Terrorism is a global threat that has been inflicting increasing harm to peaceful nations like India. The whole world was shocked by the recent incidents of brazen violence in Mumbai. Terrorism in India has moved from the realm of being an occasional nuisance to a persistent threat, and we demand immediate action to take steps to prepare India for this tragic reality. The key elements of the proposal include: 1. Create the legal framework and forces to combat this increasing threat. a) Create mechanism to convict criminals in absentia (like key Mumbai underworld chiefs living in Pakistan and Dubai) and allow extra-territorial jurisdiction to deliver justice wherever needed including hot pursuits into Occupied Kashmir. b) Create a central Anti-terrorist force, potentially converting the CRPF into this role. Terrorism is going across state lines and we need forces that can respond as such. This force needs to be governed and managed by a new central department that manages both related intelligence and the response. c) Allocate bigger and better budgets for the police - the army is to defend borders, that’s what they train for and have equipment for. Internal actions have to be done by police forces and they need to be equipped and trained for such serious threats. 2. Actively strengthen India’s secular status a) Remove the religion based laws and policies - Hindu/Parsee/ Muslim laws, disbanding of religion based law boards, religion specific programs and spending. b) Fully integrate Kashmir into India - property ownerships, business ownership and right to settle for anyone in the country. 3. Lobby for international support to bring the concerned criminals to justice a) Work with international agencies and government to pressurize Pakistan to hand over all the criminals that are hiding there to India, including Mumbai underworld chiefs and the 5 terrorists that India had to release for IC 184 hijacking, including head of LET.

Sponsor