the government’s campaign against terrorists carefully, from abolishing Article 370 (which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir) to the surgical strike, air strike and Operation Sindoor, it will become clear that the security forces have hit at the very roots of terrorists and terror groups, Shah said.
“No matter whereever the terrorists hide, our security forces have proven that no place is safe for terrorists anymore. Our soldiers are resolutely determined to go to the depths of the Earth to punish every act of terror,” he said.
Since 2019, he said, the central government has taken a number of steps to protect the country from terror threats.
These include amendments to Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, besides actively pursuing cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Enforcement Directorate to investigate the terrorist funding, he added.
Shah said the government has also established a system for scientific investigation of terror funding, banned the terror group Popular Front of India (PFI), and strengthened the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) for gathering and sharing intelligence inputs on terror groups across the country.
“For the first time, we have defined terrorism in the new criminal laws and filled the gaps previously found in the courts. So far, we have declared more than 57 individuals and numerous organisations as unlawful,” he said.
The home minister said the NSG has conducted a reconnaissance of 770 important places across the country including religious sites, inland water routes and the Parliament as part of its drill to plan for emergency situations at these places.
NSG Director General (DG) Brighu Srinivasan said the force was preparing 3D models of these structures.
Over the years, he said, the NSG has fought a very significant battle against organised crime and terrorism in the country.
The NSG has protected the nation with its bravery in several serious attacks since 1984. These include Operation Ashwamedh, Operation Vajra Shakti and Operation Dhangu Suraksha, Srinivasan said.
Home Minister Shah said that seeing the bravery of the NSG, every citizen of the country feels that the security of the nation is in very safe hands. “The entire country takes pride in the bravery of the NSG. I extend my very best wishes to NSG soldiers for this.”
The NSG is a federal contingency force under the Union home ministry. It was raised in 1984 and its ‘Black Cat’ commandos are tasked with specific counter-terrorist and counter-hijack operations, apart from protecting high-risk VIPs.
Shah said the government is going to set up a hub of the NSG — the sixth of the force — in the temple town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.
The five existing NSG hubs are Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Gandhinagar. There is a small unit of these commandos stationed in Jammu too and it is known as ‘task force’.
The home minister also laid the foundation stone of a special operation training centre of the NSG which will be constructed at a cost of Rs 141 crore in an area spanning eight acres.
This state-of-the-art training centre will not only be for the NSG, but will also train personnel of anti-terrorist squads from across the country.
This will further strengthen the country’s fight against terrorism, Shah said. (Agencies)
