No conflict between national security, human rights

Hyderabad, Sep 16 (UNI) Expressing concern over 'encounter deaths' in Andhra Pradesh, Mr Justice J S Verma, former National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Justice J S Verma, today said there was no conflict between national security and protection of human rights.

''It is unfortunate that the state has been associated with encounters,'' he said while speaking on 'Protection of Human Rights-State's Responsibility.' ''The state should not fight insurgency through counter-terrorism' but by following the Constitution and Rule of Law. There are enough provisions in the constitution to tackle the problem,'' he added.

''It is shocking that some are projecting human rights activists as overground face of underground terrorists,'' he said, dismissing as a 'bogey' that there were inconsistencies between human rights and national security.

The framers of the constitution would not have put this in the preamble if human rights were inconsistent with national security.

''Human dignity is the quintessence of human rights,'' he observed.

Justice Verma, said it was correct on the part of the police to claim they had killed in self defence. The attitude of police personnel concerned ''I have killed when extremists tried to shoot me and do not ask me anything further'' was not correct.

The burden of providing 'reasonable' evidence was there on police personnel concerned, he said, adding ''evidence need not be weighed on golden scales.'' The principle of 'probablity' had to be applied. The question of probablity and necessity were applied in case of full-fledged armed conflicts, he added.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said ''peace comes out of justice lived in.'' He said on no account, peace could be ensured through ounter-violence by the state.

Stressing on 'rights-based development' by protecting the environment, he underscored the need for empowering women and providing gender justice.

''How can we talk about development without giving due importance to women. Distributive justice can be ensured by realising the Directive Principles enshrined in the Constitution. Good governance should transce human governance by putting the commonman in the centre stage of development and ensuring their participation,'' he added.

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