By The Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

Once a man was taking a stroll along the river on a quiet evening and out of nowhere he heard the blood curdling scream of a man who was trying desperately to keep afloat. This gentleman at the bank lost no time in plunging himself in the stream, the flow was hard but he managed to save the drowning soul. When he brought the drowning person to the shore instead of thanks he got a snarling look. The man who was saved literally barked at his savior, “Why did you saved me?” he said angrily. “You were screaming for help” replied the first man. “I was trying to commit suicide and you saved me,” the second guy argued. “Then why were you screaming for help?” the first man asked alarmingly puzzled. “And what did you think, a drowning man will do?” came the reply.

 This conversation may sound ridiculous but it fits perfectly to the ongoing outcry coming from some politicians and a section of media who are claiming that human rights of eight “convicted” terrorists, convicted not suspected, were violated in the police encounter which ensued after these terrorist broke out of the jail and killed a policeman in the line of duty. You many have a different take on this incident but I’d like to present my argument from three simple perspectives: legal, moral and operational.

 First, the legal aspect, right from the moment these terrorists ran away from jail after brutally murdering an on duty constable. They became a direct threat to public security which has to be neutralized at any cost. Secondly, a 2014 court video of the three of the dead eight showed them howling jihadi chants, the likes of which you might find in ISIS or Al-Qaeda videos. They were making threats against security, stability of India and against Prime Minister Modi. These were hardened criminals who have committed murder, robbery and their hand in some of the worst terrorist attacks in our country was also ascertained. Human rights commission opened an inquiry into violation of rights of these terrorists, why these inquiries are not raised when security forces personnel die in the line of duty. These jihadi radicals are usually involved in organized crime and seldom witnesses come forward to testify against them. What happens then? Should we let them out because people are afraid to spak up.

 Second, the moral aspect, Asaduddin Owaisi railed on news channel about the grave injustice perpetrated in this case, not at one instance did he mentioned or thought of the bereaved family whose sole bread earner was killed in cold blood. Did he think about the victims whom these SIMI operatives murdered or robbed? What about families of those innocent civilians who are no more? Don’t they have a right to justice?

 Third, the operational aspect, it’s easy to speculate from the comfort of office or home but the situation, the heat, emotion, anger and rush of the moment cannot be felt without being at the ground, on the front-line. Things go wrong, accidents do happen, I am not sure if police intended to take these guys alive but their deaths are not a loss for country in any way. These men were beyond reform, threat to the country and its civilians.

This is a war but terrorists are not regular soldiers who are extended the courtesies accorded to POWs. There is no bravery in killing innocent people and these brainwashed radicals don’t believe in things like human rights, dialogue or sanctity of life and it’s people like these who give a bad name to law abiding Muslims who are contributing in the progress of our society. Let’s hope that some common sense prevails and people see things from black to white.