PM on NCTC

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to placate state governments over their strenuous opposition to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) by writing to seven chief ministers and assuring them that home minister P Chidambaram will consult them over the agency’s functioning. With state governments unrelenting over what they see as intrusive provisions to arm the NCTC with police powers—and UPA partner Trinamool Congress even asking a parliamentary panel to recommend putting the Centre on hold—the PM stepped into the frame to try and douse the row. “I have…noted your concerns about the manner in which the NCTC will function and am asking the home minister to address them suitably, in consultation with you and other chief ministers,” Singh wrote to CMs of Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The Prime Minister said the NCTC’s primary purpose was to coordinate nationwide counter-terrorism efforts. “It is for this reason that NCTC has been located within the IB,” he said. The rationale for the NCTC not being an independent body is intended to answer criticism that it enjoyed powers of arrest and seizure, which the IB does not have. The government does not want to affect the “provisions and allocation of powers between the states and the Union”, Manmohan Singh has told the chief ministers. Sources said the NCTC will operate under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) that was amended after the 26/11 attacks just as some other designated bodies like the National Investigation Agency, while IB works under this law as well as with the help of state governments. Powers of arrest and seizure can also be delegated. The home minister is also exploring an option to call a meeting of Director Generals of Police and chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories to clarify ‘objectionable’ issues concerning the anti-terror body before March 1 when the agency becomes functional. The fusillade the government and Chidambaram are facing has seen powerful CMs like Mamata Banerjee, Biju Patnaik and J Jayalalithaa act in a coordinated manner with others like Nitish Kumar and Omar Abdullah also joining in.