http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2312272.cms
The Prevention of Terrorism Act, was introduced by National Democratic Alliance government in June 2002 as an effective legal instrument to deal with terrorist activities in India, and repealed by the United Progressive Alliance in Sep 2004. The Vajpayee government was convinced POTA was India's boldest initiative to fight terrorism, disband terrorist outfits, and choke terror funding. The Vajpayee government banned 32 organisations under the anti-terrorism legislation. The Act replaced an earlier anti-terrorism law, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), which was not renewed by the P V Narasimha Rao government in 1995 arguing that the Act had been misused to settle political scores. It is unlikely that the Government will come up with another alternative after many controversies that POTA and, before it, TADA generated.
It was the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that had prompted the enactment of the legislation. Several terrorist attacks, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and the Parliament attack in New Delhi too forced the Govt to introduce POTA.
Whether it was TADA or POTA or even MCOCA, the various legal devices devised by the Central and State governments to deal with terrorism, there is no denying the fact that, at times, their implementation shared a common feature with any other law in the country; it was downright shoddy. For example, though TADA was repealed in 1995, there are still prisoners languishing in jails under this Act, there are 14 TADA prisoners still in Patna jail. POTA has been widely used in many parts of Jharkhand to curb the Naxalite menace, which has been equated with terrorism without any legal sanction. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa got Vaiko arrested under POTA for making a public speech in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Having learnt with experience, the Manmohan Singh government is contemplating alternative measures to check terrorism, the details of which have not been decided yet. But cracking down on terror funding, which has emerged as a major security threat, tops the agenda. The bomb blasts at Hyderabad will, hopefully, spur the efforts to an early formulation of the law. Although there already are certain laws to curb foreign funding of terror outfits in India, these do not have enough teeth to bite the terror machinery active in the country. There is the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), said to be India's most stringent law dealing with foreign exchange transactions. But FEMA is saddled with a big drawback. The Act does not grant the Enforcement Directorate powers to arrest and prosecute money launderers. Thus hawala, or illegal foreign exchange transactions, goes on unabated.
In the recent blasts at Hyderabad, Harkat- Ul- Jihad- e- Islami (HUJI) Formed in 1992-with ideological guidance and financial support from Osama bin Laden is the main suspect. The outfit maintains close contact with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and with other jehadi organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operating from Pakistan. It also maintains at least six training camps in the Chittagong Hills, Bangladesh. Its hand was also suspected in the Mecca Mosque blast in the same city a few months ago. Had a law to track and tackle terror organisations been in place, timely action by intelligence agencies could have prevented avoidable loss of innocent lives in the blasts.
It is unlikely that a new anti-terror law will be enacted after the Congress-led government's argument that India already has a number of stringent laws like the National Security Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to check terrorism.Under the circumstances, it would take a few more serious terror strikes in the country for the government to knee jerk and formulate another law like TADA or POTA, albeit with a different and more Congress oriented name.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act, was introduced by National Democratic Alliance government in June 2002 as an effective legal instrument to deal with terrorist activities in India, and repealed by the United Progressive Alliance in Sep 2004. The Vajpayee government was convinced POTA was India's boldest initiative to fight terrorism, disband terrorist outfits, and choke terror funding. The Vajpayee government banned 32 organisations under the anti-terrorism legislation. The Act replaced an earlier anti-terrorism law, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), which was not renewed by the P V Narasimha Rao government in 1995 arguing that the Act had been misused to settle political scores. It is unlikely that the Government will come up with another alternative after many controversies that POTA and, before it, TADA generated.
It was the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that had prompted the enactment of the legislation. Several terrorist attacks, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and the Parliament attack in New Delhi too forced the Govt to introduce POTA.
Whether it was TADA or POTA or even MCOCA, the various legal devices devised by the Central and State governments to deal with terrorism, there is no denying the fact that, at times, their implementation shared a common feature with any other law in the country; it was downright shoddy. For example, though TADA was repealed in 1995, there are still prisoners languishing in jails under this Act, there are 14 TADA prisoners still in Patna jail. POTA has been widely used in many parts of Jharkhand to curb the Naxalite menace, which has been equated with terrorism without any legal sanction. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa got Vaiko arrested under POTA for making a public speech in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Having learnt with experience, the Manmohan Singh government is contemplating alternative measures to check terrorism, the details of which have not been decided yet. But cracking down on terror funding, which has emerged as a major security threat, tops the agenda. The bomb blasts at Hyderabad will, hopefully, spur the efforts to an early formulation of the law. Although there already are certain laws to curb foreign funding of terror outfits in India, these do not have enough teeth to bite the terror machinery active in the country. There is the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), said to be India's most stringent law dealing with foreign exchange transactions. But FEMA is saddled with a big drawback. The Act does not grant the Enforcement Directorate powers to arrest and prosecute money launderers. Thus hawala, or illegal foreign exchange transactions, goes on unabated.
In the recent blasts at Hyderabad, Harkat- Ul- Jihad- e- Islami (HUJI) Formed in 1992-with ideological guidance and financial support from Osama bin Laden is the main suspect. The outfit maintains close contact with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and with other jehadi organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operating from Pakistan. It also maintains at least six training camps in the Chittagong Hills, Bangladesh. Its hand was also suspected in the Mecca Mosque blast in the same city a few months ago. Had a law to track and tackle terror organisations been in place, timely action by intelligence agencies could have prevented avoidable loss of innocent lives in the blasts.
It is unlikely that a new anti-terror law will be enacted after the Congress-led government's argument that India already has a number of stringent laws like the National Security Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to check terrorism.Under the circumstances, it would take a few more serious terror strikes in the country for the government to knee jerk and formulate another law like TADA or POTA, albeit with a different and more Congress oriented name.
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