Arun Jaitley Says, 'Terrorists, Maoists Threatening Human Rights, Have to be Dealt With Firmly'

New Delhi, June 22: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said while "jehadis and Maoists" were threatening the rights of citizens, but human rights organisations "taken over by the ultra-left" never spoke of this. The Minister said that terrorists had to be dealt with firmly to protect human rights of ordinary citizens.  "To deal with a killer is also a law and order issue. It can't wait a political solution. A fidayeen is willing to die. He is also willing to kill... When he advances to kill, should the security forces ask him to sit on a table and have dialogue with them.

"A policy, therefore, has to be to protect the ordinary citizen... get him freedom from the terror; provide him with a better quality of life and environment. A terrorist who refuses to surrender and refuses a ceasefire offer has to be dealt with as anybody taking law in his own hand," Jaitley wrote in a hard-hitting blog post.

He said there were primarily two ideological groups involved in insurgency and terrorism -- 'jehadis' and the separatists trained and actively financed by Pakistan, and the Maoists active primarily in some of the tribal districts in central India, alleging that a "visible coordination" between the two was becoming more and more apparent.

"Both these groups want to overthrow constitutionally elected governments - they abhor democracy. They use violence as a means of impacting a political change. In the system that they perceive, there is no democracy, no elections, no equality, no free speech and no guarantee of life and liberty.

"On the contrary, most of them believe that power flows from the barrel of the gun. They indulge in large scale violence, killing of innocents and sabotage the development activity for public welfare. The jehadis believe that there is space for only one religion and the Maoists believe that there is space for none," Jaitley wrote.

The minister said the terrorists and the jehadis were threatening the human rights of the citizens in Jammu and Kashmir. "The entire Kashmiri pandit community has been banished from the state. Initially spared but after the Chittisinghpura massacre in 2000, most of the Sikh community has moved out," he said, adding that most of the people left in the valley now belonged to the majority community of the state.

"In the last few years, most innocent citizens that the terrorists are killing are fellow Kashmiris themselves. In fact, one of the worst victims of the Pakistan's misconceived Kashmir policy has been the residents of Kashmir Valley."

Jaitley said that the region which has the potential of being the "wealthiest per capita state" in the country was destroyed by terrorists who up their activities in April, May and June (the tourism season) affecting the economic lifeline of the Valley.

"They terrorise courts; they kill editors; they kill innocent citizens and they don't allow any alternate religion to be practised. Who is threatening the human rights of the citizens of Kashmir? It is obvious that it is the terrorists and the jehadis."

Meanwhile, Maoists don't allow any development activity in tribal regions, he said. "They kill innocent tribals who don't agree with them; they destroy public buildings; they kill security personnel and they even charge a parallel tax from helpless citizens."

The Minister, who underwent kidney replacement in May and is yet to rejoin his office, added that human rights were at the core of India's Parliamentary democracy and the Constitution guaranteed these to every citizen.

"Our policy has to be 'save the human rights of every Indian - be it a tribal or a Kashmiri' from terrorists," Jaitley wrote.

However, he accused the human rights organisations of being taken over by the ultra-left and said they never spoke about the deprivation of the human rights of the citizens, and "never shed a tear for the indiscriminate killing of the security personnel".

"These human right organisations are an over-ground face of the underground. In the system that they believe in, there is no place for life, liberty, equality and free speech, election or Parliamentary democracy."

Jaitley alleged that even though the Congress historically and ideologically would have been opposed to these groups, they have earned sympathy in party President Rahul Gandhi's heart.

"He had no qualms about joining those who raised subversive slogans at JNU and Hyderabad. With this initial success, the others amongst the so called federal front have forgotten the dangers of these groups to India and Indian democracy. The political adventurists in parties like AAP, TMC and the like only look for a political opportunity in these groups," he added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2018 06:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).