Activists demand National Commission for probe into terrorism

Mumbai, May 14 (UNI) Condemning those behind the serial blasts of Jaipur, several social activists today urged the government to set up a National Commission with representation of people, to monitor the investigations into such incidents.

These cowardly acts of terror have become a sore on the body politics of Indian democracy, the activists, including noted Islamic scholar Asghar Ali Engineer and the secretary of the All India Secular Forum, Ram Puniyani in a joint statement said.

Such a commission may also give suggestions in the direction of prevention of such acts, they further said.

The unfortunate part is prevention of these acts has been politicised by some political parties, they said.

''Some of the political parties claim that the present government is soft on terrorism, so there is an increase in these acts of terror. They forget that even during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime at the Centre the frequency and intensity of these acts was similar,'' they said.

The activists said that by making the laws repressive, such acts cannot be curtailed. It is a superficial and wrong approach.

These acts of terror have deeper political causes. These causes are related to United States, such as lust for oil, its help in forming 'Al Qaeda' and local rise of communal politics, around issues of religious identity.

The occurrence of these acts, more often on Tuesdays and Fridays gives a signal, which goes beyond the thinking of present investigation agencies. There is a need to have a national body with due representation from the socially concerned citizens and Human rights activists, who can have a say in these matters and also who in an unbiased way can go to the truth of these acts.

The bodies existing at present have a pattern of investigation, which can be predicted right in advance due to the prevalent prejudices, which by now have become institutionalised, the statement alleged.

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