PM writes to states to allay NCTC dissent
India Blooms News Service
New Delhi, Feb 21 (IBNS): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday wrote letters to chief ministers of seven states, in a move to address their vocal protests against that the Central government’s upcoming anti-terror project that they say will encroach upon their administration.
Singh’s letter comes after he received letters of dissent from the chief ministers against the Centre’s move to set up National Counter Terrorism Centres or NCTCs, that is seen as a threat to law enforcement authorisatios of the state governments.
In the letter Singh has assured the state governments that their concerns about the new anti-terror agency are being addressed and said that he has nstructed the Home Ministry to address the questions raised by them.
The group seven influential chief ministers who have come out to oppose the Centre’s move include West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, an ally of the Central government, Naveen Patnaik of Odisha, Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, and Narendra Modi of Gujarat.
The chief ministers have said that the Centre should have consulted state governments before issuing an "draconian" executive order to sanction the NCTC that supposedly violates the principles of federalism.
The Prime Minister, in the letter sent on Tuesday, said, "In forming the NCTC, it is not the Government's intent in any way to affect the basic features of the Constitutional provisions and allocation of powers between the States and the Union."
"The primary purpose of the NCTC is to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country, as the Intelligence Bureau has been doing so far. It is for this reason that the NCTC has been located within the IB and not as a separate organisation," he said.
In his letter to Singh on Monday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had termed the decision to set up NCTC in states as 'hasty and unilateral' and asked the Prime Minister to re-examine the whole issue taking care of "genuine concerns" of states.
"We are all united in fighting terrorism. But it should not undermine the federal structure. It will be a dangerous game against federalism. You cannot fight terrorism without taking the state's police into confidence," he said, deriding the framework set to come into effect from March 1.
Mamata Banerjee too had written to the Prime Minister against the anti-terror set up, seen as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's pet project, saying that it will infringe upon the independence of state and weaken the federal structure of India.
Last month the union cabinet cleared the proposal for NCTCs to bolster the security architecture of the country mooted after critics pointed gaping holes in the government’s anti-terror machinery following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, that killed 166 people and wounded over 300.
The NCTC is planned as an elite counter terrorism body under union home ministry with an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Intelligence Bureau or above heading it as director.
The operations division of NCTC is empowered to arrest and carry out searches under Section 43 (A) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, a provision opposed by the chief minister who say it supersedes the authority of state law enforcement.
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