Mamata leads charge of chief ministers against Centre on issue
The National Counter Terrorism Centre that the Union home ministry wanted to create will not see the light of the day ? not in the near future at least, and certainly not in the manner in which it was envisaged. After a large majority of the states reiterated their strong objections to the NCTC on Saturday at a meeting of chief ministers ? some of whom even rejected the idea of having such an organisation?the fate of the body, which was to have come into operation from March 1, is all but sealed.
Home minister P Chidambaram, however, said after the meeting that the government will ?examine? all the issues raised by the chief ministers before deciding on the next course of action. But the day?s mood was summed up by the fact that he had already begun talking in terms of ?NCTC or any other counter-terrorism body?.
?Given the kind of terrorist threats we face, what we undoubtedly need is a counter-terrorism body?something that is more than a mere police organisation. It will need to mobilise all elements of national power?policing, diplomatic, financial and any other element?needed to thwart terrorist acts and designs. Whether it is an NCTC or any other body, we firmly believe that such an organisation is required,? he said.
Chidambaram said all CMs ?recognised the need for NCTC or a similar organisation?and had problems only with the ?powers and functions? of such an organisation. What he did not say, however, was that the ?powers and functions? that the states were objecting to ? the powers to arrest, search and seize, the manner in which the operations were to be carried out, or the location of the proposed body within the Intelligence Bureau ? were central to the very existence of the NCTC.
Almost every non-Congress CM, and even some Congress CMs like Tarun Gogoi of Assam, expressed strong reservations on NCTC in its current form. Some like Jayalalithaa and Modi were extremely scathing, and along with Mamata, categorically rejected the proposal. Some others, like Patnaik, Nitish and Raman Singh, expressed their displeasure more politely and even suggested possible ways out. But as has been happening in the past few months, the clincher was the non-comprising stand of Banerjee, a crucial ally of the UPA government.
?I reiterate my stand that the exercise of police functions should remain the prerogative of the state and the well-conceived equilibrium of powers and responsibilities between the Centre and states should not be disturbed. I would, therefore, strongly urge the Union government to withdraw the order for setting up of NCTC,? Banerjee said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the CMs not to see the creation of NCTC as a Centre-state issue. ?The primary purpose behind setting up the NCTC is to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country, as the Intelligence Bureau has been doing so far. The NCTC should be a vehicle of our combined efforts to reach the shared goal of curbing terrorism and eradicating militancy,? he said.
Statespeak
* West Bengal: Will ?upset? federal structure
* Orissa: Should not be under bodies like IB
* Bihar: NCTC violates principle of federalism
* Gujarat: Centre behaving like viceroys of yore
* Tamil Nadu: Set up panel of CMs to go into NCTC
* Uttar Pradesh: Infringes upon state govts? rights
* J&K: In present form as stringent as AFSPA
* Chhattisgarh: Open to it if suggestions included
