2008-05-14 21:20:02
Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi has urged the Prime Minister Dr. Man
Mohan Singh to immediately convene a meeting on Internal Security. All
Chief Ministers should be called to discuss imminent security issues
arising from the terrorist's violence in Jaipur City.
In a
letter to the Prime Minister , Modi expressed deep anguish and pain for
the the series of bomb blasts in Jaipur and said that the incidents
exposed UPA government's steps to curb terrorism in the country. He
also charged the UPA government of adopting double standards.
Modi
said that when incidents of terror attack takes place in UPA allies
ruled states, Union government expresses serious concern. However in
the case of NDA partners' ruled states, there is usual knee-jerk
reaction. It is said that the states were forewarned on the basis of
intelligence reports about possible terror attacks.
Most of the
time, it becomes more of a political statement Modi claimed. Even in
yesterday's incident, no strong statement has come out from the central
government which would have given a clear message that the UPA led
union government is serious in fighting terrorism and will take all
possible strong action.
"The
Central Intelligence agencies send routine messages forewarning the
states and feel satisfied that such events were anticipated and
intelligence wing was working on it.The central government agencies's
reports are more like weather reports which are generally vague in
nature. If the intelligence collection is effective and accurate, there
can be pre-emptive strikes against terrorist groups rather than
resorting to investigations after the terrorist attack. There has to
be a national consensus for a zero-tolerance against terrorism and
necessary political will to fight terrorism", he said.
"The
Government of India has been urged many a time to strengthen legal
provisions to fight terrorism. The existing law of POTA has been
repealed without making adequate provisions to deal with terrorist
threats. States have been rendered helpless without proper legal
backing to deal with such situations. While many nations world over
strengthened their anti-terror laws after the 9/11 incident, our
country has taken retrograde steps by abolishing POTA.
Modi said
that the central government was sitting over the Gujarat Control of
Organized Crime (GUJCOC) Bill. While, MCOCA or other anti-terror laws
are in existence in States like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh ,Central
Government has been deliberately avoiding the approval of anti-terror
laws passed by Gujarat and Rajasthan State Governments. This clearly
indicates the lack of political commitment on the part of Government of
India in fighting terrorism and its tendency to view the State
Government's proposal on political considerations.
At present,
the terrorist activity cases are tried under ordinary legal regime
which is inadequate to have a deterrent effect. Even yesterday's Jaipur
incident will have to be tried only under ordinary law. The terrorist
activities being a closed net-work activity, unless an insider
communication or confession is received, the present legal regime
becomes ineffective in punishing the culprits. There is also need to
make provisions that confessions made to senior police officers should
be taken as evidence in such terrorist related cases. On the whole,
there is need to have an effective legal provisions to fight terrorist
activities tooth and nail.
Need for
modernization of police and intelligence machinery for better
intelligence gathering analysis and prompt action has been stressed
several times. There has been long standing demand that just like IAS
and IPS Cadres there should be Indian Intelligence Service (IIS) so
that professionalism is inducted into the intelligence wing.But
the central government has not given any serious thoughts to any of
these aspects, Modi lamented.
