Shimla, Feb 17 (PTI) Joining the brigade of four CMs opposing creation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the move was another attempt to usurp the powers of the states and weaken the country's federal structure. "Whenever an incident of terrorism takes place, Centre comes out with another investigating agency to divert the attention of the people and infringes upon the rights of the state, weakening the federal structure," he told PTI. The powers given to the CBI to investigate cases without nod from the state government and constitution of National Investigating Agency (NIA) had already trampled the rights of the states and instead of fighting terrorism, the UPA government was trying to arm itself with powers to dilute the country's federal structure, he said. Claiming that states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have shown the political will and succeeded in combating terrorism, he alleged that the Centre had not been able even to hang "dreaded terrorists" like Afzal Guru despite his conviction by the Supreme Court. Noting that multiplication of agencies and interference in functioning of the states would not help in curbing terrorism, he said the government should instead demonstrate the will and determination to fight terrorism. Chief Ministers of four states including Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), Naveen Patnaik (Odisa) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar) have already come out against the plans to create National Counter Terrorism Centre. PTI PCL
