By creating a multiplicity of organisations having powers to arrest and by giving these powers to the NCTC which will work under the director, IB, we will be taking an unwise step which could further politicise our handling of counter-terrorism, says B Raman.
Unfazed by strong opposition, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the NCTC was the need of the hour as threat perception of terrorism continues to be high and delay in setting up the anti-terror hub will increase the risk in the country.
Defending the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that the issue of the establishment of the NCTC is not a state versus Centre issue.
The National Counter Terrorism Centre seems doomed, even after the Central government make changes to certain provisions to appease the state governments, reports Vicky Nanjappa
The government is learnt to have decided not to go ahead with the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre after facing strong opposition from non-Congress chief ministers.
Security experts are blaming Home Minister P Chidambaram for his handling of the important NCTC legislation. They now believe that the legislation, which has come under scathing attack from various states, would eventually lack any sting. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Accusing the Centre of taking unilateral decisions on internal security matters, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday strongly opposed the proposed anti-terror body NCTC citing practical difficulties.
Discussions to evolve a consensus on separate Telangana state is on and the Congress high command will take a final decision on it but it will take time, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Tuesday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan Wednesday called for further examination of certain provisions of the NCTC dealing with operations against terrorist groups in states.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she would take part in the chief minister's meeting on National Counterterrorism Center on May 5.
The Centre is likely to call a meeting of chief ministers on April 16 for discussion on the functioning of the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre, a top official said here on Friday.
The controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre, a pet project of former Home Minister P Chidambaram, may take some more time to actualise with his successor Sushilkumar Shinde directing ministry officials to wait till Parliament approves the proposed amendment to the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had earlier objected on certain issues, has a 'positive mind' towards the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
Voicing reservations over the full-fledged operationalisation of the ambitious National Counter Terror Centre, Congress-ruled Karnataka on Wednesday said the body should not be given "unbridled powers".
Holding that the revised draft order on NCTC suffers from several "serious flaws" and "arbitrary" provisions, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday asked the Centre to seek Parliament's nod through a wider debate for creating the federal anti-terror agency.
Slamming the Centre for the 'ham-handed manner' in which it sought to set up the NCTC, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said it should seek the active cooperation of all state governments as its equal partners in the fight against terrorism.
Seeking to end the logjam on National Counterterrorism Center, the home ministry has convened a meeting of top police and civil officers of all states on March 9 to allay apprehensions of the counter-terror body usurping their powers.
With the chorus against the formation of the National Counter Terrorism Council turning louder, the government on Tuesday said it is ready for a dialogue to dispel any misgivings or concerns expressed by states opposing it. Union Telecom and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said each state is already represented in the central council of NCTC and if there was any misgiving, the Centre would remove it through dialogue.
With states stoutly opposed to the National Counter Terrorism Centre in its current form, Home Minister P Chidambaram has assured that the matter of re-location of the anti-terror body outside the Intelligence Bureau would be re-examined. In his concluding remarks at the chief ministers' conference, which were released officially on Sunday, the home minister sought to clarify the decision of placing the NCTC within the IB.
Faced with frequent incidents of abduction, the Centre on Monday said if the controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre comes into existence, it would help in the long run to deal with hostage situations in a better way.
Almost all states in principle agreed on the need to have an effective anti terrorism mechanism like National Counter Terrorism Center at the meeting of chief secretaries/director generals of police/inspector generals of states and UTs called by the Union home ministry, the government said on Monday.
Terming as "unilateral and hasty" the proposal to set up the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asked the Prime Minister to re-examine the issue and ensure the order is suitably modified to take care of states' genuine concerns.
A Parliamentary panel has asked the Centre to put on hold its move to set up the controversial anti-terror hub National Counterterrorism Center till all state governments and political parties come on board.
The revised plan for controversial National Counter-Terrorism Centre has been recalled from the Cabinet Secretariat after Sushilkumar Shinde took charge as home minister for a thorough review by him.
The home ministry will approach the Cabinet Committee on Security after July 19 Presidential poll for approval of the revised plan for National Counterterrorism Center which will be taken out from the ambit of the Intelligence Bureau and conduct operations only when there is an urgency.
Julio Ribeiro, the Mumbai police chief who sprang to superstardom after leading the Punjab Police during the Khalistan insurgency, has experience with both state-level and counterterrorism policing. And he is doubtful whether the National Counter-Terrorism Centre is really needed.
Asking the government to keep the implementation of National Counter-Terrorism Centre in abeyance, the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh immediately convene a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the contentious issue threadbare.
The plan for the creation of the ambitious National Counter Terrorism Centre has come under attack from non-Congress chief ministers, including the party's ally Trinamool Congress. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joined Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in opposing the setting up of the anti-terror body and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to "review and withdraw" the decision.
The NCTC imbroglio is symptomatic of a whole host of issues that will come up in the future, which impinge on the federal structure of our polity, writes Bharat Bhushan
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre was nothing but a ploy to take away states' powers by the United Progressive Alliance. Accusing the Centre of weakening the federal system, Modi questioned the need for a NCTC instead of anti-terror laws such as the Prevention Of Terrorism Act. Through this proposed body, the Centre wanted to use the Intelligence Bureau in states' domain, he said.
Of all the chief ministers who have protested against the proposed creation of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre in the Intelligence Bureau of the government of India with effect from March 1, 2012 without consulting the state governments, only J Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has got it right, says B Raman.
Setting the tone for the upcoming chief ministers' meeting on NCTC, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday discounted the fears of states that it would encroach upon their rights as he underlined that fighting terror was a shared responsibility between the Centre and states.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa brings forth the different contours of the proposed NCTC, and also explains the raging debate over its formation.
The home ministry has postponed a meeting of top police and civil officials of all states scheduled for March 9 to end the logjam on the National Counter Terrorism Centre and it will now be held on March 12.
The Samajwadi Party on Monday said it will vote against the government in Parliament on the issue of setting up the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
Will the much-hyped National Counter Terrorism Centre end up being just another agency to create jobs? Vicky Nanjappa tries to find some answers
Even as the Centre bowed once again to pressure from Trinamool, Congress on Tuesday strongly batted for the "well intentioned proposal" of National Counterterrorism Center and cautioned its critics that "opposition for the sake of opposition" is not good for the progress of the nation.
In a move apparently aimed at mollifying states, the Union home ministry has proposed to take out the National Counter Terrorism Centre from the ambit of the Intelligence Bureau, a sticky point over which the anti-terror body has been stuck.
Representatives from Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Bihar voiced their concern at the high-level meeting chaired by Home Secretary R K Singh in which state chief secretaries, home secretaries and police chiefs were present.
The Centre on Saturday failed to break the logjam on the controversial anti-terror body National Counter Terrorism Centre with non-Congress chief ministers stoutly opposing and some of them demanding its withdrawal.
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