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Prevention of Terrorism Act to get more
teeth
With the Lok Sabha passing the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Bill Friday, the
government will give more teeth to the Prevention of Terrorism Act
2002 by including offences that threaten the country's
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New Delhi:
Condemning the UPA government for rushing
through amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Amendment (UAPA) Bill, President of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Dr
Zafarul-Islam Khan Saturday said the law in its present form could
be more misused against innocents specially the Muslims.
"With more teeth, the new avtar of
UAPA will be even more misused. In these circumstances it is the
duty of all Muslim, peoples and human rights organisations to
condemn this draconian move and demand the repeal of this
terrorist law. Honest application of ordinary laws is more than
enough to deal with the scourge of terrorism", Dr. Zafarul-Islam
Khan said in a statement.
The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha
on Friday without allowing a discussion in the Parliament,
railroading the objections of CPI, CPIM, AIMDK, JDP and MIM.
"UPA had come to power on the promise of repealing the grossly
misused POTA but it was quick to enact an amended UAPA which
incorporated all the draconian features of POTA", he said.
Stating that UAPA was further
strengthened by a number of amendments ever since, he said "Now
the latest amendment declares even “economic” offences and dealing
with fake currency notes as 'terrorism'".
"Just as TADA, POTA and the amended UAPA were abused with impunity
by our police and security agencies, the latest amendments will
give them more leverage to criminalise innocent people, especially
Muslim youth who have been singled out by their thousands by this
minority-friendly government", he said.
"The umpteen acquittals after long
years of incarceration and extremely slow judicial process show
that this government is following the same anti-minority policies
of the NDA", he said.
The Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Bill Friday by voice
vote.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the government would not
misuse the act.
"The UAPA is being amended to bring clarity to the existing legal
regime and remove deficiencies identified in its implementation by
the central and state intelligence and investigating agencies,"
Shinde said.
Communist Party of India leader Prabodh Panda, Communist Party of
India-Marxist leader Saidul Haque and Biju Janata Dal leader
Bhartruhari Mahtab wanted the bill to be deferred so that it could
be debated thoroughly.
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