Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called upon the Government of India (GoI) for setting up a new Constituent assembly to restructure the Indian Constitution for making it genuinely Federal."Time has come to take a second look at the Constitution to bring it in tune with the emerging realities and needs of the changing times. We had been advocating the entire issue of Center state relations needs to be viewed in the context of federal principle”, said the Chief Minister, while addressing the Chief Minister’s conference on the issue of National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) presided over by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh here at the Vigyan Bhawan. Badal said that the fight against militancy required genuine national consensus and coordination between the Center and the states, but by ignoring the states before setting up the NCTC, the Center has actually created an atmosphere of mistrust and confrontation. Badal strongly advocated comprehensive approach to the issues, saying that instead of fighting the disease only after it became cancerous; the Center should address the problems that led to militancy. These issues, he said, pertained to shocking levels of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the country. These have to be tackled on top priority for removing the very grounds that drove people into militancy. "A Purely demonstrative approach, for all its worth, is not the answer. This can supplement but not replace a holistic approach." said the Chief Minister.Urging the Centre to review and reverse this move on NCTC and hold fresh consultations with the Chief Ministers of states who were the biggest stake holders in the fight against militancy, Badal said that the Centre and the States should jointly re-examine the issues in entirety. If need be, amendments in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the enactment of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 should be revisited and the contradictions smoothened out, so that the aim and objective of ensuring Internal Security in the nation could be achieved in a harmonious manner, observed the Chief Minister.The Chief Minister questioned the very basis for setting up the NCTC saying that the Center's claims about doing so in pursuance of the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) and Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) were not borne out by facts. All these recommendations had already been implemented by the Center in 2001 and 2008 and there was no case for re-opening the whole issue now. He said that these recommendations did not suggest direct operations by the NCTC without the consent and the even the knowledge of the state governments. This in fact has led to highly complicated situation now in which, instead of carrying out any operation in any coordinated manner, the Center and the states would be acting in an atmosphere of mutual mistrust and even confrontation. The Chief Minister said that neither the GoM nor the ARC had recommended direct operations to the MAC or NCTC and even pointed out that contrary to what has been stated by the GoI, the NCTC in the USA and Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) in the UK do not have the powers for such direct operations.He said the in 2001, the Center had acted upon the recommendations of the GoM and set up the the Multi Agency Centre (MAC). The MAC was then assigned functions, powers and duties as per the recommendations of Group of Ministers (GoM) and Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in 2008 "after due application of mind" Where is the need for a similar exercise in the garb of setting up NCTC after just four year? He said the system of NCTC was impractical and counter productive, likely to defeat the very purpose for which it was being set up. Badal categorically said that the states should command and control the operations. Central Agencies and forces could provide valuable assistance and supplement the efforts of the State Police which was always appreciated. “The need today is to strengthen the states in conduct of their operations and not create hindrances and confusion with new experiments like the NCTC” asserted the Chief Minister. Badal said that Punjab was the best example of the effectiveness of a state control over operations in fighting militancy from practical angle."The Punjab Police successfully led the battle against militancy from the front and had complete control and command over operations. As many as 1780 Police personnel, including 6 IPS officers and 271 members of the families of the police personnel sacrificed their lives in this fight. On the contrary, the Center does not have a good record in controlling violence," he said.On the contrary, the record of the center in fighting militancy was very poor, he said, adding that the attack on the Parliament and the Delhi High Court came in the national capital where only the central agencies were in control of the entire security apparatus. The country’s worst massacre of thousands of innocent Sikhs in 1984 was again carried out under the nose of the Union Government and its security agencies in the national capital.Referring to the constitutional aspect, Badal lamented that the Center had very systematically taken a series of decisions to take away the powers of the states under one excuse or the other to dilute the federal polity in the country. "Firstly, they amended the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, subsequently the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up under which the Center could take up the investigation in any case and now, under the NCTC they could directly carry out operations, search and arrests through any central force without the consent and the knowledge of the state government. Apprehending a situation after enactment of NCTC worst than those of Emergency days, the Chief Minister said that such sweeping changes have been made without consulting the important National fora like the Inter State Council and the Chief Ministers of the states.