New Delhi: Hitting out at the West for lecturing to developing countries on how to promote Human Rights, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on November 11 said that the single greatest enemy of Human Rights today was terrorism fueled by religious extremism.

He also said there cannot be any justification for excesses and injustice perpetrated by the state machinery.

"Without accountability, agencies of the state can misuse their authority and infringe the rights of citizens, especially those who are poor and weak."

"Some countries arrogate to themselves the task of lecturing to developing countries on how we should promote Human Rights. Sometimes this takes the form of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations," Vajpayee said inaugurating the Asia Pacific Forum of the National Human Rights Institutions.

"The debate on Human Rights is often distorted by those who took a narrow and non- historical view of the matter and there are some who think the idea of Human Rights was a foreign import into the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

Apparently referring to implementation of Laws like Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), the Prime Minister said, "We have sometimes to take tough decisions, even infringing some of our freedoms and abridging some of our Human Rights temporarily, to firmly counter terrorism, so that our future generations can live in peace and harmony."

Stating that the debate on Human Rights either in the global context, or in the context of the Asia-Pacific region, would be grievously incomplete without serious consideration of the threat posed by terrorism, Vajpayee said, "All forms of terrorism are dangerous, but the one that is inspired by religious extremism is especially lethal."

PTI