Advani raps PM on approach to terrorism

New Delhi, Nov 29 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani today joined issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statements that the existing laws were sufficient to deal with terrorits and Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism.

Such a statement from the Prime Minister that no further law was required to deal with terrorists has weakened India's war against terrorism, Mr Advani said, initiating discussion on an adjournment motion moved by him on the internal security and failure of the Govenment to curb the terrorist menace.

Stating that the Government does not seem to have a ''perspective'' to deal with terrorism, he noted that while the Prime Minister was of the opinion that the laws were adequate to face the challenge of cross broder terrirism, the other developed countries in the word felt otherwise and were going in for special laws to deal with the menace. He recalled that his own NDA Govenment had frame a special law -- POTA -- to deal with the menace.

Referring to the Mumbai serial blast in 1993, he said it was only because of the existing anti-terrorist law TADA that most of the accused were found guilty and awarded punishment by a special TADA court. ''Had this stringent law not been there, most of the accusd would have gone scot free,'' he said.

Arguing that the ''best of Indian laws'' framed so far have been misused in some measure and whatever law is framed by the Government is liable to be misused, he said this did not mean that there was no need for a new law to deal with terrorists.

Mr Advani said that ever since the terrorist menace had raised its ''ugly head from across Pakistan 25 years ago, it had caused a huge loss to India, much more than what the five wars that India fought with Pakistan and China.'' ''It was after the 1971 war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh that Pakistan realised that it was much less expensive to fight a proxy war with India as it was incapable of facing a full fleged war war with India,'' he said, adding that ever since this realisation, Pakistan had started a low cost proxy war by adoting terrorism against India.

Mr Advani noted that while India incurred expenditure of Rs 730 crores to counter the cross-border terrorism, it costs only Rs 24 crores to run this movement.'' MORE UNI YS Vd GC1639