However, primacy must be given to the threat situation prevailing at that juncture, he said.

“We should not wait for something like the Mumbai attack to settle the debate for us. Anyone who threatens to overturn our constitutional system by resorting to violence and doesn’t belong to this country must not be guaranteed the rights under Articles 19 (1), 21, 22 and 32 of the constitution,” Shourie said.

He was in Ahmedabad to deliver the 4th Justice P D Desai Memorial Lecture on ‘Right to Life and Personal Liberty in the context of National Security’.

Drawing from the history of preventive detention in the country, Shourie quoted Sardar Patel's speech on the floor of the Parliament at the time of introducing the Preventive Detention Act and said, “The perspective that Sardar set out 60 years ago is 60 times more apt in today’s situation. An undeclared war by terrorists, naxalites and secessionists has been thrust on the country, with support from outside powers like Pakistan.”

Emphasising on the need for harsher anti-terror laws like TADA and POTA, Shourie said that out of the 630 districts in India, 194 are affected by naxalism; 20 districts in Jammu & Kashmir by terrorism; and 51 in the Northeast by insurgencies of various nature.

“In addition, there are several urban centres across the country that have been targeted by the terrorists,” Shourie added.

Focusing on the constitutional provisions, he pointed out that all the rights and liberties provided under the constitution are tagged with reasonable restrictions, which ultimately the judiciary has to adjudge.

He said the judiciary during Emergency was initially reluctant to assert its authority. But during the Punjab terrorism phase, they overcompensated in extending the benefits of Article 21 incorporating ‘due process of law’, which was specifically left out by the framers of the constitution. “In both cases, national security was jeopardised,” Shourie said.

He was also critical of various human rights organisations and accused them of serving the cause of terrorism.

“These organisations indulge in false propaganda every time insurrections erupt. Their reports must be subjected to very minute scrutiny and should be placed in public domain,” he said.