BJP blasts decision on Pota

The BJP has demanded that the government refer the Cabinet decision to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) to the parliamentary standing committee. Criticising the government's move, party General Secretary Arun Jaitley said the argument that terrorists could be tried under ordinary Indian Penal Code (IPC) laws was unrealistic and the matter required further debate.

The BJP appeared to be concentrating more on stalling tactics to prevent the repeal of Pota, as the date for renewal of the Act ends in October.

"Let's first spark a debate on the issue, after all, if the government is only repealing the Act to satisfy the political imperatives of its allies then it is tantamount to playing with the security of the nation," said Jaitley. "The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) cannot guide national security, the opinion of intelligence and security agencies have to be taken," he added.

"The framing of the anti-terror law was under the provisions of UN Resolution 1373, and most liberal democracies have an anti-terror law," he said. "It is foolish to suppose that ordinary provisions of the IPC can help deter acts of terror," he added.

Jaitley argued that there were seven important provisions in Pota that made it important in apprehending and convicting terrorists. "There is no definition of 'terror' in any other ordinary law of the land, in fact, in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case the charges had to be filed under Section 302 of the IPC and not the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act," said Jaitley.

He added that other laws did not deal with specifics such as the offence of funding terrorism, or the State taking over the profits of terror, which were present in Pota.

"The most indispensable part of the Act in spiking terror is the power to intercept communication," said Jaitley. "This is because, through this provision, the intercepts work as a preventive measure and since they are legally admissible under the Act, these can be used to secure convictions," he added.

"Along with the admission of confession made to senior police officers as evidence, this gives a greater chance of conviction of terrorists than any of the sections of the IPC," said Jaitley. "The last two sections of Pota, dealing with stringent bail and the banning of terrorist organisations, are also important," said Jaitley.

He added that the government, in order to please the Left parties, was going in for the repeal of Pota, but by asking for the amendment of the Unlawful Assembly Act was setting itself up for criticism by the same allies. "The UPA's positioning on this is all wrong," he said.