Chief Justices and other judges, including the Chairman of India's National Human Rights Commission and former Chief Justice, K G Balakrishnan, were among those who spoke at the International Conference of Jurists and Writers which focussed on the growing menace of terrorism and human rights violations.
Justice Balakrishnan told the conference that terrorists continued to violate the human rights of other people, and therefore it was necessary to have tougher laws to deal with them.
"We are fighting a a vain battle against terrorism. It has to be explained to people that this world is more important than the world offered (by terrorists) to you," Jethmalani said.
Calling for internationally collaborated efforts to tackle terrorism, Dr Adish Aggarwala, President of the International Council of Jurists, said law is expected to play a definite and positive role in strengthening security and safety of humankind.
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"It must rise to the occasion and make it conducive for an integrated effort to curb terrorism," said Aggarwala, also the President of the International Commission of Writers.
These included former Indian home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who was honoured for his contributions to fighting organised crime and terrorism, Miss J K Rowling, author of Harry Potter Series for her outstanding service to children's literature, M K Razdan, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Press Trust of India, for his services to journalism and for maintaining PTI's independence in reporting news objectively.
Other recipients included Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Zee News, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Judge, International Court of Justice, Peter Tomka, President of the International Court of Justice and Justice Gonzalo Moliner Tamborero, Chief Justice of Spain.