Monthly Archives: June 2010

New Delhi: Amid growing instances of honour killings and demands by khap panchayats to amend the Hindu Marriage Act for banning same sub-caste marriage, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chief KG Balakrishnan today said none should be allowed to enforce “self-created” laws.

“Contrary to the general moral view of the society, nobody shall be allowed to enforce their own self-created law to achieve their narrow-minded societal values,” he said.

Justice Balakrishnan was addressing a training programme on the ‘Rule of Law’ organised by Vishwa Yuvak Kendra here.

The former chief justice of India, however, did not mention the khap or caste panchayats or the controversy surrounding their demand.

“Who am I to interfere with what goes on between the United States and Pakistan? That’s a matter for these two countries to consider,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh responded in April 2010. He had been asked, in a Washington press conference, whether India objected to Pakistan and the U.S. reaching a deal on civil nuclear cooperation. The same logic should now apply to reports that China is planning to supply two additional safeguarded nuclear reactors to Pakistan. For those who still look at the region through ‘hyphenated’ lenses, what is good for Pakistan must necessarily be bad for India. But the reality is not so Manichean.

SRINAGAR: In a move to soothe tempers over Army methods that bedevilled his visit to Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said security forces have been “strictly instructed” to respect human rights and pledged to remove deficiencies in implementation of the instructions.

“Sometimes innocent civilians suffer, but whenever such incidents happen it becomes necessary to act against those responsible. I’m aware of some complaints related to human rights,” said the PM, who arrived in Srinagar to review the security situation and inspect development projects. He was addressing a convocation at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

The PM’s pledge comes in the backdrop of recent alleged fake encounter killings in North Kashmir and growing concerns that such incidents could fritter away gains in counter-insurgency operations that have seen militant violence drop to an all-time low since 1989.