Congress bats for federal agency to deal with terrorism

New Delhi, Jul 28 (UNI) Shocked by the successive blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, the Congress today demanded the creation of a central agency to combat terrorism in an effective, coordinated and cohesive manner.

AICC Spokesman Manish Tewari told mediapersons that though the government had proposed a federal agency for counter-terrorism in a meeting of the Chief Minsiters, it was opposed by many states.

Citing the huge loss of lives in the recent serial blasts, he apealed to the states to reconsider their opposition to the proposal and adopt a responsible attitude.

Mr Tewari pointed out that federal agencies to counter terrorism had already been in place in many countries such as Germany, the US, the UK, Russia and China.

Asked if the government was satisfied with the performance of Home Minister Shivraj Patil in tackling terrorism, he said the law and order was the subject of the state government under the present Constitution. However, the creation of a federal agency would help to tackle the menace of terrorism in a better way.

On the demand of the BJP to repeal POTA, he said it was very sad that the BJP was trying to play politics when the entire nation was yet to recover from the shock caused the recent serial blasts.

He said when the UPA government enacated the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, it had incorporated at least 25 provisions from POTA.

The government repealed POTA as it sought to strike an assault on the the civil liberties.

He said the UPA government had never been soft on terror. "The Congress has an impeccable track record of fighting against terrorism." UNI SH SB KP2015