Hands tied in terror fight: PM calls for new federal agency, CJI for tough laws

Bagdogra, New Delhi, May 17:Days after the Jaipur serial blasts and with his government under pressure for its dismal record in cracking terror cases, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reiterated the need for the creation of a federal crime agency, a proposal, he said, had not taken off because states were reluctant to “surrender (their) powers.”
The PM’s remarks came the same day that Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said, at a function in New Delhi, that “stringent laws” were required to fight terrorism. He said the government had a “responsibility” to protect innocent citizens. According to a news agency report, Justice Balakrishnan said these laws were needed since earlier anti-terror legislation, including POTA and TADA, were withdrawn following alleged misuse of some of their provisions.
Earlier, the Prime Minister, on his way back from Bhutan, said in Bagdogra that parties should not politicise incidents of terrorism and the Congress and the BJP should “put their heads together” to see how the problem could be addressed.
Asked whether the Jaipur blasts were because of intelligence failure — the city had never been on a terror alert — the Prime Minister said that the “reality” is that terrorists “can surprise us.” He said that no one talked about the role of the intelligence establishment when attacks are prevented but questions are only raised when such incidents happen. Singh said that a federal agency was needed because terrorism and several white-collar crimes have inter-state aspects. He said that states were wary of such an agency since that would mean a loss of their powers. Making it clear that he was not blaming states, Singh said that the time had come for a close look at the issue.
Asked about the letter written to him by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a conference with Chief Ministers to discuss terrorism, the Prime Minister said he had already convened several such meetings on internal security, the recent one being on Naxalism. The PM’s remarks come shortly before the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), headed by Veerappa Moily, is deliberating over a new set of proposals to tackle terrorism, including changes in the National Security Act aimed at increasing the Centre’s role in tackling terror. The goal is to give as much teeth to law-enforcing agencies as was given by POTA but avoid provisions relating to violation of human rights. The ARC is also studying “lacunae” in the Evidence Act and “harmonizing” the 19 existing laws on security, besides the Indian Penal Code.

Express News Service
Posted online: Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 0018 hrs
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