26/11 clearly exposed the state of the intelligence sharing mechanism in the country. The Mumbai Police reportedly did not get the intelligence even though central agencies had specific inputs of the threats to the city.
"The MAC which has now become operational on a 24x7 basis will remove such difficulties of coordination in future. Any intelligence received by a central agency will automatically be transferred, under the new system, to the state police through a compueterized system", said a senior home ministry official.
The MAC, incidentally, became functional on the day when President Pratibha Patil gave her assent to the law for setting up yet another central body -- the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The NIA, being set up to investigate terror-related cases across the country, will come into being from January 1 and will be headed by a director-general level police officer.
"The order constituting the NIA will be issued on Thursday," Union home minister P Chidambaram said while addressing a press conference, hours after the President gave her assent to the NIA Bill as also to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, which have now become law.
The home minister said: "As and when any case is assigned to NIA, it will take up investigation. The director-general of the new agency will be named in the next few days."
Replying to a question, Chidambaram said that cases to be taken up by NIA would be decided by a committee of two judges, who would decide the merit of each case within seven working days and the government would take a decision in as many days. The evidence provided by the agency would also be vetted by an independent committee comprising two retired judges, he added.
On the probe into the Mumbai attacks, he said: "Investigations are progressing on the right track."
Referring to other measures being taken by the government to fight terrorism, he said work was in progress to set up 20 counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism schools across the country, besides the setting up of four regional hubs of the National Security Guard (NSG).
About MAC, which was established on December 6, 2001, the home minister admitted that the Centre has not been able to fully achieve its objectives.
"Accordingly, an executive order has been issued today under which MAC has been obliged to share intelligence with all other intelligence agencies, including agencies of the state government and Union Territories (UTs)," said Chidambaram who would review its overall functioning in a special meeting on Thursday.
Subsidiaries of MAC (SMAC) have been established in many state capitals. In due course, SMACs for intelligence coordination at the local level will be established in every state capital.
About strengthening the IB, the home minister said that sanction has been accorded to the bureau to fill up the vacancies in the executive cadre on an priority basis. Ten officers of SP, DIG and IG levels have been appointed to the IB against vacancies, he added.
Chidambaram said that 20,000 bullet proof jackets for central paramilitary forces were also being procured.
As for other measures, he said financial allocation has been made for constructing 27 new border roads on the Sino-India border. Instructions have been issued to complete the preparatory work so that work can begin on May 1, 2009. Besides, Rs 94.15 crore has been released for securing critical infrastructure in naxal-affected areas under a new scheme of the home ministry.
Referring to peace efforts in the north-east, the home minister said that all militant groups engaged in peace negotiations with the government must observe the ground rules in "letter and spirit".
"Suspension of operations should be observed in letter and spirit. We do not accept any group indulging in violence, whether they are naxals or others," he said when asked about the involvement of the Bodo militant group NDFB in the October 30 serial blasts in Assam.
Chidambaram, who will visit Assam on Friday to review the security situation in the north-east, said the CBI has taken over the cases related to the Assam blasts that claimed over 85 lives. It has started the investigations.