India discusses anti-terror law in wake of Mumbai attack

One bill before the Rajya Sabha would double the number of days police can detain terror suspects before filing charges.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
indian commandos mumbai 248 88 ap (photo credit: AP)
indian commandos mumbai 248 88 ap
(photo credit: AP)
India's upper house of Parliament met Thursday to consider anti-terror legislation drafted after the Mumbai attacks that would give police sweeping new powers and create an FBI-style national investigation agency. One bill before the Rajya Sabha would double the number of days police can detain terror suspects before filing charges, from 90 days to 180, as well as boost their powers to conduct searches. A second bill would create the FBI-style agency. Parliament's lower house unanimously passed both measures Wednesday. The moves come after the attacks on India's Mumbai by suspected Islamic terrorists that killed 164 people last month. The Mumbai attacks revealed glaring gaps in the nation's security systems and a shaky intelligence apparatus that missed several warning signs of the siege, which lasted for three days and paralyzed much of India's financial capital. In Wednesday's debate, the opposition Hindu-nationalist BJP supported the bill, saying their was a need for unity in the wake of the attacks. But they also called the move a vindication of their earlier policies. The Congress-led government had repealed a similar anti-terror law written by the BJP after coming to power in 2004, saying it was draconian and would unfairly target India's large Muslim minority. "You have woken from the slumber," BJP leader L.K. Advani told the lower house. "I want you to accept that you were wrong and it was a mistake," he said. The government's top law enforcement official Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram defended the new bill and said it provided greater safeguards against abuse than the previous law. He said there was now an "adequate balance" between "the demands of human rights and the people of India for strong anti-terror laws." The new laws also beef up the government's ability to go after those who fund and train terrorists - freezing bank accounts and assets, and provides for life sentences for people bankrolling attacks. India has blamed the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks and called on Pakistan to take strong action. Pakistan has made some arrests and shut the offices of a charity believed linked to Lashkar. But Pakistan has said India has failed to share evidence from the attack that would allow them to act.