MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI HARIBHAI PARATHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)
(a): The Islamic State (IS)/ Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/ Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/ Daesh has been notified as a Terrorist Organization and included in the First Schedule of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 by the Central Government. The outfit uses both positive and negative imagery to attract recruits from across the world. However, it has influenced/attracted very few youth from India.
(b): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the State Police in some States have registered cases and arrested some active cadres affiliated to ISIS in the recent past. So far, NIA has arrested 24 accused (Jammu & Kashmir – 01, Karnataka - 07, Madhya Pradesh – 01, Maharashtra – 07, Tamil Nadu -01, Telangana – 04 and Uttar Pradesh – 03) in the cases being investigated by the agency.
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(c): The ISIS funding in India is mostly through the self-financing mechanism. However, Hawala channel has also been used in one or two instances to raise funds.
The Government has a well established strategy and institutional mechanism to effectively deal with terrorist financing and money laundering problem. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) are effective instrumentalities to combat offences relating to Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering. A special Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Cell has been created in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2011, to coordinate with the Central Intelligence/ Enforcement Agencies and the State Law Enforcement Agencies for an integrated approach to tackle the problem of terror funding. A Terror Funding and Fake Currency Cell has also been set up in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate Terror Funding cases.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 has been strengthened by amendments in 2013 which inter-alia includes enlarging the scope of proceeds of terrorism to include any property
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intended to be used for terrorism, enlarging the scope of Section 17 relating to punishment for raising funds for terrorist act by including within its scope, raising of funds both from legitimate or illegitimate sources by a terrorist organization, terrorist gang or by an individual terrorist, and includes within its scope offences by companies, societies or trusts.
The PMLA has also been strengthened in 2013 by incorporating the provisions relating to removing the monetary threshold for schedule offences, strengthening confiscation and provisional attachment powers with regard to money laundering investigation, covering new financial institutions and designated non-financial business and professions within the scope of PMLA, enhancing the powers of Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to access information from banks and financial institutions and introduction of broad range of sanctions under PMLA including sanctions against designated Directors and employees of reporting entities. Thus, both PMLA and UAPA have sufficiently stringent provisions to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
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(d) & (e): The ISIS is using various internet based platforms for propaganda and to propagate its ideology. The Intelligence and Security agencies monitor the cyber space closely to identify potential recruits and keep them under surveillance and take further action, if necessary.
In order to assess the threat posed by ISIS/ISIL and to devise a national strategy to deal with it, meetings have been held by the Ministry of Home Affairs with all the Central agencies concerned and the State Governments on 01.08.2015 and 16.01.2016 respectively.
The government has taken all necessary measures to counter the incipient threat posed by the ISIS and further details cannot be disclosed in the interest of national security.
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