torturing and killing tribal villagers. The armed provincial police force of Uttar Pradesh has been held responsible for dozens of “disappearances” and arbitrary killings. Dozens of people have been sentenced to death and an unknown number executed.
- Background: Demands for greater autonomy and the use of violence by armed opposition groups
Demands for increased autonomy or separatism continue to be made in various parts of India, including Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar and several parts of northeast India. Political violence has been widespread in these states, particularly in Punjab where armed Sikh groups continue to advocate “Khalistan” a separate Sikh state – and where 1,216 political killings were reported by the police to have occurred in the state during 1987.
According to official sources, in 1987 armed Sikhs killed 97 police officers and 882 civilians (Hindus as well as Sikhs), and 327 armed Sikhs were killed by the security forces. Judges trying Sikhs on charges of killing officials and others as well as witnesses testifying at such trials were also among those killed by armed Sikh groups. Political killings increased in number in early 1988: a particularly large number of civilian deaths occurred, for example, on 4 March 1988, when members of an armed Sikh group killed 32 unarmed Hindus and Sikhs participating in a religious festival. As of May 1988 around a thousand political killings by armed Sikh groups had been reported in the state; many of those killed were unarmed civilians not participating in the fighting. The victims were mainly Hindus but also included Sikhs who armed Sikh groups believed were “informers” or else people opposed to the policies adopted by these groups in their fight for “Khalistan”.
There has also been political violence in West Bengal, where the Gorkha National Liberation Front has continue.
