This Article is From Mar 05, 2012

Jayalalithaa's third letter to PM about new anti-terror agency

Jayalalithaa's third letter to PM about new anti-terror agency
Chennai: The Centre's attempts to win support from states for a crucial new agency being created to fight terror are crashing and burning.

For the third time in recent weeks, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has written to the Prime Minister with severe criticism of the union government's handling of what has turned into a full-fledged states vs Centre war. In her new letter, Ms Jayalalithaa says that the Prime Minister must call a meeting of all chief ministers to discuss the National Counter Terrorism Centre or NCTC. As a peace measure, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that on March 12, the Home Secretary would meet with top police officials and bureaucrats from all states.

But like Naveen Patnaik of Odisha, Ms Jayalalithaa feels this meeting will not serve any purpose, unless the heads of different state governments are involved.

The agency was meant to swing into business on March 1 but all plans were suspended after a united protest by 10 states, all of them ruled by opposition parties. Leaders like Narendra Modi from Gujarat and Mamata Banerjee from Bengal had attacked the centre for endowing the NCTC with powers that step onto state turf - for example, the NCTC is entitled to fly into any state, pick up suspects, and depart with them. Law and order is meant to be handled by states, and they argued that attributes like this violate principles of federalism.

The NCTC is placed within the Intelligence Bureau who reports to the Home Ministry. The PM had written to the Group of 10 ministers who objected to the NCTC, assuring them that the Centre is committed to protecting the federal structure. He had also said that the Home Ministry had been asked to address the concerns voiced by states.

The NCTC has been one of Mr Chidambaram's top priorities since 26/11 when Pakistani terrorists killed 166 people in Mumbai.
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