'Centre reneged on promise'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 17. The political tone at the Chief Ministers Conference on Internal Security here today was set at the very beginning by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, who insisted on making an intervention from the floor, even before the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, could make his opening remarks.

Mr. Singh's contention was that the Centre had not kept its promise of consultation with the Chief Ministers - as decided at the Chief Minister's conference last year - on the

controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) and wanted to know the extraneous circumstances which prompted the promulgation of an ordinance just a few weeks before the Parliament session.

Objecting to the Home Ministry's presentation that a divisive society becomes the hunting ground for terrorists, Mr. Singh argued that one form of religious extremism would breed another form of religious extremism. In this context, he referred to Mr. Advani's recent claim that his ``rath yatra'' had reinforced cultural nationalism and yielded the BJP rich electoral dividends.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, objected to Sections 3 (viii) and 14 (i) of POTO and wanted them to be modified. While stressing that freedom of the press was important, he said it was also important to have good, strict laws in place with adequate safeguards.

Voicing his opposition to POTO, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, described it as an ``encroachment'' on the State's rights. He told presspersons that his government would soon introduce legislation to specifically deal with four aspects - insurgency-related terrorism, attempts to disturb communal harmony, hijacking and kidnapping.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. O. Paneerselvam, supported POTO but favoured a consensus through persuasion. He felt that it contained enough safeguards.

The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, described POTO as ``anti-democratic and suffering from serious legal infirmities.'' He said combating terrorism was the need of the hour, but wanted a large consultative process involving all political parties to put in place an appropriate legislation.

UNI, PTI report:

The Assam Chief Minister, Mr. Tarun Gogoi, said the ``eventual misuse of the provisions of POTO, the possibility of which cannot be ruled out, may pose serious threats to the basic tenets of our civil society.''

Opposing the ordinance, the Punjab Finance Minister, Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, said law and order was a State subject and the States were fully competent to deal with any crime including terrorism.

The Karnataka Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, criticised the government for promulgating the ordinance ``hurriedly'' just days before the winter session of Parliament and demanded that the Centre hold consultations on the issue with all Opposition parties. He said the Karnataka Organised Crime (control) Bill, which was passed by the State Assembly had not got the Presidential assent.

While the Bihar Chief Minister, Ms. Rabri Devi, sought immediate repeal of the ordinance, the president of the Indian National Lok Dal, a NDA ally, and Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Om Prakash Chautala, said there should be no misgiving on POTO and any shortcoming should be removed before it was enacted as law.

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