Karnataka - Bangalore

Moily for new law to tackle terrorism

M. Veerappa Moily

Bangalore: The Congress on Thursday urged the Union Government that a law be enacted to combat the menace of terrorism effectively.

Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) M. Veerappa Moily told presspersons here that the commission had prepared a draft proposal and it would be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 20 days. When enacted, it would be a unique law on terrorism in the world, he said.

Mr. Moily defended the decision of the United Progressive Alliance Government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

He alleged that the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, had used it to harass its opponents.

Citing an instance of misuse, Mr. Moily alleged that the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had invoked POTA to “incarcerate Vaiko for political reasons. The UPA Government repealed POTA to avoid further misuse of the draconian measure against political opponents and innocent people.”

The former Chief Minister suggested that the National Security Act should also be amended for tackling terrorism. The amendment should be comprehensive and not have any provision that could be used to harass innocents and those involved in communal violence, as had been done during the NDA regime.

Mr. Moily said that it should cover aspects such as evidence and intelligence, as the terror attacks were planned in one place and executed somewhere else. Under these circumstances, the States, though responsible for maintaining law and order, could not be blamed for failure to control it. At the same time, an agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation could not be entrusted with the investigation without the permission of the State Government, concerned.

In the case of Jaipur blasts, Mr. Moily said the Central intelligence had provided all inputs to the Rajasthan Government.

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