National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice K.G. Balakrishnan on Saturday called for a separate police cadre in every State to deal with terrorist attacks.
He was distributing the International Jurists Award-2013 and the National Law Day Award and speaking on ‘international terrorism’ here.
Justice Balakrishnan said terrorism and extremism “have been the newer forms of disruptive forces which have to be handled by the police.” These terrorist forces worked across many States, with links outside India. They also effectively used the latest technologies. To curb terrorism, the police forces would have to create a new cadre trained in low-intensity warfare.
The recipients of the International Jurists Award are Hadef Jawa’an Al Dhaheri, Minister for Justice, United Arab Emirates; Menkerios Beraki Mehari, Chief Justice of Eritrea; and Tun Shin, Attorney-General of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
Those who got the National Law Day Award are M.K. Sharma, retired judge of the Supreme Court; Law Secretary Brahm Avtar Agrawal; Additional Solicitors-General Mohan Jain and Siddharth Luthra; Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University Vice-Chancellor Gurdip Singh; and advocates A. Mariarputham, Arun Mohan, Rakesh Munjal, Manoj Kumar Singh and V. Giri. Amar Kumar Pandey, Inspector-General of Police, Central Range, Bangalore, got the award for law and order.
Union Minister Farooq Abdulla said terrorists used every method in Jammu and Kashmir to divide the State. But their attempts would not succeed, and the State would remain part of India.
Haryana Chief Minister B.S. Hooda called for sending out a strong message that a terrorist would not go unpunished, citing the case of Ajmal Kasab, one of the gunmen who carried out the 26/11 attacks and who was hanged.
Adish Aggarwala, president, International Council of Jurists, said laws should be reviewed for meting out deterrent punishment to those committing terrorist acts.
S. Prabakaran, Director, ICJ, and co-chairman of the Bar Council of India, said: “Terrorism can be countered through enhanced co-operation worldwide. This requires concerted action among all countries to share sensitive information through a better intelligence network. The source of funding of terrorist outfits has to be monitored regularly; this can be done only if there is regular flow of information.”
