Parties call for tougher laws to deal with terror
The Opposition has said the Centre’s reluctance to incorporate strong anti-terror laws in the statute book was one of the reasons responsible for terror strikes in the country.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The Opposition, which put in the dock the “nimble-footed team” of Manmohan Singh for internal insecurity, said the Centre’s reluctance to incorporate strong anti-terror laws in the statute book was one of the reasons responsible for terror strikes in the country.
The BJP, which spearheaded the attack on the government, said it was time the ruling side abandoned the “lie” that laws like Pota eviscerated civil liberties and constitutional rights. “The existing laws are not sufficient to deal with the terror menace. The truth-challenged politicians in the ruling side fail to acknowledge that the threat comes from terror merchants, and not from men in uniform,” BJP speakers said in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who repeated the familiar “never again” declarations, said in the Lok Sabha that the political process should unitedly fight terrorism. He also promised to convene a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the issue.
Responding to the home minister’s call for a political consensus to deal with the problem, the BJP said the home minister should first ensure that law enforcers are armed with proper laws. “Bring back Pota and show your commitment in the fight against terror,” BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said.
Mr Joshi also repeated his party’s political point that under pressure from their handlers in the “politically correct” sections, the Centre was calibrating probes into terror incidents. It may be recalled that politicians from the ruling side have been willingly buying into the civil alarmists theory of an anti-minority bias in terror investgations.
Congress MP Rajiv Shukla also took the opportunity to hit out at the BSP government in UP, saying the three terrorists arrested recently had revealed during interrogation about the possibility of a major attack, and this should have been enough for authorities to act.
Predictably, the Samajwadi Party took the opportunity to attack the Mayawati government. “When the blasts took place, Ms Mayawati was in Mumbai and she said that her government had not been informed by the Centre of the threat,” said Amar Singh.
At the same time, he said, laws like Pota or UPCOCA were not the answer. Having taken a dig at the BSP government, Amar Singh advocated the need to avoid politicising terrorism and for better co-ordination between the state and the Centre.
Left leaders - Sitaram Yechury (CPM) and D Raja (CPI) - as expected found fault with anti-terror laws. They called for tougher action, better co-ordination as well as a need to streamline intelligence and intelligence agencies. Mr Yechury also took the opportunity to raise the issue of implementation of the Sachar Committee report - an opinion shared by CPM’s friends in the liberal side.
The most serious condemnation of the day came from Sharad Yadav of the JD(U), who observed that even though terrorism was causing such losses, politicians were too busy blaming each other and politicisng the issue. Calling for integrated action, Mr Yadav said, “The Centre, state governments and political parties are not working properly. What is the home ministry doing? Is it serious about dealing with terrorism.”
Taking a dig at Mayawati, who was in Mumbai at the time, Mr Yadav charged that there were no national leaders and state leaders were taking on the role of national leaders with disastrous consequences. Mr Yadav said that if Pota was unacceptable, the government should draw up a strong law to deal with terror.
He also said that terrorism has to be fough on all fronts, “If 80% of the people subsist on Rs 20 or less a day, it is not very difficult for terrorists to recruit people,” he said.
The BJP, which spearheaded the attack on the government, said it was time the ruling side abandoned the “lie” that laws like Pota eviscerated civil liberties and constitutional rights. “The existing laws are not sufficient to deal with the terror menace. The truth-challenged politicians in the ruling side fail to acknowledge that the threat comes from terror merchants, and not from men in uniform,” BJP speakers said in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who repeated the familiar “never again” declarations, said in the Lok Sabha that the political process should unitedly fight terrorism. He also promised to convene a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the issue.
Responding to the home minister’s call for a political consensus to deal with the problem, the BJP said the home minister should first ensure that law enforcers are armed with proper laws. “Bring back Pota and show your commitment in the fight against terror,” BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said.
Mr Joshi also repeated his party’s political point that under pressure from their handlers in the “politically correct” sections, the Centre was calibrating probes into terror incidents. It may be recalled that politicians from the ruling side have been willingly buying into the civil alarmists theory of an anti-minority bias in terror investgations.
Congress MP Rajiv Shukla also took the opportunity to hit out at the BSP government in UP, saying the three terrorists arrested recently had revealed during interrogation about the possibility of a major attack, and this should have been enough for authorities to act.
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Predictably, the Samajwadi Party took the opportunity to attack the Mayawati government. “When the blasts took place, Ms Mayawati was in Mumbai and she said that her government had not been informed by the Centre of the threat,” said Amar Singh.
At the same time, he said, laws like Pota or UPCOCA were not the answer. Having taken a dig at the BSP government, Amar Singh advocated the need to avoid politicising terrorism and for better co-ordination between the state and the Centre.
Left leaders - Sitaram Yechury (CPM) and D Raja (CPI) - as expected found fault with anti-terror laws. They called for tougher action, better co-ordination as well as a need to streamline intelligence and intelligence agencies. Mr Yechury also took the opportunity to raise the issue of implementation of the Sachar Committee report - an opinion shared by CPM’s friends in the liberal side.
The most serious condemnation of the day came from Sharad Yadav of the JD(U), who observed that even though terrorism was causing such losses, politicians were too busy blaming each other and politicisng the issue. Calling for integrated action, Mr Yadav said, “The Centre, state governments and political parties are not working properly. What is the home ministry doing? Is it serious about dealing with terrorism.”
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Taking a dig at Mayawati, who was in Mumbai at the time, Mr Yadav charged that there were no national leaders and state leaders were taking on the role of national leaders with disastrous consequences. Mr Yadav said that if Pota was unacceptable, the government should draw up a strong law to deal with terror.
He also said that terrorism has to be fough on all fronts, “If 80% of the people subsist on Rs 20 or less a day, it is not very difficult for terrorists to recruit people,” he said.
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