PC pushes NCTC: ‘Gaps in fight against terror’

Hours after the twin bomb blasts in a train at the Chennai railway station, Finance Minister P Chidambaram Thursday said the absence of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has created gaps in the fight against terror. The setting up of an NCTC was proposed by Chidambaram when he was the home minister, but it did not take off as it faced stiff opposition from non-Congress ruled states.

Chidambaram said he cannot claim an NCTC would have avoided every blast, but it would have “reached the sources of extremists and bomb-makers”. Many “specialists in bomb making, many cells which specialise in bomb making and many extremist groups would have been nabbed by NCTC”, he said. He pointed out that uncoordinated action by state governments was leaving gaps in the fight against terror. “It is the uncoordinated actions, well meaning, I am not saying they are not well meaning, of state governments which is creating gaps in the fight against terrorism. That coordination can only be brought about by an NCTC,” he said.