The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (February 23, 2026) released the country’s first-ever anti-terror policy, emphasising that other than terror sponsored from across the border, “criminal hackers and nation states continue to target India through cyber-attacks.”
The policy said that India faces terrorist threats on all three fronts — water, land and air — and capacities have been developed to protect the critical sectors of the Indian economy, including power, railways, aviation, ports, defence, space and atomic energy, from State/non-State actors.
Also read: Analyse past year’s terror cases and boost capabilities: Amit Shah at anti-terror conference
The Hindu first reported on December 23, 2025 that the National Counter Terrorism Policy and Strategy has been finalised and will be released soon.
The policy named “PRAHAAR, uploaded on MHA’s website, stated that “India does not link terrorism to any specific religion, ethnicity, nationality or civilisation.”
It added that India has long been affected by “sponsored terrorism” from across the border, with “Jihadi terror outfits as well as their frontal organisations” continuing to plan, coordinate, facilitate and execute terror attacks in India.
“India has been on the target of global terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which have been trying to incite violence in the country through sleeper cells,” adding that violent extremists operating from foreign countries have hatched conspiracies to promote terrorism.
Opinion | Why the global counter-terrorism order fails India
“Their handlers from across the border frequently use the latest technologies, including the use of drones, for facilitating terror-related activities and attacks in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Increasingly, terrorist groups are engaging organised criminal networks for logistics and recruitment to execute and facilitate terror strikes in India,” the policy said.
It further said that for propaganda, communication, funding and guiding terror attacks, these terror groups use social media platforms as well as ‘instant messaging applications’ and technological advancements such as encryption, the dark web, crypto wallets, etc. Have allowed these groups to operate anonymously.
“Disrupting/Intercepting terrorist efforts to access and use CBRNED (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive, Digital) material remains a challenge for Counter Terrorism (CT) agencies. The threat of state and non-state actors misusing drones and robotics for lethal purposes remains another area of concern.”
As a way forward, the policy suggested that to make appropriate cases against the perpetrators of acts of terrorism, there is a need to associate legal experts at every stage of investigation, right from the registration of FIR to its culmination in prosecution.
“Terrorist groups based outside nowadays use the infrastructure, logistics and terrain knowledge of local outfits for launching attacks. National actions, coupled with international and regional cooperation, are key elements in addressing the transnational terrorism challenge,” it said.
MHA said that terrorist groups are continuously making efforts to recruit Indian youth and to thwart these efforts, Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been continuously disrupting the designs of terrorist groups.
“Once identified, these youths undergo a graded police response, aimed at comprehensively addressing the problem of radicalisation and violent extremism in a multi-stakeholder setting. Legal action is initiated against the individual based on their level of radicalisation,” the Ministry’s new policy said.
Underscoring the role of community and religious leaders, the policy stated that moderate preachers and NGOs are engaged to spread awareness about the adverse consequences and impacts of radicalisation and extremist violence.
“Besides, youth are constructively engaged in ensuring that issues that may threaten peace and communal harmony are checked. In order to prevent radicalisation in prisons, prison staff are cautioned from time to time to prevent acts of radicalisation of vulnerable inmates by hardcore inmates. De-radicalisation programmes are also undertaken,” MHA said.
Published – February 23, 2026 02:46 pm IST
