New Delhi, February 23, 2026: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday released India’s first-ever national anti-terror policy, titled PRAHAAR, outlining a broad and multi-pronged strategy to address both conventional and emerging terrorist challenges. The document, now available on the MHA website, underscores that India faces threats not only from cross-border sponsored terrorism but also from criminal hackers and nation-states launching persistent cyber-attacks.

The policy highlights that terrorist threats now span all three domains—land, water, and air—and stresses that India has built significant capacities to safeguard critical sectors of the economy, including power, railways, aviation, ports, defence, space, and atomic energy, from both state and non-state actors. It firmly states that India does not associate terrorism with any specific religion, ethnicity, nationality, or civilisation.

The document notes that India has long suffered from sponsored terrorism originating across the border, where Jihadi terror outfits and their front organisations continue to plan, coordinate, facilitate, and execute attacks inside the country. Global groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) have repeatedly attempted to incite violence through sleeper cells and conspiracies hatched by violent extremists operating from foreign soil.

It points out that handlers across the border increasingly rely on cutting-edge technologies, including drones, to support terror activities and attacks, particularly in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. Terror groups are also collaborating with organised criminal networks for logistics, recruitment, funding, propaganda, and execution of strikes. Social media platforms, encrypted instant messaging apps, the dark web, and crypto wallets enable anonymous operations, while the misuse of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive, and digital (CBRNED) materials remains a persistent challenge for counter-terrorism agencies.

Looking ahead, the policy recommends associating legal experts from the FIR stage through to prosecution to build strong cases against perpetrators. It stresses that national efforts, combined with international and regional cooperation, are essential to tackle transnational terrorism. To counter recruitment of Indian youth, intelligence and law enforcement agencies are actively disrupting terrorist designs. Identified individuals undergo graded police responses in multi-stakeholder settings, with legal action calibrated to their level of radicalisation.

The policy underscores the vital role of community and religious leaders, engaging moderate preachers and NGOs to raise awareness about the dangers of radicalisation and extremist violence. Youth are being constructively involved to prevent threats to peace and communal harmony. In prisons, staff are regularly cautioned to stop radicalisation by hardcore inmates, and de-radicalisation programmes are actively implemented.

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