Encounters, Real and Fake by Praful Bidwai:

Clearly, the Parivar has made the [Ansal Plaza] 'encounter' a loyalty test: Patriotism requires that we support the police; those who don't are working hand-in-glove with terrorists. The posture --- that you are either with the VHP-BJP, or against the Indian nation --- is rooted in unspeakable arrogance. It equates crass Hindutva with genuine patriotism, based on India's pluralist-secular Constitution...

Even wars have to be fought lawfully. Rules of warfare are incorporated in various Geneva Conventions and international treaties. The State cannot summarily extinguish human life. The police have no right whatever to do so. That is the function only of a court of law. A State that kills terrorists on mere suspicion itself practises terrorism. Many condone this on the assumption that a few 'excesses' are permissible because the real enemy is Pakistan. This view is dangerously wrong. Tomorrow's 'terrorist' --- the Special Cell's target --- could be you. Citizens are no more secure against State brutality than against militant terrorism.