Tuesday, Mar 26, 2002
Tuesday, Mar 26, 2002 |
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By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, MARCH 25. It is a foregone conclusion that at a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament tomorrow — being held under Article 108 of the Constitution — the Prevention of Terrorism Bill will get the stamp of approval to become a law. The battlelines are clearly drawn and given the strengths of the parties which have announced their support for POTO and those who have opposed it, there is no doubt that the Government will be able to get POTO passed with a comfortable margin. The Government's ranks have closed in, except for the Trinamool Congress, which abstained from voting when POTO came up in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. It has announced that its members would remain absent when the legislation is taken up at the joint sitting tomorrow. This setback has been partly made up by the AIADMK's decision to vote with the NDA Government. The Government will have a comfortable majority of more than 70 in the joint sitting of 790 members. A vote against the Bill or even abstention by the National Conference (NC) would have been more embarrassing, but it seems that the Prime Minister has been able to persuade the NC leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, to vote in favour of the bill although the party abstained during the vote in the Rajya Sabha. The joint sitting will be conducted like any sitting of a House in Parliament — the Bill will be moved by the Union Home Minister, it will be debated, the Government will respond to the debate and then it will be voted upon. As it will be free seating in the Central Hall of Parliament where the joint sitting will begin at 11 a.m. tomorrow, voting will be through slips. The Opposition is sure to call for a division even though it is equally certain that the Government will sail through comfortably. A telling commentary on the Government claim that POTO would be used impartially without bias towards religion was the hurried withdrawal of cases against those arrested in connection with the Godhra carnage (all Muslims). This move was undertaken after it was reported that none arrested for the violence in the other parts of Gujarat had been charged under POTO. Similarly while the Students Islamic Movement of India has been banned under POTO, no action has been taken against the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal despite their role in the Gujarat violence and the attack on the Orissa Assembly. The Government was able to enlist NC's support for the Bill only after POTO cases were withdrawn in Godhra as "proof" of its bona fides. The Opposition's argument against POTO is that the even more draconian law, the now-repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (passed and then repealed under Congress Governments) had proved ineffective against the menace of terrorism.
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