Chidambaram to MPs: Please pass anti-terror bills

Home Minister P Chidambaram today appealed to all LS members "with folded hands" to pass the NIA bill and the UAPA, introduced by the Govt in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack.

Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday appealed to all Lok Sabha members "with folded hands" to pass the National Investigation Agency (NIA) bill and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), introduced by the government in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack.

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"I appeal to all the members of the house with folded hands to pass the National Investigation Agency bill," he said a day after both the bills was introduced in the house.

The home minister said opinions of different political parties as well as lawyers and jurists had been taken while presenting the bill.

"We have tried to accommodate the opinions and suggestions of different political parties and sections such as lawyers and jurists to draft the bills," he said.

The NIA Bill provides for the setting up of special courts for speedy trial of terror-related offences, with hearings to be held on a daily basis.

"The nation is watching us to respond top the terror attacks and to create an investigating agency to counter such attacks," he added.

He said there were enough safeguards in the amendments that the government sought to bring in the bills.