Terrorism a new threat to human rights: Buddhadeb

Kolkata, Dec 10: Calling terrorism a new threat to human rights, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here Wednesday said that information has to gathered about how terrorists operate in order to find a full-proof mechanism to tackle the menace.”What has happened in Mumbai is shocking. How can a handful of terrorists carry out such a huge massacre at random? This is the worst example of human rights violation,” Bhattacharjee said at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by West Bengal Human Rights Commission here.

Bhattacharjee said: “We have to get all the details about them - who they are and how they are operating. Only then we will be able to think and find a full-proof mechanism to deal with them and protect the basic rights of our people.” Commenting on increasing violence in the country, the chief minister said terrorism has emerged as a new and recurring occurrence. “Terrorism has become a phenomenon today. Not only in Mumbai, terrorists are operating in West Bengal, too, in the name of Maoists.” Speaking about Maoists, Bhattacharjee said they are not West Bengal citizens, but infiltrators from the neighbouring Jharkhand.

“It’s high time we combat terrorism and terrorists with effect, or else our human rights will become a farce and the base of our democracy will be destroyed,” added Bhattacharjee.

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Stop sending NHRC teams to Bengal: Buddha
11 Dec 2008, 0441 hrs IST, TNN
KOLKATA: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would like the national human rights commission to stay away from West Bengal. Recommendations made by the national rights body on the Nandigram issue did not please the government and are yet to be implemented. "The national human rights commission keeps on sending recommendations. States have their own human rights commissions. Where is the need for the national human rights commission to send its team? The NHRC team can go to states where the state bodies are not present. Both the bodies overlap at times," Bhattacharjee said in his address to a meet on the 60th World Human Rights Day. Well aware that his statement was likely to kick a storm, Bhattacharjee asked the state human rights commission chairman Justice Shyamal Sen to take up the matter with the national body. While the chief minister was speaking, Justice Sen stood up to express his views on the matter. "When the state human rights commission takes cognizance of a case, the national human rights commission doesn't have the jurisdiction to intervene. This goes against the statute," Justice Sen said. Resuming his address, the chief minister said that the government had accepted most of the recommendations made by the NHRC. "They had given 62 recommendations, out of which 52 were accepted. Five are still under consideration and five were rejected," Bhattacharjee said. Bhattacharjee also spoke about the terror attacks in Mumbai and the threat from Maoists. "The Mumbai incident has shocked the entire country. How could a handful of terrorists do this? We will have to find out a mechanism to kill terrorists," Bhattacharjee said. He also described Maoists as terrorists. Elsewhere, West Bengal Federation of United Nations Association celebrated World Human Rights Day at a programme. Justice Chittatosh Mookerjee was the chief guest.