The Team thus arrived at a number of conclusions which are summarized below: (1) Both communities face assault by communal terrorists: The communal terrorists are a dangerous and reactionary force in Punjab today, trying to exercise authoritarian control over people’s lives. The have the backing of Indian smugglers, certain landlords, and a range of political parties. But, contrary to the motivated propaganda of the official and private media, it is not only Hindus who are assaulted and terrorised by the communal terrorists. Sikhs too are targets of such terror. And, in sheer numbers, Sikh victims are now rivaling Hindu ones. In particular, any person, whether Hindu or Sikh, who does not conform to the Khalistanis’ fascistic dictates, is made a target. If democrats project this fact, it would expose the false and dangerous propaganda being spread that “Sikhs are murdering Hindus in Punjab”. This propaganda is being carried out by the Government and the media in order to divide the two communities.
(2) State machinery not only does not fight communal terrorism, but spreads terrorism too:
Far from fighting the communal terrorists, as it constantly claims it is doing, the State machinery has shown neither the courage nor the honesty to do so. On the other hand there are many instances of cruel and brutal assaults on common people. In this even innocent Hindus are at times targets. Even where (often through common people’s efforts) communal terrorists are caught, the police/paramilitary forces torture and murder the suspects, sometimes in public. They thus treat legal procedure as irrelevant. In this way they intend to re-instill among the people a terror of State machinery. Instead of stopping communal terrorism. Such State repression provides the Khalistani gangs their main compaigning point among the people.
(3) The main political parties and their henchmen are the culprits:
An analysis of the history of the “Punjab problem” shows that it is an extension of the divide-and-rule policies followed by the ruling interests in Indian society for the last century. The culprits who are creating and sustaining the present situation are: number one, the Central Government and the Congress-I; number two, the Akali Dal; number three, the openly communal Sikh and Hindu organisations and parties, which have operated under the direct patronage of the above parties. The above parties have raised diversionary communal issues and have given a communal turn to other issues such as river water distribution, settlement of boundary claims, return of Chandigarh, status of the Punjabi language, etc. This was done by them in order to: (1) divert the powerful struggles of the people from pressing economic issues and (ii) fight among themselves for the seat of elective office and its spoils. By contrast, the urgent economic problems and demands of the people are being ignored in the public debate. Powerful movements on economic issues such as the present agitation for lower input prices, exemption of electricity bills, exemption of loan repayments, and remunerative purchase prices, have been ignored by politicians and the media.
(4) Communal and electoral games with demands :
On the one hand, the Khalistanis are least interested in the issues they propagate about—such as the return of Chandigarh, the settlement of boundary claims and the proper distribution of river waters, release of innocent detenues, and punishment of the guilty in the Delhi riots. What they want is to trigger mass communal killings. and division on religious lines. In this they have been as yet unsuccessful, due to the healthy attitude of common people. But the Centre’s determination to play electoral games with Chandigarh, boundary claims, river waters, detenues, and Delhi riots enquiry, has certainly aggravated the communal situation. It has also provided seeming justification to the Khalistani claim that the Centre is “Hindu imperialism” oppressing the Sikhs For this reason too, it is especially important that democratic voices everywhere demand that the Centre stop playing these dangerous and selfish games and settle these issues with-out introducing its own narrow political considerations.
(5) Common people maintain harmony despite terrorist and State actions :
Due to strong cultural bonds between Hindus and Sikhs, the traditions built up by democratic movements in Punjab, and most of all the sturdy good sense of the common Punjabi villagers, communal enmity is as yet absent from the villages of Punjab (leaving aside small pockets). It has to be noted that, in contrast to the Hindu and Muslim communalists in the rest of India, the Hindu and Sikh communalists have as yet been unsuccessful in manufaocturing a single instance of mass rioting in Punjab. This is so, despite grave provocations and assaults on people by both communal terrorists and the State machinery. The murderers are always from outside the village, and attack is by surprise. In mourning for the victim, in taking care of the bereaved. in persuading threatened families not to leave the village, all the villagers are united. There are many instances where common, unarmed people, Hindu as well as Sikh, have caught armed communal terrorists. Hindus and Sikhs freely and without a trace of tension, discussed these events with the team. With the effort of genuinely secular forces, it is definitely possible to convert this amity into militant solidarity and selfdefenoe against communalists of all hues. Instead of highlighting these facts, the media have focussed on or fabricated only such material as will heighten communal tensions within and outside Punjab. There is greater tension in the cities, where communal organisations of both communities confront, and derive justification from, each other. Yet even here it is mainly the goondas of the Hindu Shiv Sena and AISSF who battle it out, while the police oscillates between inaction, complicity, and arbitrary repression. Common people, whose life is disrupted by these tensions, are fed up with the present insecurity.
No, doubt, communal feelings have struck roots among the middle class, educated, urban sections; but the poorer sections and the working classes are much less swayed. These sections can become reliable resources in the fight against communalism and repression..
(6) Two-pronged assault on the democratic movement:
There was no visible evidence anywhere of parties such as the Congress-I, Akali Dal, BJP, etc. putting up a fight against communal terrorism. Mass activity—posters, leaflets, demonstrations, public meetings, wall-writings—by the Sikh or Hindu communalists is also little in evidence. In the main, the team found that two joint fronts of various Marxist-Leninist groups—the Revolutionary Unity Centre, and the Front Against Repression and Communalism—and the mass orgenisation and the cadre of CPI and CPI (M), had been active among the people to maintain the unity and confront the communalists. Besides, some democratic forces such as AFDR (Punjab) had also played a significant role. Because of this, a large number of cadre of such organisations have been killed by the communal terrorists; others are under serious threat; and the Khalistanis have named the communists among their main enemies. Yet it is these cadre who continue to face restrictions on their secular activity through the black laws, the prohibitory orders, and the like. These restrictions, which apply only to democratic mass activity, do not apply to or hinder communalists. Some cadre are even, from time to time, arrested and tortured by the State machinery, especially when they protest the atrocities by the State. From what the team saw on its tour, it feels it is impossible to harbour any hopes in the state in the present situation. Thus, unless the Khalistan threat and communal terrorism are defeated by the peoples’ all-out effort, the fight against black laws, Police raj and rising authoritarianism of the state will be a much more difficult and harder struggle. The democratic rights organisations are deeply concerned about the growing fascistic tendencies among a rising number of communal organisations throughout the country, which are employing violent methods.
(7) Militant resistance of people:
A heartening sign is that the communal terrorists are increasingly meeting with militant resistance of the people, both spontaneous and conscious, in pockets throughout Punjab. The Khalistanis have from place to place aligned themselves with the rural elite, and met with a sharp reaction from labouring Sikhs. moreover, their attempt to impose a so-called “social reform” programme—in reality an attempt to terrorise common Sikhs into accepting Khalistani dictates even in their private lives—has received a rebuff from common peasants. Further, various organisations of the Left have retaliated against the Khalistani terror by organising mass rallies, on occasions with people fully armed with traditional weapons. They have set up broad common platforms for this fight. Attempts by the communal terrorist gangs to attack these movements and their leaders have on occasions met with, and fled from, angry and organised masses. Such people’s organisations have also vigorously protested against State repression on the people. The exemplary courage, sacrifices and achievements of the people organised under such forces need to be widely propagated.
(8) In sum:
Experience has amply proved that neither the barbaric State machinery, nor the relentlessly opportunist politicians, nor any deal between the warring factions (eg, the Centre and the Khalistanis), can solve the ‘ Punjab problem”. Only people organised into democratic movements of workers, peasants, students and women can do so. They can do so only with the further and further spread of their activity on material questions among the people. For this, the democratic rights movement urgently demand an end to all repressive measures, including all black laws, which have been brought into existence on the excuse of controlling communal terrorists.
Appendix I: Tradition of Secular Struggles in Punjab, from the Turn of the Century to transfer of Power—Some Examples.
1203-7—Anti-British peasant movement (which included people from all communities) in Chenab, Bari Doab regions ; Ajit Singh, Siraj-ud-din Ahmed active.
1913-15—Ghadr movement: Over 8,000 Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim revolutionaries return from Canada to organise a revolt against British rule. The magazine Ghadr (‘Revolution”) comes out in Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi. British brutally suppress the revolt.
1919—Rowlatt “Satyagraha” is converted by Punjais into which people of communities took active part. It affect particularly Gujranwalla, Lyallpur, Amristar and Lahore districts. British repression (culminating at Jallianwalabagh) claims at least 1200 lives, wounds at least 3600. 1921—Nankana massacre of Akali volunteers results in movement of all communities against British sponsored mallants5 control of gurdaras.
1927-28—Kirti Kisan Party-led peasant movement, producing famous peasant leaders (most of whom later became Communists).
1928–Punjab group of revolutionaries under Bhagat Singh h constitute, p along with other revolutionaries, Hindustan Socialist Re ublian Army. Highly popular youth association, Naujawan Bharat Sabha, formed, spreading politics of socialism and revolution. Prominent leaders include Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus; Bhagat Singh, himself an atheist, hanged in 1931 amid widespread protest.’ British intelligence claimed he “bade fair to oust Mr Gandhi as the foremost political figure of the day.”
1930s—Riyasti Parja Mandal, movement of largely Sikh peasantry against the (Sikh) Maharaja of Patiala and the British, who backed the Maharaja,
1933—Karza Committee Conference at village Chima, Amritsar Over one lakh peasants mobilised on peasant demands.
1948-52—Militant movement of tenant peasants under Communist leadership in Patiala and East Punjab States’ Union (PEPSU). Movement’s aims: to capture biswedars’ (landlords’) land, resist eviction, and fight landlord terror. Military called out to crush movement. Village of Kishangarh surrounded, attacked, looted; men and women tortured, ten peasant volunteers killed.
Appendix : II. Army Repression on the People
After Operation Bluestar, the Army combed the villages of Punjab, supposedly in order to hunt out terrorists. This was the notorious “Operation Woodrose”. The targets of the Army’s wrath were mostly the common people. Some of the brutalities they committed were investigated by AFDR (Punjab) and published in a report released in 1985. Below we present a few excerpts.
Amritsar district
(1) Acchar Singh, a poor peasant of village Madi Kambekc, had worked as a courier for smugglers before Operation Bluestar. Polio claimed he was a suspect in a terrorist case. One day when he was at home, the army and police_ attacked; he fled. He began living in a rented flat in Amritsar city, but, because his relatives are being harassed he came back and surrendered himself in the Khazra police station in the presence of the whole panchayat. Two days later, he was declared dead in a police encounter. The family was never shown the body; they learnt of the death in the newspaper.
(2) Kartar Singh and Mukhtiar Singh were, according to the report printed in the newspapers, killed together in an encounter. The real story behind their deaths is as follows. Kartar, son of Bali Singh, was a poor Harijan of Chuslewar, in Patti tehsil. On July 30, police enquired about him from his employer Harpal Singh. The police took Harpal with them to identify Kartar Singh, and met him on the road. Harpal was let off; Kartar was arrested. Mukhtiar Singh was also a poor Harijan from Chabba village. Villagers were emphatic that he had absolutely no link with any communal terrorists. He was arrested from the house of his daughter’s in-laws, and kept at Tarn Taran police station till July 30, when his family was allowed to meet him. On July 31, they were told he had run away. On August 17 the news appeared in the papers that Kartar and Mukhtiar had been killed in an encounter.
(3) On October 6, 1984, Gurmej Singh was arrested from his house and kept at Tarn Taran police station. The next day he was tortured badly. Police Inspector Gurdip Singh deman-ded he produce a pistol. On October 8, Gurmels brother Kartar Singh wired the SSP of Amritsar pleading that Gurmej was innocent. At the time, Gurmej was suffering from jaundice. Instead of medicines, he was given torture. Head constable Baldev Singh and constables Nohar Singh and Tarlok Singh demanded Rs. 3,000 from Kartar Singh. By October 12 he could only manage Rs. 1,500. The police also collected Rs. 1,000 from the home of Pyara Singh, a person arrested along with Gurmej. Gurmej was released on the 12th, but his condition continued to deteriorate, and he died at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Amritsar, on October 19.
(4) On October 5, 1984, four communal terrorists sprayed bullets in the bazaar of Sur Singh, Tarn Taran tehsil, at 7.15 p.m., killing 6 persons, mostly Hindus. The communal terrorists were not residents of the village. Immediately one Mahender Singh informed the BSF stationed nearby. Bhagwan Das Sharma, A.S.I., was at the time very near the site of the incident, but he did not do anything. The BSF made no effort to chase and apprehend the terrorists. After some time ‘ Sharma took out his revolver and began shouting that he had encircled the terrorists. The BSF concentrated on searching the house of the Jesko family, and tortured members of the family. It was only at the villagers’ instance that they finally released the innocent family.
