Centre sitting on state terror laws: Chouhan

“This (discrimination) is not in the wider interest of the nation,” Chouhan said in a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, carrying on the attack on the Centre from where senior BJP leader L K Advani left. Despite reminders, he said, the Union Government is not giving its nod to Madhya Pradesh Terrorist and Disruptive Activities and Organised Crime (Prevention) Bill 2007, submitted six months ago. Chouhan’s letter follows a political resolution passed by the state BJP executive meeting in Bhopal last week.

Pointing out that anti-terror laws like MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) and others were already in existence in states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, Chouhan said: “This highlights the attitude of the Central Government to consider the proposals of non-UPA states differently.”

The Chief Minister asked the Prime Minister to immediately convene a meeting of all chief ministers to discuss security concerns arising in the wake of the Jaipur serial blasts. “The heinous terrorist act has not only brought death and suffering to innocent people but also exposed as hollow our claims to seriously cope with the menace,” he said.

Taking forward his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi’s comment that ‘intelligence inputs were more like weather forecasts’, Chouhan added that getting ‘actionable and accurate intelligence’ from the Central agencies was rarely forthcoming.

Maintaining that there was an urgent need to upgrade and strengthen the capabilities of Central intelligence agencies, he also asked for adequate financial and technical assistance to states to enable them to upgrade their own intelligence machinery. The CM said the Government should revamp, without further delay, the criminal justice system in the country as recommended by the Justice Mallimath Committee.