At the internal security meeting, the government is attempting to hard
sell a diluted version of the proposed anti-terror body, the National Counter
Terrorism Centre or NCTC.
What is NCTC?
The National Counter
Terrorism Center (NCTC) is a proposed federal anti-terror agency to be created
in India modelled on the National Counterterrorism
Center of the USA India India
After the 26/11 Mumbai attack,
it was in this context that the NCTC was mooted as an apex body, a single and
effective point of control for all counter terrorism measures. The NCTC is
modelled on the American NCTC and Britain India
was mooted by the then Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, who along with the then
National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, had visited the USA in 2009 to study the functioning of the US
The NCTC will derive its
powers from the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. It is to be a part of
the Intelligence Bureau and will be headed by a Director who will report to the
Director, IB and the Home Secretary. The NCTC will execute counter-terror
operations and collect, collate and disseminate data on terrorism besides
maintaining a data base on terrorists and their associates including their
families. The NCTC has been empowered to analyse intelligence shared by
agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and select what it deems suitable. It has
also been granted powers to conduct searches and arrests in any part of India
Unlike the American NCTC
which deals only with strategic planning and integration of intelligence
without any operational involvement or the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which
too plays a purely coordinating role, the Indian agency will have not only
intelligence functions but also powers to conduct operations. It is this
concentration of powers that has had the states objecting to the NCTC, arguing
that such sweeping powers vested in a Central agency will violate the autonomy
of state governments, given that law and order is a state subject according to
the Constitution. It has also been argued that given the establishment of
the National Investigating Agency in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks, the
establishment of an NCTC would only add to the bureaucratic tangle in
intelligence sharing and counter terrorist action.
It is also argued that the
nature of US and Indian federal structures differ vastly and hence suitable
amendments are needed for the agency to be effective while guaranteeing the
constitutional rights of the states. Some strategic experts like B. Raman of
the R&AW have pointed out there are significant loopholes that can still be
used in selectively targeting states for political ends. The UPA govt has stuck
to its decision to set up NCTC and has promised to resolve all concerns
amicably. The initial opposition to the NCTC also focused on how the agency had
been empowered to search and arrest people without keeping the state government,
police or anti-terror squad in the loop. The Centre has since mooted that the
Directors General of Police and the chiefs of anti-terror squads of all states
be made members of the Standing Council of the NCTC. These senior police
officers are to be informed before the NCTC conducts an operation in their
state.
Here are some key points put forward by some
political leaders and where they stand on NCTC:-
|
Leader / Chief Minister
|
Their argument on NCTC
|
|
Mr. P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister (the then Home
Minister who formulated NCTC –his pet project)
|
NCTC has been removed from the Intelligence Bureau.
We have also modified some of its powers.
I deeply regret that some chief ministers oppose the NCTC even in its
present form. There is no nayi-nayi (new, new) agency. We are not creating
multiplicity of agencies. We are not creating multiplicity of agencies.
|
|
Ms. J. Jayalalithaa
(CM, Tamil Nadu)
|
Centre should seek the active cooperation of all
state governments as its equal partners in the fight against terrorism. The
UPA Government was increasingly taking unilateral steps and creating top down
structures and parallel authorities that encroach upon the constitutional
domain of state governments.
This is an ill-informed and counter-productive
approach best illustrated by the ham-handed manner in which the National
Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has been sought to be established.
I fail to understand why the Centre persists in
dealing with such a sensitive matter in such an insidious fashion, treating
the state governments as though they are adversaries to be suspected rather
than partners, and continues trying to establish the Counter Terrorism Centre
by stealth, rather than in a spirit of co-operation and transparency and in
partnership with the state governments.
|
|
Mr. Narendra Modi (CM,
|
The Prime Minister and the Home Minister did not
speak on NCTC. But it was on agenda. I feel that making new institutions
destabilises system. That they talk of
national security but their actions are of political security. The formation
of new institutions is to serve this purpose. The Centre has no faith in
state governments. I also said that the government is constantly weakening
the federal structure. All states work together with the Centre but the Big
Brother attitude adopted by the central government is not good.
It is not clear how big it (NCTC) is going to be, what
forces are going to comprise it, how
exactly it is going to function and which statute will it derive its powers
from. I think such poorly conceived ideas which tinker with age old existing
systems rather than strengthening them are going to do irreparable loss to
our internal security apparatus. The proposed NCTC will be just another
superstructure in the maze of institutions
already existing.
|
|
Mr. Siddaramaiah (CM, Karnataka)
|
Some safeguards are necessary before setting up the
NCTC so that it is not given unbridled powers to encroach upon states' domain.
As envisaged by the Union government, the National Counter-Terrorism Centre
will have to involve multi-dimensional intelligence gathering and an action
planning agency. Earlier efforts of containing terrorist activities by the
existing organisation for intelligence networking have proved inadequate and
ineffective.
|
|
Mr. Raman Singh (CM, Chhattisgarh)
|
We are opposed to the NCTC in its present state. We
want that if the NCTC comes into existence, it should respect the federal
structure of our Constitution. The participation of states in the NCTC should
not get reflected only on paper. To make it effective and useful the state's
role should be ratified by Parliament. In the present proposed NCTC an
executive order may lead to duplication at the state level.
|
|
Mr. Prithviraj Chavan (CM,
|
Paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3 of the proposed draft order
require further examination to understand the implications of these
provisions on operational efficacy and clarity on respective roles in such
joint operations.
|
|
Mr. Nitish Kumar (CM,
|
Firstly what is the use of creating an operation
division within NCTC and giving powers of conducting such operations, if such
operations are to be conducted either through or in conjunction with state
police
|
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