The central government’s common argument of “unable to do much in case of a terror strike because law and order is a state subject” does not hold water as the Supreme Court has clearly stated that tackling terrorism falls within the jurisdiction of the defence ministry, eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani has pointed out on Wednesday.

According to the Supreme Court, tackling terrorism is related to the defence of India, which falls within the legislative and executive competence of the central government, Jethmalani said in the course of an impromptu debate on Hyderabad in the Rajya Sabha.

Not law & order issue

Terrorism is neither a law and order issue, nor an aggravated form of public order. It is related to the defence of the country, said the noted criminal lawyer. Other members of the Upper House argued that at least a portion of law and order should be brought under the concurrent list to deal with terrorism.

While Bimal Jalan asked the centre to explore the possibility of a constitutional amendment to bring terrorism to the concurrent list, independent member P C Alexander said an internal security advisor was needed to deal with terrorism issues as the hands of the National Security Advisor is full with other problems.

Mere messenger

Earlier taking a dig at the National Security Advisor’s role Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh wondered aloud if the National Security Advisor was playing the role of a mere messenger as he claimed that he had intelligence inputs about the blasts which he had passed on to the Andhra Pradesh government.

CPM leader Sitaram Yechury put blame on the state for privatising the security system of Lumbini Park.

“Privatising the security was a wrong decision. Everybody have to enter the park has to pass through a metal detector. The big question was how they could manage to sneak through,” he said.