NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Amidst opposition from various quarters to the newly promulgated Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, the Centre has written to the state governments, stressing the need for the law in view of "heightened" terrorist threats from across the border.
Union Home Secretary Kamal Pande has written to state chief secretaries stressing that "an extraordinary situation" had arisen "in and around the country", demanding "extraordinary responses".
Pande, in his letter, emphasised that the ordinance was "substantially different from the notorious Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act", official sources said.
"An Anti-terrorism law was already on cards. However, a paradigm shift in the existing and emerging threat perceptions has advanced the timetable, making it imperative to promulgate POTO without any further delay," Pande's letter said, while seeking cooperation in the implementation of the ordinance.
He said after the September 11 terror strikes in the United States, the "locus of a major international conflict has suddenly shifted to our neighbourhood".
The effect of the Afghan imbroglio, which was getting prolonged, was "already being felt (in India) in that the dividing line between external and internal threats to our security are getting increasingly blurred", he said.
"Terrorist threats from across the border are getting heightened by the day and can be ignored only at our own peril," the letter said.
PTI
ALSO READ Opposition parties strongly oppose POTO
Tell us what you think of this report
