Counter-terrorism policy on anvil

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10: In the wake of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane, the Government is for the first time planning to come up...

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10: In the wake of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane, the Government is for the first time planning to come up with a comprehensive counter-terrorism policy.

According to highly placed sources in the Government, a new law to replace the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act, which was recently repealed, will be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament next month. They pointed out that this was an 8220;unusual step8221; in itself, since legislative matters are rarely taken up in the Budgetsession.

8220;The policy to counter terrorism will lay down guidelines for dealing with terrorists,8221; the sources added. 8220;It will address questions like whether a minister should speak to terrorists directly and also lay down the norms to be followed during negotiations.8221;

The policy will be formulated by officials from the Home Ministry, the External Affairs Ministry, the Defence Ministry and the National Security Council. It will also lay down guidelines to deal with countriesthat sponsor terrorism.

Emphasising the importance of such a comprehensive policy on counter-terrorism, the sources pointed out that despite the fact that India has been the focus of cross-border terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir for the past 15 years, a full-fledged policy is still not in place.

It has taken the hijacking of IC-814 for the Government to speed up the matter. It is now being acknowledged that many negotiating glitches with the hijackers in Amritsar as well as in Kandahar could have been avoided if the negotiators had some sort of a brief to go by.

The USA, for instance, has a four-point counter-terrorism policy. The very first point rules out making any kind of concessions and striking any deals with terrorists. 8220;This gives out a clear signal, both to potential hijackers and to relatives of the hostages,8221; said the source.

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The policy is also expected to specify the official level at which such negotiations should be conducted. Jaswant Singh has been severely criticised by the Oppositionfor flying off to Kandahar with the militants to be released. Moreover, the Cabinet was divided on the composition of the negotiating team.

While Mamata Banerjee and Yashwant Sinha felt that the negotiators should include politicians, others like Home Minister L K Advani and Ram Vilas Paswan reportedly said such negotiations were best left to bureaucrats.