Vasundhara Raje demands stringent laws to fight terrorism

New Delhi, Oct 13 (UNI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today sought stringent central laws to fight terrorism and said the Centre should tackle the menace by ''rising above party or politics''.

Participating in the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting here, the Chief Minister deplored the manner in which the Centre threatened to invoke article 355 or 356 in a selective manner, charging that the government was targeting only the BJP ruled states and ignored all kinds of violence in the Congress or UPA ruled states.

Ms Raje said the fight against terror had to be united and resolute. It must be fought by all of us and shall not be weakened by the vote bank politics, she said.

She expressed her unhappiness over the Centre for not providing approval to the 'Rajasthan Organised Crime Control Act, asserting that when such legislations could be permitted in states like Maharashtra, why Rajasthan was being denied.

Ms Raje said Rajasthan was a border state and had become a 'direct victim' of the unconventional conflict being carried out by the neighbour from across the border. She referred to the recent bomb blasts in Jaipur and such attacks that had affected the economy and tourism sector of the state.

While maintaining the BJP's line that the present anti-terror law were not adequate to deal with the menace, she said the Government must keep in mind that terrorism was not the outcome of poverty, unemployment or even lack of education. "On the contrary people involved in such anti-social activities are well educated, technically experts and well off by all Indian standards," she said.

The Chief Minister wanted the Centre to empower the states to control not only terrorism but also illegal trade of armaments and inconstitutional activities and demanded that infiltration of Bangladeshis be tackled properly.

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