The Dal Khalsa has opposed the Union government's proposal to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre without prior consultations with States and also representatives of ethnic minorities, and democratic and civil liberty organisations.
In a letter, the radical Sikh organisation has expressed an apprehension that just as draconian laws were misused to crush dissent, the wide powers to the NCTC would also be deployed to stifle the voice of those who question the intentions of the Indian state. Political secretary Kanwar Pal Singh said the proposal to set up the NCTC as a superior organisation of security and intelligence bodies was fraught with danger, “as we have suffered in Punjab.”
He said India had security and intelligence agencies which enjoyed full impunity and they often “functioned above the law of the land.”
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Instead of creating the new “anti-terror super body,” the UPA government could evolve methods for peaceful conflict resolution, by removing the causes of violence as well as making the existing agencies accountable to people and Parliament, said the outfit.