UPA going soft on terror, charges Oppn

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) The Opposition today charged the UPA government with going ''soft'' on terror outfits as the ruling benches sought a new mechanism to verify the antecedents of all encounters to avoid recurrence of ''Gujarat model fake shootouts''.

Initiating the discussion on Demands for Grants of Home Ministry, former Union Minister Shahnawaz Husain (BJP) said removal of legislation like POTA had, in fact, encouraged the anti-national organisations and they had now started thinking that India was a soft target country where they could do anything and get away from the clutches of law.

He said the situation was similar in the North-East where Naxals and Maoists had chalked out a ''Red Corridor'' plan stretching from Pashupati Nath Temple to Tirupati passing through the Naxal infected States of Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and the House was fully aware of that as one of its members had been shot dead in Jharkhand.

He said those organisations were frequently carrying out operations in neighbouring West Bengal and Bihar and the Centre only remained a mute spectator.

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