Motion made, and Question proposed, that this House do now adjourn. — (Mr. Patnick) Mr. Max Madden (Bradford, West): I am pleased to introduce a short debate on relations between Her Majesty’s Government and India, the first such debate in the House for some considerable time. I have recently returned from a brief visit to India and I thank the authorities, especially the governor of the Punjab, for their assistance and cooperation and a range of human rights organizations and their brave and dedicated members for their help and support during my visit.
My main purpose was to investigate human rights in the Punjab. With the intractable problem of Northern Ireland much in my mind, I realize that no Britisher in India can feel superior when discussing human rights in the Punjab, where the forces of law and order in the Punjab who, like security officers in Northern Ireland told me that many of the terrorists were gangsters who prayed on Sikhs and Hindus for money and power. Few, they argued, were motivated by dreams of an independent Khalistan.
I talked to human rights groups in the Punjab who like their counterparts in Northern Ireland, told me that state violence and repression had alienated many in the Punjab, Sikh and Hindu, and had provoked widespread violence and terror. Both sides claimed rightly I am sure, that all ordinary people in the Punjab, Sikh and non-Sikh are sickened by violence and) want an end to it. I talked to scores of those ordinary people and their stories were deeply disturbing.
I shall never forget the Sikh father whose 14 year old daughter was raped and drowned by Police officer. The father was brutally beaten by police three times over two days. He was seeking the return of his daughter’s body for cremation. He was warned that if he did not stop complaining what had happened to his 14 year old daughter would happen to his 7 year old daughter. The father is refusing to wear shoes until he gets justice.
I shall not forget the young Sikh who was shot as a terrorist after he stood with his arms above his head in a field for five minutes. The police later admitted that they had made a mistake. His brother had been warned off pressing for police officers to be punished.
I shall not forget the 500 prisoners in the Amritsar security prison who lined up in the sun to meet me and my team each one was holding his record papers. There were more than 300 held on petty offenses without bail. The youngest was a boy of 14anda half who had been held in that prison for eight months without a trial.
There were mothers and daughters who talked about their husbands and brothers who had been abducted by the police months and even years ago. There were men and women who showed us bruises, scars, broken arms and broken legs that were the result of police interrogation. I shall never forget the men and women who complained of systematic police harassment, with regular house searches property smashed goods and money stolen, and threats of extortion of money to avoid imprisonment.
There is no doubt that Operation Blue star, the Army code name for the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984, will never be forgotten or forgiven by most Sikhs. It defiled their holiest place and strengthened the view of many of them that the last Indian Government had embarked upon a deliberate policy of eradicating Sikhs who form just 2 percent of India’s population. Such feelings were intensified by the massacre of 5,000 Sikhs in Delhi hours after the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi and of many Sikhs in other parts of India.
In Delhi visited some of the 1,200 widows struggling to bring up their families alone. One woman cried bitterly as she showed me the photographs of her dead husband and sons. She lost 18 relatives to the murderous mobs. From the window of a two roomed tenement home to a family of six, I looked down across a mud hut village which is none to 1,000 families who fled east Delhi to find relative safety with other Sikhs in west Delhi. With the monsoons this mud village becomes a sea of mud with the summer heat a stinking cesspit. There are no drains, water supply or electricity there tare typhoid and cholera. The new governor of Delhi has promised there people a plot of land nearby where they can build decent homes. They hope that this promise will be kept and that the bulldozers will not return to demolish their huts.
If there is uncertainty about the future of the Punjab, there is great anxiety about the future of Kashmir. During my visit to Kashmir there were many reports of mass protests involving anything up to | million people with deaths, injuries and many more soldiers being deployed. It is now believed that between 200,000 and 300,000 security forces are deployed in Kashmir and more on the way. A permanent curfew has been in place for the past nine weeks. Many argue that the people of Kashmir should be given a referendum in which they could vote freely and fairly for their future. They appear to be three options for them to remain part of India, for them to join Pakistan or, the option that has been gaining support, for Kashmir valley to join Azad Kashmir and parts of Jammu to become a new independent state.
During my visit, a prominent Kashmiri business man who favoured the third option said:
“We could become the Switzerland of Asia, with tourism and the careful development of our natural resources. The borders could be guaranteed internationally, safeguarded by the United Nations. A state of 10 million people we could become a tranquil, prosperous buffer between India and Pakistan.”
The Indian government is making a serious mistake by alleging that there are those outside Kashmir and outside India who are instigating violence and disorder in Kashmir. In making those charges, the Indian Governments’ credibility is seriously undermined so long as they refuse permission to foreigners to visit Kashmir and so long as they stop the world’s media reporting what is happening in Kashmir.
I hope that India’s new Prime Minister will quickly see the difficulties that his government will face if they continue that policy. I hope that he will allow visitors and the free reporting of what is happening in Kashmir. I hope the Indian government will agree to a request that I made informally today to the Indian high commission for a parliamentary delegation from the House to be allowed to visit Kashmir shortly. I welcome the visit that is to be Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman).
Some 56 British Members of Parliament, representing all political parties and from all parts of the United Kingdom have now signed and supported motions on the Order Paper calling for the people of Kashmir to be allowed to determine their own destiny.
At this time in Kashmir there are severe shortages of food and water. There are drastic evacuations of non-Muslims from Kashmir. The authorities are transferring large numbers of prisoners from Kashmir to the much hotter climate of Rajasthan and there are worrying reports that death squads are being formed and trained. As I said earlier there are reports of substantial extra troop deployments to Kashmir.
There can be no doubt that what has happened in the Punjab since 1984 scars the reputation of India, the world’s largest democracy and that the popular uprising in Kashmir threatens peace in the region. All true friends of India we are all well aware of the deep affection: and regard that you, Mr. Speaker have for that country which is shared by many hon Members wish ever good fortune to Mr. Singh and his government in resolving the vexed and dangerous issues that threaten the future of his government and more important the future and wellbeing of all the people of all religions of India.
I hope that the Minister can say tonight that the governments are anxious to make representations to the Indian government especially on my requests for more efforts to facilitate visits by British citizens of Sikhs origin to the Punjab
Article extracted from this publication >> April 13, 1990
