Terror is terror, unfair to give religious labels to terrorism: Union Home Secretary

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi is a 1978-batch Rajasthan cadre officer IAS officer.

New DelhI: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi on Wednesday said that the Centre would not interfere if the National Investigation Agency ​(NIA) needed to arrest Hurriyat Conference leaders in Jammu and Kashmir to probe terror funding.

At the same time, he also took objection to the term 'Hindu terror' and giving religious labels to terrorism.

Mehrishi told a TV channel that terror was terror and it did not matter as to what religion it belonged to.

He emphasised that it was unfair to call acts of terrorism as 'Hindu terror, saffron terror or green terror'.

The Home Secretary pointed out that investigations by NIA go through a court process and the judiciary does not have to accept everything submitted by the agency.

Talking about the situation in J&K, Mehrishi said that the government would not interfere if the NIA needed to arrest Hurriyat Conference leaders in order to probe terror funding from Pakistan.

On the issue of cross-border trade, he told News18 that “under and over invoicing of cross-border trade goods" was known to the government and it would be dealt on a case-to-case basis.

However, Mehrishi clarified that there was no proposal to ban cross-border trade between the neighbouring countries.

Regarding Supreme Court order seeking NIA investigation in ‘love jihad’, he said that it could not be said as of now whether allurement was being offered for religious conversion or if it was linked to terror in any ways.

Mehrishi, a 1978-batch Rajasthan cadre officer IAS officer, will demit office tomorrow.