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NCTC impasse: What Chidambaram wrote to CMs
The UPA government's proposal to set up a NCTC has not gone down well with 10 chief ministers of the country. In a bid to resolve this imbroglio, home minister P Chidambaram, on Friday, wrote to the 10 chief ministers, stating that the power to search and arrest was the 'bare minimum' a counter-terrorism body needed to have. Read the full letter here.
The UPA government's proposal to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre has not gone down well with 10 chief ministers of the country.
What is of more significance, however, is that UPA ally and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has opposed the NCTC on the grounds that it encroaches upon and violates the basic fundamentals of a federal structure.
In a bid to resolve this imbroglio, home minister P Chidambaram, on Friday, wrote to the chief ministers, stating that the power to search and arrest was the 'bare minimum' a counter-terrorism body needed to have.
In his letter to the chief ministers who had complained against the NCTC to the Prime Minister, Chidambaram said terrorism was a “grave threat” that everyone agreed “should be kept above parties and politics”.
You can read or downloada copy of the letter the home minister here:
The minister further said that the home secretary would call a meeting of police chiefs and heads of anti-terror forces to discuss the scope and functions of NCTC before the next step is taken.
Pointing out that the PM asked him to address the chief ministers’ concerns, he stressed that the Centre had not given additional powers to the NCTC but made operational a provision in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act that was cleared by Parliament in 2008.
Chidambaram said in his background note on NCTC that there was no 'demur or opposition' in Parliament when the government introduced the changes in the Act in 2008.
He said the law required NCTC officers to produce a person arrested before the local police, who were empowered to take further action.
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