Round The States

New Delhi, 18 December 2008

Tougher Anti-Terror Law

STATES UNHAPPY WITH THE CENTRE

By Insaf

The States are mighty pleased ---- and relieved --- that the Centre has at long last legislated for a much-needed tougher anti-terror law and a National Investigating Agency. At the same time, however, they are unhappy with the hasty manner in which the UPA government has rushed through with the legislation, riding roughshod over conventional wisdom and time-honoured practices. The two bills were introduced in the two houses of Parliament on Monday afternoon and were debated and passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday evening and in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday giving members little time to prepare themselves for the important legislation. Suggestions that the bills be referred to a Standing Committee of the House for indepth consideration in accordance with time-honoured conventions were brushed aside. What is worse, the States were not taken into confidence by the Centre before going ahead with the legislation. Their views should have been sought as the National Intelligence Agency would have jurisdiction over the entire country, notwithstanding the fact that law and order is a State subject.

True, the Centre has now convened a meeting of the Chief Ministers on January 6 to consider the new legislation and decide on follow-up measures. True also that the Prime Minister has had a series of meetings with the main political parties, particularly those of the Opposition NDA, on the subject and the Home Ministry has written letters to the States on its plans for tougher anti-terror laws. But the States today find themselves presented with a fail accompli on the subject of law and order which is their exclusive domain under the Constitution. A meeting with the Chief Ministers should have preceded the legislation, not followed it as the two bills affect Centre-State relations. The NIA bill, for instance, empowers the Centre to take suo moto decision if an offence is a federal offence, overriding the opinion of a State in case of a difference of opinion. Again, the States would like to be actively associated with NIA probes. The bill merely provides that the States “may” be associated. As a Chief Minister candidly commented: “The Centre must know that without the cooperation of the States, the NIA will be meaningless!”

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Grave Misuse Of NIA?

The question of the States’ autonomy or the Centre encroaching on the powers of the States is, however, not all. There is grave apprehension that the office of the NIA could be politically misused by unscrupulous people in power in the same way that the CBI has become a handmaiden of those in authority at the Centre. The NIA, to be headed by a Director General, would be free to take up terror-related crimes on its own across the States without getting special permission from the States, as in the case of CBI. Drug trafficking and counterfeit currency have, for instance, been designated as “scheduled crimes.” The NIA can also act where it “suspects” that help, both monetary and material, is being extended to the terrorists. Members in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha pointedly referred to the brazen misuse of the CBI. Remember, the UPA Government recently asked the CBI to drop the case of disproportionate assets against Mulayam Singh, now that he is a “close, loyal pal”. Clearly, there is need to ensure that the NIA is enabled to function without fear or favour.   

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High Voter Turnout In J&K

Voters in round five and six of the Jammu and Kashmir election have once again rubbished the boycott call of the separatists. The message is loud and clear: they want peace to return.  Of particular interest is the voting in Tral, the stronghold of pro-Pakistani militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and pan-Islamic Jaish-e-Mohammad. From a mere 11 per cent turnout in the 2002 election, the voter turnout on Friday last in this militancy-hit district of Pulwama, south Kashmir was 50 per cent.  This apart, voting in other militancy-hit areas such as Anantnag saw a jump from 7.16 per cent to 36 per cent and Bijbehara from 17 per cent to 56 per cent. The large turnout, despite the biting cold, could well be attributed to two main factors:  One, the people don’t want the politicians to ignore them as they did when the voters boycotted the previous poll. Two, the people want to delink the Kashmir issue from the elections. Instead, they want day-to-day issues to be addressed. It is time now for the next incumbents to the Assembly to perform and make the people’s defiance of the poll boycott call worthwhile.

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Peaceful Xmas In Kandhamal?

The Kandhamal carnage in Orissa continues to haunt the Christian community in the West.  Fearing possible violence on Christmas, a team of diplomats representing the European Union flew into Bhubaneswar on Saturday last to urge the Naveen Patnaik Government to have all precautionary measures in place. Their worries may not be unfounded as the Sangh Parivar, under the banner of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati Shradhanjali Samiti, has reiterated its resolve to call for a bandh in the State on December 25, in view of the Government’s failure to arrest Laxmananda’s killers. The dastardly killing of the 84-year-old Swami had led to Hindu-Christian communal fury in at least 12 districts and the State Capital. On its part, the State government has assured the visiting team from the missions in Delhi that Christmas would be peaceful in Kandhamal district and other parts, as plans are afoot to seal the borders from Sunday onwards and impose prohibitory orders. The diplomatic team included officials from the British High Commission and Embassies of Italy, Ireland, Netherlands and Finland. Hope the government keeps its word.

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Bird Flu Hits Eastern States Again

Bird flu has struck the eastern States yet again. Assam, West Bengal and Meghalaya administration is busy supervising culling operations, while Arunachal Pradesh and Orissa have banned import of poultry. So far, four lakh birds have been culled in Assam’s Kamrup rural and metro districts and a target of 5,40,000 has been set to achieve ‘bird free zones’ in the State. Sadly, the administration in Bengal hasn’t learnt its lesson from the past, when the flu hit the State last in January. In Birbhum and Malda districts alone over two lakh chickens had been culled. This time, the culling operations in Malda district were delayed by over 24 hours, as a result of which the bird flu panic has spread to the capital, Kolkata. Its impact is already being felt with prices of chicken dropping drastically. There is however, a silver lining: the Centre has woken up to the avian flu threat and proposes to increase the number of laboratories to detect the flu virus from a mere one to seven in the country.

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Mafia Don Inducted Into BSP

Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party has said a big boo to the Election Commission’s efforts to check criminalization of politics. On Friday last, she reportedly inducted a Lucknow mafia don, Arun Kumar Sharma alias Anna into her party. Not just this. Anna is now the BSP’s candidate for the Unnao constituency for the ensuing general election to the Lok Sabha. His nomination form could well read as a candidate who has “over a dozen criminal cases” against him since 1980. Interestingly, Anna was a close ally of Mayawati’s bête noire, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav since 1989. But what takes the cake is that the don is one of the main accused in an attack on Mayawati at the State Guest House in Lucknow in June 85. The case is under trial at the CBI Court.  Politics does make strange bedfellows.---INFA