Arun Jaitley congrats NIA over crackdown on new ISIS module

Defending a recent government order on monitoring all computers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday congratulated the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the arrest of 10 members of an ISIS-inspired group allegedly planning a terror attack.

In a series of tweet, Arun Jaitley said, “Well done NIA for cracking the dangerous terrorist module.” In another tweet, he asked, “Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications?”

Well done NIA for cracking the dangerous terrorist module.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications?

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

Taking a dig at Congress, the Finance Minister further said, “Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government?  Surely George Orwell was not born in May, 2014.” “National security and sovereignty are paramount.  Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated State,” he tweeted.

Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA Government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May, 2014.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

National security and sovereignty are paramount. Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation – not in a terrorist dominated State.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 27, 2018

On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with Uttar Pradesh and Delhi Police carried out a high-voltage search in 16 locations of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and arrested 5 persons. The NIA conducted the search in connection with its probe into a new module of terror group ISIS.

Notably, the tweets from Arun Jaitley comes days after Congress and other opposition parties attacked the government’s order, empowering 10 agencies to intercept and monitor data in computers and even seize devices.

On Thursday last week, the Home Ministry issued an order granting ten central intelligence and security agencies access to information stored, received or transmitted in computers. According to the government’s notification, 10 Central probe and snoop agencies are now empowered under the Information Technology (IT) Act for computer interception and analysis.

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