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Lower House of Indian Parliament Passes Tough Anti-Terrorism Legislation
Responding to soaring public anger about security lapses before the Mumbai attacks last month, the lower house of India's Parliament on Wednesday approved tough anti-terrorism legislation and a plan to set up a national investigative agency.Lawmakers debated and passed two key measures, the National Investigating Agency Bill and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendments Bill, which would facilitate investigation and prosecution of terrorism suspects. The bills head to the upper house, perhaps as soon as Thursday; they are expected to pass easily. "You have captured the mood of the nation. The nation expects Parliament to pass these laws today and restore their confidence," Home Minister P. Chidambaram told the lawmakers after several hours of debate. When he presented the legislation in the morning, he said he was appealing to the lawmakers with "folded hands" to pass the bills in a bipartisan manner. Chidambaram later acknowledged that the legislation would be unlikely to prevent attacks. "For a jihadi terrorist, this is no deterrent," he said. "He comes here to die, he comes here to kill. These laws give a sense of confidence to the people that criminals will be punished. All these are punitive laws and not preventive laws." Posted by: Fred 2008-12-19 |
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