Agenda in search of government

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New Delhi: The magnitude of the attack on Mumbai has once again underlined the urgency for a federal agency to deal with terrorist crimes as well as the need to implement long overdue police reforms.

A petition by retired DGP Prakash Singh is pending in the Supreme Court for setting up an agency along the lines of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States. In his address to the nation immediately after the Mumbai outrage, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh affirmed his government’s resolve to “set up a Federal Investigation Agency to go into terrorist crimes of this kind and ensure that the guilty are brought to book”. So what is it that has prevented its creation so far, even though the opposition BJP too professes support for the proposal?

Several states have expressed the apprehension that the setting up of a federal agency will impinge on their powers. Not just BJP-led states, but even Congress regimes at state level, have not been particularly enthusiastic about a federal investigating agency, though the latter have muted their responses, allowing the BJP-ruled states to fuel the opposition to the idea. Complicating matters further, the BJP at the Centre has chosen to accord primacy to the recall of Pota above other measures.

The need for a separate agency as well as a stronger law to deal with terrorist incidents has been recommended by various committees beginning with the Padmanabhaiah committee for police reforms set up in 2000. “Certain offences having inter-state, national and international repercussions, should be declared federal offences and be investigated by a special division which should function under direct administrative control of home ministry”, suggested the committee. The Malimath committee set up by then home minister LK Advani also made similar stringent suggestions to curb terrorism.

There is a growing view in political circles that the Mumbai terror acts will decisively swing the views of the states in favour of not only a federal agency but also the implementation of police reforms. The Mumbai attacks, after all, exposed the abysmal levels of training and equipment of the Mumbai police to deal with terrorist acts of such magnitude.