Nitish again opposes NCTC
February 20th, 2012 - 5:08 pm ICT by IANS
Patna, Feb 20 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday again came out against the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) which he said had been proposed without consulting the states.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said: “Where is the need to create new centres like NCTC with provisions which arbitrarily trample upon existing constitutional safeguards to protect the highly delicate balance of power between the centre and states?”
Nitish Kumar said the creation of NCTC was highly flawed as it had been created within the Intelligence Bureau, which has no accountability to parliament.
“We are aware that chief ministers of several states have also written to you against the unilateral and hasty decision of (the home ministry) to create NCTC without consulting the state governments
“Won’t you agree with the suggestion that the Indian government must re-examine the whole issue and ensure that the order (is) suitably modified to take care of states’ genuine concerns?”
He said it was an established principle that intelligence agencies were never given the powers of arrest.
“Why then such powers are sought to be given to intelliegence agencies which will remain prone to misuse?
“You are aware that eminent political leaders were branded as threats to national security and put behind bars during the Emergency of 1975-77.”
The NCTC has also been flayed by chief ministers of Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
- Nitish, Patnaik again oppose NCTC, write to PM (Lead) - Feb 20, 2012
- Nitish, Patnaik, Jaya write to PM against NCTC (Second Lead) - Feb 21, 2012
- Opposition CMs lambast government for security overreach (Roundup) - Apr 16, 2012
- What chief ministers said against NCTC - May 05, 2012
- PM assures CMs on anti-terror hub, creation to go ahead (Intro Roundup) - Feb 21, 2012
- PM writes to chief ministers on anti-terror hub - Feb 21, 2012
- Ant-terror hub: Seven CMs take on UPA, Congress downplays threat (Intro Roundup) - Feb 17, 2012
- Seven CMs take on UPA, Congress downplays threat (Roundup) - Feb 17, 2012
- Crucial NCTC meet begins in Delhi - May 05, 2012
- 'NCTC tantamount to encroaching on state rights' - May 05, 2012
- Counter terror body: Naveen Patnaik intensifies attack on government - Feb 17, 2012
- Nitish demands immediate withdrawal of NCTC - May 05, 2012
- Mamata joins chorus against Chidambaram's ant-terror hub (Lead) - Feb 17, 2012
- Government wins first NCTC battle, defeats opposition amendments (Roundup) - Mar 19, 2012
- Re-examine provisions of anti-terror body: Jayalalithaa - Feb 17, 2012
Tags: chief ministers, constitutional safeguards, counter terrorism, delicate balance, genuine concerns, hasty decision, himachal pradesh, home ministry, indian government, intelligence agencies, intelligence bureau, madhya pradesh, manmohan, manmohan singh, nctc, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, state governments, tamil nadu, west bengal