Hyderabad blasts rock Parliament

New Delhi: The issue of the Hyderabad blasts on Friday resonated in Parliament with the government facing flak for failing to check such attacks even as Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde promised "more firm action" to eliminate terror.

Making a statement in both Houses, Shinde said intelligence inputs had suggested the possibility of terror attacks in five cities including Hyderabad and the city police chiefs were alerted in this regard five-six days ago. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha saw an impromptu discussion on yesterday`s incident and the Home Minister made a statement giving details of the attack and the action taken. Shinde said government will take all possible actions to bring to book the culprits of the twin blasts in which 16 people were killed and 117 injured. Contending that terror incidents had declined from 10 in 2008 to 02 last year due to various measures, the Home Minister vowed "more firm action" in the coming months to eliminate terror. Shinde expressed confidence that the Hyderabad blast could even prove to the last such incident going by the trend of declining number of such incidents. He emphasised the need for closer coordination between the Centre and states to deal with terror and expressed readines to tweak the proposals related to the powers of National Counter Terrorism Centre, which has got into controversy because of opposition by some states. His statement was, however, rejected as "totally disappointing" by the Opposition, which accused the government of lacking political will to tackle terror and treating the issue in a casual manner. "We will take strongest possible action...Government is taking firm steps. There should not be talk of any politicisation," Shinde said as BJP alleged that whatever steps the government takes with regard to terrorism are influenced by vote-bank politics. Both Houses witnessed repeated adjournments on the issue. Shinde contended that terror incidents come down since 2008 due to several initiatives taken by the government including amendments to Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, setting up of Multi-Agency Centre and NIA. Responding to criticism for his not visiting the blast site last night itself, Shinde said he did not do so to avoid distraction of police attention from the probe and instead went there very early this morning to return in time for Parliament. He said VVIPs should avoid visiting such sites immediately so as to allow police to concentrate on investigation. He complimented the state government for showing confidence in aftermath of yesterday`s blast. When it was pointed out that a chemical ammonium nitrate, which can be used in explosives, is easily available in market, Shinde said the government is taking steps to control it. PTI