In a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has opposed the establishment of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, expressing concern that provisions of the anti-terror organisation "smack of a tendency to abrogate power with no attendant responsibility".
Pakistan-based Al Qaeda's senior leadership remained committed to acquiring weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons, a top Obama administration official said.
Home Minister P Chidambaram indicated that the National Counter Terrorism Centre of India, the umbrella body which would deal with terror threats within the country is expected to get the cabinet nod within the next 15 days.
Four policemen were injured in an attack by Naxals, who first triggered a landmine blast and then opened fire at them in Sukma district in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh during their 'Bharat Bandh' on Wednesday, police said.
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.
Accusing the Centre of behaving like "Viceroys of yore", Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the constitution of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre is a conscious strategy to cast the Centre as an "omnipresent" ruler with states portrayed as dependent vassals.
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.
A day after non-Congress chief ministers and an ally attacked the Centre over National Counter Terrorism Centre, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday lamented the "mistrust" harboured by some states and expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved in the May 5 meeting.
Favouring a coordinated strategy at the national level, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that terrorism and naxalism have to be dealt with tough hands.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to limit the agenda of chief ministers conference, scheduled on April 16, to discuss the formation of National Counter Terror Centre only and not deal with the issue in a "perfunctory" manner.
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
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said difficult decisions were getting "more difficult" because of coalition compulsions. Replying to debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, he spoke about the opposition to the NCTC and responded to the demands by Tamil parties for supporting UN resolution against Sri Lanka. Here's the full text of his address.
Is she, like the AIADMK's Jayalalithaa with the Vajpayee government in 1998, playing bully to a government that she knows cannot survive without her Parliamentary support? Or is there a greater scheme behind her erratic actions? Discussing the mercurial Mamata Banerjee on the Rediff Chat is Senior Editor Indrani Roy, a long-time watcher of Bengal and Mamata politics.
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.
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.
After the launch of National Counter Terror Centre was put on hold due to protests by non-Congress ruled states, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Orissa on Tuesday trained their guns again at the Centre by opposing the proposed amendment to the Railway Protection Force Act.
As many as seven chief ministers have joined a chorus of disapproval against the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, which the Union government notified earlier this month. The United Progressive Alliance has argued that the action flows from powers already in the existing unlawful activities statute.
Accusing the Centre of double speak, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said though the United Progressive Alliance government claimed that security was a "shared" responsibility of the Centre and states, it did not bother to consult states when it came to forming laws.
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.
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.
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.
Any fresh terrorist strike in India by Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba would hurt the United States' national security interest and its counter-terrorism interests in the region, a top Obama administration intelligence official has told lawmakers.
The botched terror alert by the Intelligence Bureau has once again put the spotlight on the need for a National Counter Terrorism Centre, which could act as a pool of information. Vicky Nanjappa reports
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.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday said her party was yet to decide on the ensuing presidential polls and nobody had approached her so far on the issue.
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.
The provisions of the proposed amendments to the BSF Act 'smack of a desire to smuggle in a mechanism inspired by the same goals as those behind the setting up of an operations division in the NCTC, through the back door', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to the PM
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday indicated that the annual meeting of chief ministers on April 16 may be extended to discuss setting up of National Counter Terrorism Centre as demanded by some of the non-Congress ruled states.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram during his four-day visit to United States to boost \n\nsecurity co-operation, met with Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairwoman of the US Senate's \nSelect Committee on Intelligence, in Washington on Wednesday.
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.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa brings forth the different contours of the proposed NCTC, and also explains the raging debate over its formation.
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.
While this being the debate, rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa spoke to three people who have widespread experience in dealing with security, legal and state issues.
With the National Counter-Terrorism Centre getting a nod from the government, Home Minister P Chidambaram has fulfilled his dream of becoming India's counter-terror czar. But his efforts to pattern this body on the lines of the one in the United States, which was formed after 9/11, has failed and how! B Raman analyses
The National Counter-Terrorism Centre, a pet project of Home Minister P Chidambaram since he took over after the 26/11 terror attacks, has finally taken shape as an apex-coordinating agency but without its own sleuths or investigation wing to probe the terror activities.
Stung by WikiLeaks' publication of classified US diplomatic cables, President Barack Obama has roped in a veteran counter-terrorism official to oversee efforts to plug the gaping security gaps.
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.
"We are concerned that next month's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be an appealing target for Lashkar-e-Tayiba due to their political and economic significance for India," said Michael Leiter, the Director of the US National Counter-terrorism Centre.
Congress on Wednesday steered clear of the issue on the continuation of the post of National Security Advisor in the wake of M K Narayanan's exit from there and the government planning a National Counter Terrorism Centre.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday unveiled a new counter-terrorism plan, proposing to divide the home ministry by hiving off a separate internal security ministry.As part of this plan, he also proposed the setting up of a National Counter Terrorism Centre within 24 months, to which all intelligence agencies will report, and to re-examine the role of Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing which deal with internal and external intelligence respectively.
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