strong laws
   Date :26-Jul-2019
FACED with challenges posed by terror groups, involving external and internal elements, it was only natural for the Government to make the anti-terrorist laws more stringent. As rightly said by Union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah, while replying to the debate on the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Government’s intention is to keep the anti-terror agencies two steps ahead of the terrorists, thus making the law more proactive and nip in the bud any attempt to foment trouble anywhere in the country. The Minister has assured that there will be no ecroachment on the authority or powers of states as was apprehended by the Opposition while opposing the Amendmend Bill.
 
Introduced by the earlier Congress Government in the year1967 to deal with terrorist activities, the Act has undergone several changes as and when required and as the situation of the time demanded. The Act has been amended three times in the past, the latest being in 2013. Thus, as the situation on terrorism evolved and began to become very complex with passing time, the Government of the day felt the need to arm the security agencies with greater powers to control unlawful activities of terrorists who threatened the integrity and souvereignty of the nation.
The threat has been two-pronged; the one that emanated from foreign shores as well as home-grown terror outfits, which directly challenged the souvereignty of the nation and posed a grave security threat; and the other was internal security threat, mostly posed by Left Wing Extremism of the Maoist type and the separatist movements that were kicking and alive in the North-Eastern states of the country.
 
These organised secessionist groups in the North-East, the Maoist extremists, which looked to throw out the lawfully constituted Government of India and the terrorist groups operating from across the border, aided and abetted by a neighbouring country, needed to be dealt with an iron hand. Thre security agencies working in those areas felt the existing legal tools wholly inadequate to control the menace.
 
The security agencies continue to operate in very delicate situations where they have also to deal with sentiments and resentments of the civilian population. They need to isolate the disruptive elements and neutralise them. In such situations the security agencies always remain on tenterhooks, drawing flak on occasions. It is such situations that they are required to be armed with enough powers to deal with anti-national elements.
 
Though now the Congress and other Opposition parties have opposed the amendments to the UAPA law, when they were in power they also felt the urgent need for empowering the security agencies with a stringent law to deal with extraordinary situation arising from time to time. Not only that, successive Congress Governments felt the need to provide more teeth to the anti-terrorist law periodically and as the situation on terrorism front began to become more complex, they brought about suitable changes as required by security agencies.
 
Similarly, by bringing new amendments to the existing law, the present Government seeks to strengthen the hands of the security forces and hence there is no question of it being misused or politically used. Besides dealing with the hoardes of terrorists that Pakistan routinely exports to India, the Union Government is also concerned about the activities of the Maoist red extremists who are operating in large parts of the country and are seeking to spread their wings in urban parts, enticing young educated people, intellectuals working in various fields. It is necessary to devise necessary legal tools to deal with such extraordinary situations.