Opposition to POTO snowballing

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 29. Strong reservations have been expressed by political leaders, opinion makers and human rights activists against the Prevention Of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), which obtained the clearance of the President the other day.

Mr. Abu Abraham, cartoonist, has said that there was no urgent need for a new legislation to combat terrorism in the country. The existing laws, if implemented in the right manner, would have been sufficient to curb any kind of disruptive activity. "We have enough laws already to prevent terrorism," he remarked.

Even if the Centre had felt the need for a new legislation, it would have been appropriate to introduce a bill in Parliament rather than issue an Ordinance in such a hasty manner. There should have been efforts to evolve some sort of a consensus on the issue. "Besides, terrorism is like corruption. One's own corrupt ways are ignored as is terrorism perpetrated by one's own cadres". Further more, there was this disturbing trend of the BJP not taking any action at all against the vandalism committed by its members, he said referring to the recent incident in Agra. The highly provocative actions of the Shiv Sena have also not been dealt with in the deserving manner by the Government at the Centre, he observed.

The Congress has assailed the BJP Government at the Centre for issuing the new Ordinance, describing it as communal-oriented as well as politically motivated. Mr. Rajmohan Unnithan, general secretary of the KPCC, has said the definition of terrorist organisations, as provided in the Ordinance, was highly ambiguous.

It was true that there were organisations that deserved to be banned in the country. However, the ban imposed recently applied only to organisations of one particular community, which was grossly unjust, he maintained. This move would only pave the way for the growth of hatred among communities. There were other equally or more dangerous terrorist outfits that jeopardised the unity and communal harmony in the country, he added.

The clause in the POTO providing for detaining any citizen for three months without trial would have severe political consequences. This clause could be misused as a tool in the hands of those in power to wreak political vengeance, the Congress leader said.

Human rights activist and veteran journalist, Mr. B.R.P. Bhaskar, was of the opinion that the present Ordinance would lead to such a situation as to throw even innocent people into jail. However, according to the provisions of the new Ordinance, there was a slight improvement over the clauses in the TADA Act in the sense that the period for detaining a citizen without trial has now been essentially brought down. "The basic objection, however, remains and this has not been addressed in the POTO", he observed.

Recalling that out of the more than 75,000 people who had been detained under TADA, hardly two per cent were ever convicted as there was no evidence against the rest, he said there could be gross misuse of the law. Even though TADA was in force at a time when terrorist activity was to the fore in Punjab, there were other States too that imposed it without any genuine reason or concern, he added.

More objectionable was the impact that the POTO would have on the Press, as there could be attempts at muzzling the media. A major casualty would be the right of the journalists to protect the source of information, he maintained.

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