By IANS
New Delhi : The Indian government said Wednesday it was open to creating a federal investigating and policing agency to combat and prevent terrorism if there was political consensus on the issue.
“I don’t have any problem (with creating such an agency) if the entire House supports me and the states also accept this. Then we have no difficulty in doing this,” Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha, even as he added a rider.
“We will not interfere in state affairs. We cannot force the states since (policing) is a state subject. But (a federal force) is not a concept that should be brushed aside,” the minister maintained.
Patil was replying to a daylong debate on an adjournment motion moved by Janata Dal-United (JD-U) member Prabhunath Singh on the Hyderabad blasts Saturday that claimed 42 lives.
The entire opposition supported the motion.
Even as parliament resumed its sitting Wednesday after a four-day break for the Onam and Raksha Bandhan festivals, the terrorist attack in Andhra Pradesh weighed heavily on the minds of MPs.
Agitated members forced a brief adjournment of the Rajya Sabha after which the issue was taken up during zero hour.
In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee immediately admitted Singh’s adjournment motion and all other items on the agenda were deferred.
Opposition members walked out of the house at the end of the five-hour debate, saying they were dissatisfied with the home minister’s reply.
Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani (Bharatiya Janata Party-BJP) made the suggestion for creating a federal agency on the lines of the American FBI to effectively counter terrorism. Other BJP members, as also those from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) supported him.
Patil, however, dismissed the other opposition suggestion to re-impose the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) enacted by the previous NDA government but repealed when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) assumed power in 2004.
The minister reminded the house that the NDA government had brought in POTA after repealing the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) enacted by an earlier Congress government.