Minister suggests public debate on POTO

thiruvananthapuram: kerala law minister k.m. mani has suggested a national debate on the prevention of terrorism ordinance. speaking after inaugurating a discussion on poto organised by the indian association of lawyers on wednesday, mani said his objection was to clause 14 which says that an investigating officer shall have the right to ask any organisation or individual to reveal information which the official deems necessary in the probe into terrorism acts.the punishment for refusal could be three years' imprisonment. the minister said there should be no dispute regarding the need for a strong law to curb organised violence against state. but for certain features that ought to be reviewed or recast, the poto ordinance was not a bad piece of law as many clamoured to portray. cpm leader kodiyeri balakrishnan, however, objected to it saying the existing laws if implemented would suffice. "if terrorism can be prevented by the enactment of laws, india would have been rid of terrorism long ago. there is already a plethora of laws such as explosives act, hijacking act, prevention of detention act, armed forces special powers act and so on. denying any political motive, bjp leader m.s. kumar said, the amendment to the criminal law was initiated by the narasimha rao government and the united front government that succeeded had, in fact, recommended more stringent measure. after these were examined by the law commission, the outcome was poto. in fact, the west bengal prevention of organised crime ordinance, almost a facsimile of poto, was before the governor. the bjp leader blamed the marxist party of indulging in political chicanery.