From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday hailed the Prime Minister’s directive asking the Union Home Minister to consult all the state governments on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) that has sparked country-wide debate and opposition from many chief ministers of states ruled by non-Congress parties.
Gogoi said the PM’s directive to the MHA would help the latter to allay apprehensions aired by state governments over the implementation of the NCTC which has been construed by some states as a threat to the federal structure.
“I personally believe that there is nothing wrong with the intention of the Centre to set up the NCTC. I support the Centre’s move because I believe that the Central government can’t tackle terror without the cooperation of state governments so there is no scope for keeping any state government under dark while using the NCTC. The state governments have a major role to play in tackling terror,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi said coordination among various security agencies had been instrumental in successful counter-insurgency operations in Assam. “Terrorism can’t be fought alone by anybody, not even the central government,” he said.
Even as the insurgency situation in Assam has improved a lot because of giving up of arms by a number of insurgent groups of late, Gogoi said his government had now focused on revamping the state’s education sector to create a huge pool of employable youth to address to unemployment problem, the root cause of insurgency.
Gogoi commented that the intention of the Centre to have a NCTC was good and what was needed at this hour was the confidence of the all the states in the implementation n of the NCTC. He said a law could always be beneficial if it was implemented properly and not misused.