Pros and cons of NCTC : Who cares for them here ?
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 05, 2012 -

Ningombam Pramod from the desk

Basically a top anti-terror body under Intelligence Bureau, National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC) was established in 2004 by a Presidential Executive Order following the key recommendations of 9/11 commission in US.

The formation of this counter-terror body defies the old format of national government agencies, to make it more effective and a distinguished organization. It has been inducted to become a centre for joint operational planning and joint intelligence to counter terrorism that holds the staff of various government agencies.

In India, the proposed NCTC is going to set up small offices across the country to gather the real-time information. It will be headed by an Intelligence bureau official and report to Home Ministry.

NCTC officers can carry out raids without prior permission of respective states. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram even stated in the Lok Sabha recently that the NCTC is an absolute necessity and it does not amount to attack on the federal structure.

He claimed that even the states which are opposed to some provisions of the body supported the idea of its formation. However, we need to discuss as to why certain states have opposed to the NCTC concept.

As many as nine Chief Ministers of different states have reacted against the Centre's decision to install NCTC across the country. Some of them have even furnished their dissent note to the Prime Minister.

The main contention of the States opposed to NCTC is that it is against the principle of federalism as it would empower the NCTC to arrest individuals, search premises and seize material evidence which the States alone are empowered to do.

According to reports, the NCTC being set up in India will not be an independent institution. It will be part of the Intelligence Bureau and its Director will supervise its functioning.

But the question remains whether India needs to copy even the nomenclature of the US's National Counter-Terrorism Centre to counter its terrorism challenges. The debate over the last few weeks indicates that the Ministry of Home Affairs has lost the plot over its proposal to set up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre and is now trapped in the political dilemma of Centre-State relations with States not ruled by the Congress opposing to its proposal.

The modified standard operating procedures of the NCTC proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which the Central agency will now keep the State police in the loop, are unlikely to calm down the States at the scheduled meeting with Chief Ministers on May 5, tomorrow. Having said this, we should also remember that we are continuing to face threats every now and then and Manipur is not an exception.

The concern authority should not merely focus on stopping attacks. As important as that is, they must also deal with the underlying causes that turn a young person into a terrorist or a suicide bomber.

However, it remains to be seen as to what the outcome of the meeting scheduled tomorrow in Delhi would be. Interestingly, for the state of Manipur, the government has remained silent over the issue.

It has neither openly accepted the proposed NCTC nor have reacted against it. The most embarrassing part of the whole story is that the CBOs and CSOs of the state which have been making issue on all matters concerning the state do not seem to bother about this hot issue.

Is it because of the level of unawareness and lack of knowledge? This is a question that needs to be answered by these CBOs and CSOs.