Morgan Institute for Human Rights
The International Court of Justice Considers Genocide

Terrorism and Human Rights in India

A prototype case of Project THRO: Teaching Human Rights On-Line
THRO Case No. 200-2 by Howard Tolley, Jr., University of Cincinnati Copyright © ISSN 1529-2215. All Rights Reserved


This interactive website presents Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao's 1995 dilemma involving terrorism in the Indian states of Punjab and Kashmir. Competing demands for justice and security pose moral, legal, and political dilemmas that demand informed leadership.

  1. Should Indian security laws be revised to comply with international human rights standards or would submission to the U.N. compromise national sovereignty?
  2. Should the government prosecute security officials for gross human rights violations or grant amnesty to those who risked their lives defending national unity?
  3. Should the government allow more international monitors to visit Kashmir and Punjab or exclude organizations that criticized tough security measures?

You must initially review background information to determine which facts and applicable law favor human rights reform and which support counter-terrorist controls.

You can earn a perfect score of 100 by correctly selecting from a check-list the competing factors Rao should evaluate.

You may then answer each of the three questions with a written explanation. After stating reasons for each answer, you can review model answers that justify different policy choices.

Do not cheat yourself by reading the model answers or information about Rao's decision and subsequent developments through 1997 until after completing the written exercises.

If you prefer to print the case it can be done from a single file version.

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