New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday inaugurated the third anti-terror conference in New Delhi, where intelligence and investigation agencies of the country will discuss current and emerging threats to the national security, including violent activities and funding of pro-Khalistani extremists (PKEs) operating from foreign soil.

Shah asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to develop a common training module for all central and state level counter-terrorism agencies to bring uniformity to the methodology of fighting terrorism, a statement issued by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said.

“Shah said that now the time has come to work from ‘need to know’ to ‘need to share’ and ‘duty to share’ approach,” the statement said.

Shah asked agencies to establish a model anti-terrorism structure under the purview of NIA. He further said that the hierarchy, structure, and standard operating procedures (SoPs) of anti-terrorism agencies in all states “should be made uniform for better coordination between central and state agencies”.

“All anti-terrorism agencies must adopt such a ruthless approach so that a new terrorist organisation cannot be formed,” the MHA statement quoting Shah added.

Besides NIA and IB, the closed-door event is being attended by various intelligence and investigating and agencies such as the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), anti-terror squads (ATS) of states, and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), among others.

People familiar with the contours of the two-day conference said that besides PKEs, gangsters and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Chinese funding of fintech companies, smuggling of drugs via maritime route, cybercrimes at critical infrastructures, use of digital currencies by terrorists, north-east insurgency and left-wing extremism (LWE) will also be discussed in the event.

Other issues to be taken up for discussion include unfenced land borders, mass agitations, overstaying foreigners and radical organisations.

The issue of PKEs and gangsters based in Canada, which is sheltering these wanted persons, has led to a diplomatic standoff between New Delhi and Ottawa.

“Dismantling PKEs’ network is going to be a key topic during the conference,” said an officer, requesting anonymity.

Shah also awarded medals to NIA officials for excellence in service. Those awarded includes Sonia Narang, former NIA deputy inspector general (DIG). While with NIA, Narang, who is currently posted as special director in ED, had successfully investigated February 2019 Pulwama attack and filed a charge sheet against the attackers and conspirators.

Asserting that the agencies should work in tandem, Shah said that NIA, anti-terror squads and special task forces (STFs) should not limit themselves to investigation but also think out of the box and take innovative measures to counter terrorism.

“He added that the fight against terrorism requires collaboration from the global level to the grassroots, involving various states within the country, as well as international cooperation,” the MHA said.

The minister pointed out that the government has prepared many databases related to terrorism in the last nine years, including data of 22,000 terrorist cases for monitoring under the unlawful activities prevention act (UAPA). Besides, there is data of more narco-offenders than currently available with agencies. “Apart from this, the national-level terrorism database of the NIA is also available,” Shah added.