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| Abhik Adhikary |
India has seen its fair share of
terrorist activities, be it the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001 by the
Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Mumbai train blasts, which took place on 11th July 2006 or be it the more recent attack on
the city of Mumbai on 26th November 2008. We had our
wake-up-call much before the 26/11 attacks in 2008, because of which the
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) was formed based on the model of the US’ S.W.A.T. But
on that fateful day, there was nothing much that the ATS could do as they were
tactically short of their opponents, even though they were involved in the
hostage rescue operations. In order to deal with the threat, the National
Security Guard (NSG) had to be called in.
In the aftermath of the 26/11
attacks, the Maharashtra government was accused of having failed to act on the
intelligence inputs. To which the government replied that the inputs were vague
and no pre-emptive actions could be taken on their basis. Because of the 26/11 attacks,
then Home Minister Shivraj Patel resigned and was replaced by the Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram. Who after accepting the office, said that, one of his
first tasks was to establish a “Strong federal counter terror agency” that
could co-operate with the states effectively by integrating intelligence inputs
from the various intelligence agencies. For this purpose the Home Minister P.
Chidambaram along with the National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan had
visited the United States in 2009, to study the functioning of the US’ NCTC, on
which the Indian version of the NCTC will be based upon.
It is quite a good proposal and
it will benefit the country in the long run. But there are a few issues which would
have to be taken care of before moving forward in this direction. The following
are the points (issues) which need to be addressed.
. Who will the head of the NCTC
report to?
. It will add to the
bureaucratic triangle and to the intelligence sharing tension.
. Will it be under the
Intelligence Bureau?
. NCTC will be modelled on the
American version of the NCTC.
. Powers of the NCTC?
. NCTC defies the constitution
of the country?
The first issue is related to,who
will the Director of the NCTC report to? According to the planned proposal the
director of the NCTC will report to the Director of the Intelligence Bureau
(I.B) and the Home Secretary. But the modified original draft of the NCTC, says
that this system does not come under the purview of the I.B and the states are to be taken into confidence before the centre carries on any activity in their
territories.
The second issue which is to be
stressed upon is that, India already has a large bureaucracy and several
agencies like R&AW (Research & Analysis Wing), I.B, ATS, which are
already dealing with the issue of the terror threats to the country. So the addition
of the NCTC to this structure will lead to further chaos. We have already seen
such intelligence sharing tension between the existing agencies. If that was not
the case, may be the 26/11 Mumbai attacks could have been prevented. The
introduction of such an organisation may lead to more chaos in the bureaucracy,
but it will improve the intelligence sharing scenario of the country. The NCTC
has been empowered to analyse intelligence shared by the various agencies like
the I.B and select what it deems suitable.
The third issue is that, the
union home ministry has proposed making extensive changes on the NCTC proposal
to the cabinet committee on security. Including one to make it a separate
organisation and not under the Intelligence bureau. If this is not done, the proposed
organization will not be answerable to the parliament for its actions.
The next issue is that, it is
said that the NCTC is modelled on the basis of the American version of the
NCTC. But the American NCTC deals with strategic planning and integration of
intelligence, without any operational involvement. But the Indian Version will
have to survey intelligence information as well as take operational actions on
their basis. Furthermore the American Federal system and the Indian Federal
system are very different from each other. Therefore some serious thought is to
be given to this matter. So the Organisation can be operational only after a
series of amendments in the constitution of the country. It can be argued that it might be too much for
a single organisation to handle, because it will have to work at both ends - it
will not only have to survey intelligence information, but also take actions
regarding them if thought necessary.
The next issue
is regarding the power given to the NCTC. The organization will derive its
powers from the “Unlawful activities prevention act 1967”. It is proposed that
the proposed organisation will be under the Intelligence Bureau and
the director of the organization will report to the director of the I.B and the
home secretary. Furthermore the organization will be given the power to conduct
searches and arrests in any part of the country, and will formulate responses
to terror. Therefore if this organization with its arsenal of powers remains
under the I.B, it will not be answerable to the Parliament for its actions.
More over if it takes action on a state wide basis, to counter terrorism, it
will bypass the state authorities and it can be said, in that respect the proposed
organization has “Too much power”. So the home ministry in order to tackle this
issue has proposed for making the NCTC into a separate body and not under the
I.B. It has also been said that, whenever the organization is to take actions
in the states the senior officers of the police department of the states are to
be informed along with the ATS and both are to be kept in the loops.
Perhaps the most controversial
issue regarding this organization is that, it can in a way defy the
constitution of the country. The controversy is that organization has been
empowered to make searches and arrests in the states, but the fact is that, law
and order is a state matter and such sweeping powers vested in a central agency
will violate the autonomy of the state government. Furthermore some strategic
experts like B. Raman have pointed out that there are significant
loop holes that can be used in selectively targeting states for political ends.
However the UPA government has stuck to its decision, which has resulted in
huge criticism from the other members of the (former) UPA like, the chief
Minister of West Bengal Ms.Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Gujarat
Mr. NarendraModi, and the opposition the BJP, who all argue that this
organization is too powerful a central agency which in some respect defies the
constitution of the country. But post to the criticisms there has been some
reforms in the proposed policy of the functioning of the organization. Firstly
it has been proposed to be made into a separate agency and not under the I.B,
because of which the organization will be answerable to the parliament for its
actions. Secondly when the NCTC is to take actions in the various states, the state
authorities are to be informed beforehand and the state police and the ATS are
to be kept in the loops. It has also been proposed that the Director General of
Police of the states and the Chiefs of the ATS of the various states will the
members of the standing counsel of the organization.
As a whole the proposed idea for
the formation of such an organization, is no doubt a novel idea. And as history
as a witness, we can say, that whenever such a radical idea has been
implemented it had to face an uphill battle.
There is no doubt that the implementation of such an organization will
further strengthen the backbone of our country in dealing with terrorism. But
it should be kept in mind that because this organization is mooted from the US’
NCTC and the federal structure of the United States and that of India is very
different from each other. Only after a series of constitutional amendments the
proposed organization could be operational. Otherwise the power vested in the
organization will bypass the state authorities and will in terms defy the
constitution of the country.
When the League of Nations was formed after the
First World War (1914-1918), it failed to prevent the Second World War. This
was because of the fact that the League of Nations “didn’t possess any teeth
and couldn’t bite” that is to say it didn’t have a standing army with which it
could put pressure on oppressing nations. But after the Second World War the
United Nations was formed and it “possessed some serious teeth” because of
which it was successful. Similarly our current intelligence agency the I.B
doesn’t have the power to take actions but only provide inputs to various state
agencies the ATS and the state police, who in turns take required measures to
deal with the threat at hand. But on the other hand the proposed organization
will have the power to work at both ends; it will have the ability to survey
intelligence information from various intelligence agencies and take necessary
measures on its own terms, keeping the state authorities in the loops. Perhaps
in today’s radical world where terrorism is not just limited to blowing up
strategic places with a bomb, but so much more, only such a versatile agency as the National Counter Terrorist Centre is the answer to
our terrorist problems.
Abhik Adhikary is a Civil Services aspirant and a member of Trademark IAS.
