NIA reduced stone pelting incidents in Kashmir Valley: Rajnath Singh

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Lucknow on Sunday said the agency has played a significant role in reducing the stone pelting incidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rajnath Singh while inaugurating the office and residential complex of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said, "You have seen role of the NIA in Jammu and Kashmir, where incidents of stone pelting have come down. We have taken pledge for India's security and strict action is being taken for this. We will accept challenges and in the past three years incident of Naxalism, terrorism and extremism have seen a downward trend."

"We will win over Naxalism, terrorism, and extremism. In the past three years, extremism has come down by 75 per cent in the northeast and Naxalism has come down by 35-40%," Singh added.

Emphasising on "finishing terror funding sources", he said, "If we plug sources of fake currency and terror funding, it will be a big blow to terrorism. NIA is doing a great job here. Its name sends fear down the spine of those indulging in terror funding."

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present at the function said, NIA and state agencies should meet every six months for effective coordination between them.

 “There should be a meeting of NIA with state agencies every six months for the exchange of information and fill the gap, if any. There should be better coordination among different agencies,” he said.

Praising the working of NIA, he said, “NIA was founded in 2009 for effective check on terrorist activities. India is a sensitive place for terrorism as some of our neighbours have made terrorism part of their policy and it affects us.”

Adityanath said the state was working to make its Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) modern and work has started in this regard.

“We will strengthen the ATS in the future by equipping it with modern techniques,” he added.

(With PTI inputs)