The Hindu : Selective use of POTA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 01, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Selective use of POTA

BY FIRST SUBMITTING to the Supreme Court that the MDMK general secretary, Vaiko, attracted the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and then offering to file a fresh, corrective, affidavit on the issue after coming under pressure from allies, the National Democratic Alliance Government is guilty of endorsing selective use of the anti-terrorism law. The distinction sought to be made by the Centre between the "use" and the "misuse" of POTA appears to be driven by political expediency and not any legal argument. Apparently, the difficulty for the BJP, which heads the NDA, is to help the leader of an allied party, Mr. Vaiko, out of the case slapped on him by the Tamil Nadu Government for supporting the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, without, however, diluting the provisions of the POTA. In short, the Centre, while maintaining the need for a draconian law such as POTA to deal with cross-border terrorism, does not want the same to be used by State Governments, whether in Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh, against political opponents. Especially if these political opponents are friends of the BJP. Although there is no denying that some of the provisions of POTA are harsh, what is disconcerting is that the Centre, which rode roughshod over Opposition criticism of the Act, seems to have woken up to the danger of misuse of the legislation only after the BJP's political friends were put in the dock.

Even before the faux pas in the Government affidavit in the Supreme Court, which the Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, attributed to juniors, the Centre had decided to constitute a review committee to check misuse of POTA. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had stated that the review committee would ensure that the law would not be used against ordinary criminals or persons who were not terrorists. In the eyes of the BJP, the cases of Mr. Vaiko, and the independent Uttar Pradesh MLA, Raja Bhaiya, did not warrant the use of POTA. But, irrespective of the political motives of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, or the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, in putting their electoral rivals behind bars, the fact remains that they have gone by the book in invoking POTA and more justifiably in the case of the manifest support for the LTTE. Truly, it is impossible for the Centre to ensure that the law is used only for the reasons originally envisaged: cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and destabilisation plans of Pakistan's ISI. Ironically, while the Jammu and Kashmir Government is not implementing POTA, other State Governments have become alive to the possibility of using POTA to deal with law and order problems and political rivals.

In Tamil Nadu, the Centre's attitude on POTA is irrevocably tied to the BJP's choice of allies. Any support of the State Government's use of the anti-terrorism law against Mr. Vaiko would have effectively ended the alliance with the DMK and the MDMK. The DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, has actually called for the repeal of the law, going a step further than even the MDMK which, being a junior ally in the NDA, has to be necessarily more circumspect before taking on the BJP. As the next general election is at least a year away, the BJP, for its part, would not like to displease the DMK when any tie-up with the AIADMK is yet to be formalised. The AIADMK and the BJP have moved closer to each other in the last one year, but it is still too early to talk of a political realignment. Indeed, the options-open policy of the BJP in Tamil Nadu seems to have resulted in the Centre's ambivalence on the Vaiko issue. If there is a point to be made against the political use of POTA by the State Government, then it holds true for the Centre too. Support or opposition from the Centre to particular cases of use of POTA is seemingly dictated by the political situation in a State. Without doubt, the Centre's plea against the misuse of POTA lacks credibility.

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