Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 15, 2008
PM's logic: Trust Pakistan, not Gujarat
In revealing that he had informed the Prime
Minister, the Home Minister and the National Security Adviser that a terror
strike on Delhi was imminent, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has laid
bare the joke that passes for the UPA Government's anti-terror strategy. In
the light of this revelation, the UPA Government's cussed refusal to facilitate
Presidential assent for Gujarat's anti-terror law becomes all the more scandalous
and shameful. Here is a Government that is willing to trust a military dictator
in Pakistan as a fellow 'victim of terror' and enter into a joint anti-terror
mechanism with his discredited Government. However, it will treat State Governments
in India as untouchables simply because they belong to a different political
party. As is well-known, Delhi has been delaying clearance of the Gujarat
Control of Organised Crime Bill, which was referred to it by the State Governor
after being passed by the Assembly. After months of stonewalling, the Union
Home Ministry finally said it had refused permission because the Bill's provisions
were very similar to the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the anti-terrorism law
the UPA Government abrogated in 2004. The Gujarat Government has argued that
since next-door Maharashtra is allowed to have just such a law it is perplexing
to deny it to other States. After all, the Maharashtra Control of Organised
Crime Act was the template for both POTA and Gujarat's legislation. As such,
if Congress-led Governments at the Centre and in Mumbai can live with MCOCA
and be alive to its utility, what is the point denying this right to Gujarat?
It is a logic that seems to have been understood, surprisingly, by National
Security Adviser MK Narayanan, who has written to the Home Ministry in support
of Gujarat's case. In his letter, Mr Narayanan has also referred to inputs
from intelligence and security agencies and suggested that the demand for
strong anti-terror laws, both at the national and State levels, is completely
valid. He has, of course, completely contradicted his Prime Minister.
There are two issues at stake here. First,
it is now increasingly clear that civil servants and police officers who actually
monitor and fight terrorism are handicapped by the absence of an overarching
law. Whether it is in intelligence-gathering and communication intercepts,
in crime detection or in detention and interrogation, special provisions are
required. Second, the response of the UPA Government -- backed by at least
four allies that have done business with violent Islamist groups -- is diabolical.
Consider this: It will not bring in a national law even if ordinary citizens
die. It will perforce push State Governments into the forefront of India's
war against terror. Finally, it will not allow willing States to equip themselves
for battle. This Government has thrown India to the wolves.
