Shimla: Joining the brigade of four CMs
opposing creation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre,
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said on Friday that
the move was another attempt to usurp the powers of the states
and weaken the country's federal structure.
"Whenever an incident of terrorism takes place, Centre
comes out with another investigating agency to divert the
attention of the people and infringes upon the rights of the
state, weakening the federal structure."
The powers given to the CBI to investigate cases without
nod from the state government and constitution of National
Investigating Agency (NIA) had already trampled the rights of
the states and instead of fighting terrorism, the UPA
government was trying to arm itself with powers to dilute the
country's federal structure, he said.
Claiming that states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh
have shown the political will and succeeded in combating
terrorism, he alleged that the Centre had not been able even
to hang "dreaded terrorists" like Afzal Guru despite his
conviction by the Supreme Court.
Noting that multiplication of agencies and interference
in functioning of the states would not help in curbing
terrorism, he said the government should instead demonstrate
the will and determination to fight terrorism.
Chief Ministers of four states including Mamata Banerjee
(West Bengal), Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), Naveen Patnaik
(Odisa) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar) have already come out against
the plans to create National Counter Terrorism Centre.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 17, 2012, 19:56