Advani demands revival of POTA

Hyderabad, Aug 26: Leader of the Opposition and former Union Home Minister L K Advani today demanded immediate revival of the 'Prevention of Terrorism Act' (POTA) to tackle the terrorism menace.

Talking to newspersons after a visit to the blast sites here, he said as terrorists were not particularly against a person, a region or a religion, the United Nations Security Council had asked countries to frame laws to tackle the menance, and accordingly the then BJP-led NDA government at the Centre had brought in POTA.

Alleging that as part of its appeasement policy, the Congress-led UPA government soon after assuming power had repealed the POTA as a first measure.

While tackling the menace, the issue of minority or majority should not be mentioned, Mr Advani said, adding that talking about majority or minority was only about 'vote-bank' politics.

He wanted both the Central and State governments to adopt zero tolerance towards terrorism as the NDA government did.

Mr Advani said he was shocked to learn that an author was attacked here for expressing an opinion that was different from that of the attackers.

There should be strong intelligence to preempt acts of terrorism and investigation when to arrest the culprits and a proper judicial system to bring those culprits to book, he said.

Noting that Andhra Pradesh had become a hub of terrorist activities, he said he thought Mumbai was the second target of terrorists after Jammu and Kashmir. But now he was convinced that the terrorists had included Hyderabad also in their list along with Mumbai.

Pointing out that reservations to Muslims were first started in Andhra Pradesh as a appeasement policy, the BJP leader said there should be no reservations on the basis of religion or community.

Stating that the Congress had ruled the country for the longest period, Mr Advani said the party hence could not blame anyone else for backwardness.

UNI