Curbing terrorism, and not human rights violations, should be the top priority of countries, said a resolution adopted by the International Council of Jurists (ICJ) at the conclusion of a two-day conference on terrorism here on Sunday. According to ICJ President Adish C. Aggarwala and member S. Prabakaran, the delegates and participants from all over India and abroad expressed deep concern over the ever-increasing spate of terrorist attacks across the globe. They said India and many other civilised nations were passing through a critical juncture and had witnessed an unprecedented spate of terrorist attacks. “Terrorism is a global problem and internationally collaborated efforts are needed to tackle it. In these extraordinary times, the law is expected to take the lead and to strengthen national efforts to boost our security. It must rise to the occasion and make it conducive to an integrated effort to curb terrorism,” they said.
The resolution said: “We also appeal to the judiciary all over the world to curb terrorism with an iron hand, and not to show any leniency whatsoever to the perpetrators of such acts of violence. Curbing terrorism, and not human rights violations, should be the first priority considering the fact that human lives have to be protected from the onslaught of terrorism. We condemn terrorism in all forms and manifestations, perpetrated in the name of religion, language, region and political ideology. We condemn in the strongest possible terms attempts by state and non-state actors to carry out activities detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states.”
The resolution urged all nations to hand over fugitives so that they would face the due process of law in their own countries or in the countries where they carried out the heinous acts of terrorism. “The basic objectives of human rights are to protect and safeguard human lives, which is the most basic and fundamental human right. Any action violative of this basic right cannot be allowed to undermine the war against terrorism. We, therefore, resolve to curb terrorism, at all costs and call upon the nations to enforce the anti-terror laws in letter and in spirit.”
According to Mr. Aggarwala, Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohd. Chaudhury had to skip the conference owing to unavoidable reasons, apparently a fallout of the recent execution of Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, though he had initially expressed his willingness to attend. At the inaugural ceremony on Saturday, Bangladesh Supreme Court Judge Saifuddin Choudhury praised India for the execution of Kasab and said it would send a strong message to the rest of the world. Chief Justice of Nepal Khil Raj Regmi, Justice V. S. Sirpurkar, Chairman of the Competition Appellate Tribunal; Ashok Aggarwal, Advocate-General of Punjab (Civil Law), Gourab Banerji, Additional Solicitor-General of India (Jurisprudence), Vijay Aggarwal (Criminal law), Anand Bhushan Kanade Senior Advocate (Constitutional law), Janak Raj Jai (Legal writing), Irshad Wali, IPS (Law & order), C.D. Singh (Advocacy) and M. Antony Selvaraj (Legal aid) were among the winners of the prestigious International Jurists Awards and National Law Day Awards.
