India must set up anti-terrorism ministry: Experts

JAMMU: A team of security experts today said there was a need to strengthen the anti-terrorism mechanism in the country and the Union government must set up a separate " anti-terrorism ministry".

"The Union Home Ministry is already overburdened and there is an immediate need to establish a full-fledged anti terrorism ministry in the country," said Maj Gen Raj Mehta (retd).

He was addressing the inaugural function of Jammu and Kashmir chapter of Forum for Awareness of National Security (FANS) here today.

He said that India needs to stand firm on its nuclear doctrine of "no first use" of the nuclear assets, as such bombs were not meant for fighting war but as war deterrents.

Speaking on the occasion Ashok Bhan, former Director General of J&K Police (Intelligence), advocated that in every state of the country a specialised anti-terrorism police station must be established and all the anti-terrorism agencies must work in synergy with that police station.

"The need is to set up a joint terrorism task force and establish an anti-terrorism police station in every state and other anti-terrorism agencies must work around it. All the agencies need to be brought under one umbrella," he said.

Earlier, while speaking on the function, Ghulam Mohammed Bhat an eminent Geologist said that China controls a large part of water that flows into India from that country.

"As China continues to build dams on rivers like Brahmaputra it can lead to a large scale disaster in India and if the water flow stops from the river it could be a threat to national security as it would lead to mass migration," Bhat said.