New Delhi : The National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), an anti-terror hub proposed by the previous UPA government, may be revived with a senior government official indicating that some discussions on the issue have taken place in recent past. “The NCTC is not dead. We had some discussions on it and there is a possibility of the anti-terror hub getting revived,” a senior government official said.
However, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, when grilled by a parliamentary panel on Friday pleaded his ignorance whether the NCTC would be revived anytime soon. “Government is yet to take a decision on the revival of NCTC. I am not in a position to tell when the decision on NCTC will be taken,” Mehrishi is learnt to have told the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by P Chidambaram.
Mehrishi was questioned about the fate of NCTC which was proposed to be set up after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack but could not see the light of the day due to opposition from the then BJP chief ministers including the then CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi. The proposal of the NCTC was mooted by Chidambaram as the then Home Minister.
A political consensus even on a watered-down proposal for NCTC did not got favourable response from any quarters forcing Chidambaram’s successor in the Home Ministry Sushilkumar Shinde to say in 2013 that the anti-terror hub proposal seems to have gone into deep freeze. Shinde had said he tried his best to get the consent of the chief ministers, including Modi, to set up the NCTC but failed.–PTI
