/ 17 December 2008

Indian Parliament agrees tough anti-terror laws

The Indian Parliament on Wednesday agreed tougher anti-terrorism laws that allow the detention of alleged militants for up to 180 days, special courts to try suspects and sweeping police powers.

MPs cutting across party lines voted in favour of major changes to India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) law in Parliament’s elected 543-seat lower house to give sharper teeth to the existing legislation.

”The Bill [amendments] are passed unanimously by this house,” Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said after a debate that lasted eight hours.

The newly shaped law includes provisions permitting police and the judiciary to hold suspects for up to 180 days, rather than the current 90 days, and allows for a financial clampdown on suspects.

The MPs also approved a plan to set up an FBI-style agency designed to plug gaping security holes exposed by last month’s attacks in which 172 people, including nine gunmen, were killed in India’s financial capital, Mumbai.

”I assure the laws are not the only steps — and we are taking many steps — to combat terrorism as this nation cannot afford to lower its guard,” Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told Parliament before the vote.

India says 10 gunmen from Pakistan travelled across the Arabian sea on a hijacked trawler to stage the attacks in Mumbai.

A lone surviving gunman is currently in police custody. — AFP

 

AFP