Speaking at the chief ministers conference on NCTC here today, Himachal chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal questioned the Centre on misuse of the proposed NCTC for harassing political adversaries and branding them as anti-national.
Going by the concerns raised by various states on NCTC, Dhumal said, it "shows that it is not the need for an appropriate response mechanism that is being questioned, but the manner and the form in which it is being sought to be put in place".
"Not only has the Union Government gone about giving shape to the proposed NCTC unilaterally, but it has also, unfortunately, tried to run roughshod over the interests of states in the process", Dhumal said.
Attacking Home Minister P Chidambaram for claiming that terrorism was a shared responsibility, Dhumal questioned, "then why is the federal structure being sought to be weakened in the garb of setting up the NCTC?"
Further questioning the concentration of wide powers and discretions to intelligence organisations, he said, "where is the guarantee that the Central Government may not misuse the proposed NCTC to harass its political adversaries, branding them and their activities as anti-national?"
Dhumal feared, "such attempts to encroach on the powers and jurisdictions of states will only end up straining the relations between the Centre and the states". (MORE)
