NEW DELHI : Facing stiff opposition to NCTC from non-Congress chief ministers, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said both the Centre and states need to work together for setting up the proposed counter-terrorism body and sought consensus from all stakeholders.
“When such opposition is there, we will think over it and then decide. We need to take consensus on it. I have said it many a times that both the Centre and states need to work together. We cannot do it alone,” Shinde told reporters here when asked about the government’s strategy on setting up National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
He said the government has already accepted the demands of some chief ministers opposed to the proposed body.
“First, their (chief ministers) objection that it should not be under Intelligence Bureau, we took it out. They also said its operationalisation should not be under IB, that also we did.
“I will only say that we tried to have a central intelligence agency but they said Multi-Agency Centre is there. To which, they have accepted which is also a central agency,” Shinde said apparently suggesting that the opposing states should agree to NCTC.
The Home Minister said seeing such resistance to NCTC, the government had first decided to take their (chief ministers) opinion and then to approach the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
“Accordingly, they were given the drafts. We have got many comments which are under examination. After examination, we will decide whether to take it to the CCS or not. As of now, there is no question of taking it (NCTC) to the CCS,”he said.
Chief Ministers like Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal have opposed even a watered-down proposal for NCTC during a recent meeting on internal security here.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had earlier said his Ministry was not exploring the option of bringing a bill in Parliament for the purpose.
After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, the then Home Minister P Chidambaram had announced the government’s intention to set up NCTC.
According to the February, 2012 executive order, which faced strong opposition from non-Congress chief ministers, NCTC will work as an “integral” part of Intelligence Bureau and its director will report to the IB chief.
Besides, the anti-terror body was given ‘power’ to carry out operations, including arrest, search and seizure, while keeping the state police concerned in the loop.
However, the revised draft of NCTC said it will work directly under the Home Ministry and not the IB. Besides, when a terrorist or a terror group is identified or located, operations against them would be carried out through or in conjunction with state police. (PTI)
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