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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday asked chief ministers of all states to give their views on whether there was a need to strengthen the existing legal framework to fight terrorism.
In his inaugural address to the 7th meeting of the Inter State Council, Vajpayee pointed out that the Law Commission had opined that such a need exists.
He said that it was also a long-standing demand of the country's security forces and several state had already put in place laws against organised crime.
He said that the recent promulgation of Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance by the Centre would be discussed in greater detail at Saturday's chief ministers' conference on internal security.
"I am confident that our deliberations on this issue will be free and frank and will yield a consensus that will answer adequately to the national need for security," said Vajpayee.
The opposition led by the Congress is gearing up to oppose POTO in the winter session of Parliament commencing on November 19.
The opposition's main grouse is that POTO could be misused against minorities and journalists. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has summoned a meeting of Congress chief ministers to have their opinion.
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