Outdated law systems hamper India's fight: US

Washington, Aug 6: India remains one of the most terrorism-afflicted nations, facing threats from groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan and Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami in Bangladesh, said a new US report.

India was the focus of numerous attacks from both externally and internally based terrorist organizations, the report said, "although clearly committed to combating terrorism, the Indian government"s counterterrorism efforts remained hampered by its outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems."

Although there were no large-scale assaults similar to the LeT led Nov 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai, officials warned that "India remained at risk on the basis of the volume of credible threats the government continued to receive", the State Department said in its Congressionally mandated Country Reports on Terrorism 2009.

However,in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, India"s parliament has introduced bills to restructure its counterterrorism laws and established a National Investigation Agency (NIA) to create a national-level capability to investigate and prosecute acts of terrorism, it said.

"The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province, southern Punjab, and other parts of Pakistan continued to be used as safe havens for Al Qaeda terrorists, Afghan insurgents, and other terrorist groups," it said.

Al Qaeda provided some facilitation, training, and funding while maintaining its safe haven in Pakistan, it noted.

OneIndia News