Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's plans to usher in harsh anti-terrorist laws may have suffered a setback through the blatantly partisan handling by his pro-Hindu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the communal riots rocking western Gujarat state for nearly four weeks.

On Sunday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) rapped the BJP government in Gujarat for its failure to control the violence.

Its chairman J S Verma said that insecurity prevailed in the state long after the Feb 27 incident, in which a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was torched by Muslim mobs near Godhra railway station, killing 58 passengers.

Varma said while the Godhra incident was ''gruesome'', the incidents that followed were ''equally gruesome''.

He said the law and order situation had deteriorated so that there were fears for his own personal safety during his three-day tour of the state.

Varma opined that if the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (Poto) is passed into law by Parliament, ''it should be applied equally and not selectively''.

Varma is believed to have prevailed on the Gujarat government not use Poto against people arrested for the firebombing of the train at Godhra while not acting against those involved in reprisals in which more than a thousand people, mostly Muslims, perished.

The latest individual to be arrested under the Poto ordinance is Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

Malik was picked up by police while he was addressing a press conference in Srinagar on Sunday after two couriers allegedly carrying to him US$100,000 (RM380,000) were picked up by police.

Poto provides for seizure and confiscation of the financial resources of alleged terrorists. It confiscates the property acquired by those convicted as ''profit of terrorism''.

Detention without bail

Poto also provides for detention without bail for up to one year, but detainees can apply for bail after that period. Under Poto, confessions made to a high ranking police official are admissible in evidence.

The proposal to convert Poto into an act faces opposition when it is put to vote in Parliament today  not only from professedly secular and left-wing political groups led by the powerful Congress party, but also from allies within the 21-party National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is led by the BJP.

Already the Trinamul Congress, a powerful NDA constituent from West Bengal state, has announced its decision to abstain from the voting on bill that would replace Poto on the grounds that the ruling Left-front in that state would use it in political vindictiveness.

Yesterday, Vajpayee told news reporters in Shimla, capital of northern Himachal Pradesh state, that the Trinamul Congress had ''no grounds for such apprehensions'' and that ''everyone will have to see that the proposed law is not misused''.

Appealing for a consensus approach to the bill, Vajpayee said the main opposition Congress party should realise that by ''opposing Poto the Congress party was not only going against the national interest but going against its own interests as well''.

Gujarat is the only state that is directly ruled by the BJP while the Congress party controls 14 major states. Under the federal principles of governance, law and order is vested with state governments rather than with the central government.

The bill has already been passed in the Lok Sabha (House of the People) but last week, failed to get ratification in the Congress party dominated Rajya Sabha (Upper House). This necessitated todays joint session of both houses.

The chief ministers of several states have already announced that they will not implement Poto even if passed in Parliament today, and these include not only those heading Congress party-ruled provincial governments but also those anxious to maintain a secular image.

''There are enough provisions in the existing laws to tackle terrorism,'' said Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who leads a Marxist, Left Front government in West Bengal state.

The Left Front is closer to the Congress party that to any other political formation in the country.

Implementing existing laws

''What is important is to concentrate on implementing the existing laws,'' said Rabri Devi. who leads a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) or National People's Party in eastern Bihar state that is closely aligned with the Congress party.

Congress party spokesman Jaipal Reddy, who has announced that his party would oppose POTO ''tooth and nail'', described it as ''political weapon that is being created by the BJP for use against minorities''.

The pogrom against the Muslim community in Gujarat and its selective application in northern Uttar Pradesh are proof enough that the BJP is incapable of anything but partisan against the minorities, Reddy said.

Poto was used to crack down on madrasah (Islamic schools) in Uttar Pradesh while organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or World Hindu Forum have gone unpunished for razing down a 16th-century mosque and continuing an inflammatory campaign to build a temple at the site in Ayodhya town in the state.

In fact, Poto and the temple were the main planks used by the BJP in the recently held provincial elections to four major states, including Uttar Pradesh. But the BJP failed in all four provinces showing that neither Poto nor the temple-building plan are popular or pressing issues.

But Vajpayee expressed hope yesterday that a joint session, being invoked for the first time in 25 years, would resolve the crisis of the bill being passed in one house but rejected by another. ''Let this not be turned into a prestige issue,'' he appealed to the Congress party.

A preliminary head count by newspapers of members in both houses showed Vajpayee being able to win with comfortable 50 votes  and thus being saved the embarrassment of presiding over the failure of his government at a joint sitting. (IPS)