NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Friday said a group of foreigners — including one American citizen and six Ukrainians — arrested recently by NIA from Kolkata, Lucknow and Delhi did not pose any threat to India, but were trying to use the country as a transit point to Myanmar for terror training.“They were caught as they were planning to transit through Mizoram into Myanmar, where insurgent bases would be used to impart training to the Ukrainians. They did not take the necessary advance permit required by foreigners to enter Mizoram,” Shah said.This is the first time a govt functionary has clarified on record that the group’s interest lay in Myanmar and India was merely a transit point.“No threat was posed to India’s security. It is our policy that any foreigner who visits India for any wrong act will not be spared,” he said.
Asked about the March 31, 2026 deadline to defeat Naxalism, the home minister said it was not about victory or loss but stopping attacks and blasts that, in former PM Manmohan Singh’s words, made it the biggest internal security threat.He said under PM Modi, Naxalism has been curbed significantly, with development now reaching tribal regions across the Tirupati-Pashupatinath corridor.
