The government on Wednesday turned down Opposition’s demand for a POTA-type law to deal with terrorism, while replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the twin blasts in Hyderabad. The Centre also made it clear that it would not take any initiative for a federal police as law and order was a state subject.
Responding to the adjournment motion moved by Prabhunath Singh of JD(U), which accused the government for its “failure in containing terrorism”, home minister Shivraj Patil contended that draconian laws like POTA were only instrumental in creating more terrorists rather than containing terrorism. “One should know that our government has repealed only the procedural part of POTA, keeping all its substantive part intact,” he asserted. Patil in his speech, which was marred by repeated interventions by the Opposition members, said that acts of terrorism had taken place even when POTA was in operation.
Leader of Opposition LK Advani, on the other hand, blamed the Centre for pursuing minority appeasement policy. He said that in last two years 10 major terror attacks had taken place across the country claiming 3,000 lives.
“Any terror attack is an attack on the nation. We should not see these incidents through minority prism, as terrorists have no religion so should be firmly dealt with,” he said. But the government has failed miserably and one can easily count the reasons for its failure, which include preventing these attacks, investigating these properly and ensuring judicial punishment of the culprits, he added.
The home minister, however, insisted that the Andhra government has tackled the situation commendably and said the state government was strengthening its state apparatus for gathering intelligence. “The state government has been successful in tackling the menace of naxalism from the villages and now its focus has shifted to urban areas, where terror strikes take place,” he said.
Meanwhile in Rajya Sabha, Opposition demanded skelp of the Andhra chief minister YS Reddy and asked the Centre to beef up intelligence and treat internal security at par with defence. The discussion saw heated arguments between ruling and opposition benches and slogan shouting in the well, which led to two adjournments in the pre-lunch sitting.The members wanted an immediate response from the home minister, who was not available in the Upper House.