India to Repeal Terrorism Legislation
By Alicia Burns
Jul 16, 2004
 he recently elected United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-led government of India is leading a movement to repeal Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), a strict anti-terrorist law, in an attempt to follow through on one of its campaign promises. Critics have long decried the misuses of the law’s provisions by state governments, and the new government agrees. To offset the changes that repealing the law will cause, the government is advocating strengthening the Unlawful Activities Act of 1967 to include provisions for combating terrorism, The Indian Express reported.
On July 14th, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil held a meeting with senior officials where the draft proposal was completed, and ways in which legislation combating terrorism could be reformatted. If the law is repealed, it will have wide-ranging consequences for how “anti-national” or terrorist activities are prosecuted, Chenna Online News reported.
Debate over the issue has been continuing for weeks, with politicians and civilians alike squaring off. Former Deputy Prime Minister and current opposition leader L.K. Advani warned against repealing the law, saying “even today army and police personnel are falling to the bullets of terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir a terrorists have gain stepped up their activities in the border state,” The Times of India reported in its online edition.
The country has a long history of tensions between its Hindu majority and Muslim minority, and critics of POTA accuse authorities of using the law to persecute opponents for political gain, as well as discriminate against Muslims. According to a recent government report, of the 280 POTA-related cases currently pending, not one involves a Hindu defendant. Former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, who oversaw the report’s release, publicly stated his support for abolishing the law. Once a supporter of the provision, he reversed his position, saying “I want to take this opportunity to make a public apology for supporting the enactment of this Draconian law which has been badly misused.” He did, however call for the Unlawful Activities Act to be expanded to include terrorist activities, The Indian Express online edition reported.
Two years ago, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) Party head V. Gopalaswamy (aka Vaiko) was arrested under POTA by the Tamil Nadu government for supporting the Tamil Rebels of Sri Lanka in a public speech. At a press conference after the Supreme Court rejected his motion to dismiss the charges and upheld the stay in the case, he did not budge in his support for the Tamil Tigers, saying, according to NewIndPress.com:
"The LTTE is the only organization which has the support of all the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Lankan Government had crushed the Eelam Tamils for decades together and hence the LTTE's fight for freedom is legitimate... In fact, in the past eight-and-a-half years of the existence of our party, we have not indulged in a single violent incident. We are second to none in safeguarding tranquility in the State. What proof does Jayalalithaa have to call us terrorists and book us under the POTA…This case has been framed by the state government. We will fight it out. When the POTA was debated in the NDA meeting, I had raised serious doubts that it could be misused against the political opponents. However, the Centre had given an assurance that it would not be done and it has kept the word. It is the State Government which has misused the act. While challenging our case, we would like to stress the point that we are not against the POTA and the Act should remain on the statutes to fight the Pakistani terrorists…We are confident that justice will triumph at the end."
The case is still pending, and on July 16, the Supreme Court re-affirmed its decision to stay the case, postponing the trial set to start on July 30th. The arrest of Vaiko is the most prominent example of the government using POTA as a political weapon. The party leader’s speech in support of Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka violates the dominant Tamil Nadu state government policy, which is non-interference in the conflict. As a result of his arrest, the MDMK, which has four members in the Indian legislature (Lok Sabha) refused to join the coalition of the current government, fearing persecution, WebIndia123.com reported.
POTA is scheduled to expire on October 30th, so there is a chance that the UPA push to have it repealed will be for naught. However, if the new government succeeds in their efforts, it should be a boost for their credibility. Following through on this campaign promise will win favor with the voters who elected them, and could raise their standing in the Muslim community, given that they were previous targets of the law, while simultaneously negating the leftist human rights groups who argue the law unfairly discriminates against minorities. Once POTA is a thing of the past, the government’s next challenge will be in passing legislation that combats terrorism but does not encroach upon civil liberties. According to a July 16th report in The Times of India, there is debate within the Singh government as to how to best approach terrorism legislation, but all agree that POTA must go.
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