NEW DELHI, May 5: Making a strong pitch for formation of an anti-terror hub, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the establishment of NCTC is not a State versus Centre issue but will work as a vehicle of country’s combined efforts to curb terrorism.
Stressing that NCTC will supplement the counter-terrorism capabilities of the states and not supplant them, Singh asked the state governments to work with the Centre in dealing with terrorism.
“Terrorism is today one of the most potent threats to our national security. There can be no disagreement on putting an effective counter terrorism regime with efficient mechanism and response systems both at the national level and at the state level,” the Prime Minister said in his inaugural speech at a conference of Chief Ministers called to discuss NCTC.
The meeting was called specially after 12 chief ministers opposed formation of NCTC.
Singh said, “Establishment of NCTC is not a state versus Centre issue and the primary purpose behind setting up the NCTC is to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country as the Intelligence Bureau has been doing so far.
“The NCTC should be a vehicle of our combined efforts to reach the shared goal of curbing terrorism an eradicating militancy,” he said.
Singh said the antecedents of the NCTC derived from the Group of Ministers and the Administrative Reforms Commission, commencing from the lessons learnt in Kargil.
“It is our belief that the NCTC, in its designs and its operation aspects, will supplement the counter-terrorism capabilities of the states and not supplant them,” he said.
He also drew attention of Chief Ministers towards the Standard operating Procedures circulated by Union Home Ministry and said the draft reflects the details provisions for Centre-State coordination in both the organisational set up of NCTC and in its proposed powers and functions.
“But for the NCTC to function smoothly and effectively, it is important that we have a fairly broad consensus on its powers and functions. We would like the state governments to be with us in this initiative, which we believe would strengthen our counter-terrorism efforts,” Singh said, adding the Centre was open to suggestions of Chief Ministers.
The Home Minister said India has the obligations to the international community under the Resolutions of the Security Council to counter terror threats.
With India’s 7,516 km coastline, 15,106 km of international borders with seven countries-Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar-and a number of international gateways, he said, state anti-terrorist forces would have to necessarily work with a number of agencies of the Central government, especially when there are threats in the domain of sea, air and space.
Highlighting a new dimension to terrorist threats, Chidambaram said hitherto, security forces have confronted terrorist threats only in the physical space but now, there are terrorist threats in the cyber space, which is the fifth domain after land, sea, air and space.
“Much of our critical infrastructure lies in cyber space. Cyber crimes such as hacking, financial fraud, data theft, espionage etc. Would, in certain circumstances, amount to terrorist acts.
“Our counter terrorism capacity must be able to meet the threats in cyber space. Since there are no boundaries in cyber space, how will the Central Government and the State Governments share the responsibility to face the threats in cyber space?,” he asked.
The Home Minister also referred to the experience and benefits received by other countries, including the United States, through their NCTC. (PTI)
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