New Delhi, , May 05 (Scoop News) –Categorically opposing unilateral operation under NCTC J&K State, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday stressed on
further fine tuning of proposed National Council Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Order to address the concerns of
“keeping in view the sensitivity of J&K State, the proposed NCTC order detailing the functions; powers of the Standing Council and Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) need to be further fine tuned”, he maintained
Addressing Chief Ministers’ Conference on NCTC here, Omar Abdullah said that the powers of arrest and search to be conducted independently without the State Police being the part of the exercise may result into overlapping of responsibilities of the law enforcing agencies and can create local operational difficulties especially in the context of the obtaining situation in J&K.
It may be mentioned that NCTC has been mandated with powers for carrying out independent operations but with the flexibility and option to inform the State Government after the operation has been launched/culminated and after the arrests have been effected.
“This provision may need to be modified to the extent to make it mandatory for the Director NCTC to have prior consultation with the DGP and have joint operations with the State Police”, Omar said.
In his brief intervention on the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Chief Minister stated that the proposed NCTC essentially comprises three parts – “Collection and Dissemination of Intelligence”, “Analysis” and “Operations”. He said, the first two parts i.e. Collection and Dissemination of Intelligence” and “Intelligence Analysis” are already being done by the Central Agencies through Multi Agency Centre (MAC) which was set up in December, 2008.
“Therefore, while the State Government appreciates the role of ‘Collection and Dissemination of Intelligence’ and its ‘Analysis’ by the proposed NCTC, the need for vesting NCTC with the powers to undertake independent Operations must be revisited so as to make it consultative and also prescribe joint operations with the State Police as the preferred methodology to obtain the desired outcomes”, he said
Omar Abdullah further added that “the Unified Headquarters in
The Chief Minister said, “The management of events after the conduct of operations is as important as the operation itself. The State Police knows the background, topography and problems of the people having bearing on the security of the State. Given the sensitivities in J&K, independent operations by NCTC without involving the State Police can cause serious law and order concerns which will have to be subsequently faced by the District Administration,” he asserted.
NCTC may provide technical assistance in terms of communication interception and financial investigation to the State Police and also provide legal help by way of monitoring and prosecuting persons who are involved in crime in more than one State. NCTC could also consider devising an institutional mechanism to look at the external dimensions of terrorism and consider apprehending, prosecuting and bringing to justice the terrorist leaders, who are taking shelter in other countries”.
The Chief Minister suggested that the role of NIA viz-a-viz NCTC with regard to investigation of the terrorist crimes may need to be further elucidated, as to whether NIA would form the investigative wing of NCTC, and in such a case, would it become part of the IB?
The J&K Chief Minister said, “Further, handing over the arrested persons/seized material to the nearest Police Station “as soon as possible” makes this order almost as stringent as the existing provision available under AFSPA. This is likely to have far reaching consequences in our State which is politically sensitive. We have been advocating for revocation of AFSPA, which has been welcomed by all shades of people in the State. Therefore, mandating/equipping the NCTC with such powers may run counter to our efforts towards the removal of AFSPA at least from certain areas, and can generate avoidable criticism.
“ Similarly, in the ‘Functions and Powers of the Standing Council’ proposed by the MHA, it has been mentioned that the Council shall review the terrorist threats to the Country and prepare assessments for guiding the Counter Terrorism efforts of all member agencies and State Police forces. As part of this exercise, threats and allocation of resources would be prioritized for each stakeholder. “I would recommend that the allocation of resources for each stakeholder could be prioritized after due ‘consultations/consensus”, the Chief Minister emphasized.
Omar Abdullah further observed that Terrorism is a global problem. “As terrorism manifests in different forms, our endeavors and strategies to curb terrorism cannot be individualistic but have to be cohesive, collective and united, so as to achieve the ultimate objective of a terror free State/Country. We have to ensure that our responses to fighting terrorism are not episodic and our approach has to be crafted in a manner that it complements and synergizes the efforts of all the stakeholders rather than supplanting them”, he commented.
The Chief Minister lauded Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Union Minister for Home Affairs, P. Chidambaram for providing the platform for sharing views on the issue of National security to devise ways and means to address the core issues.
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