CHANDIGARH: The Centre for Defense of Human Rights of the UN in its recent report has passed strictures on India for violating human rights in Punjab.
In its introduction, the report highlights: “It provides a lamentable catalogue of the atrocities being committed by the government of a country which prides itself on being the largest Democracy in the world. Those of us who have an intimidate association with Punjab know only too well that as the Indian authorities fail to contain the militant elements in the Sikh community they are resorting to terrorism of the worst kind to suppress a brave community and its just aspirations.”
The report further mentions: “In the so called free world, the whole area of human nights has in recent times become completely politicized. It is now all about spheres of influence. Recently, a very senior officer in the U.S. Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the USA is only interested in human rights if these involved violations of such rights by the Soviet bloc countries. In the post-World War TI years, the USA had supported State terrorism by the late Shah of Tran in Iran, by General Smoza in Nicaragua and by ex-President Marcos in the Philippines. Britain for its part tums a blind eye to human rights violations by friendly countries and positively condones them. For political advantage, it is prepared to know how regimes in countries like India, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria which have disgusting records on human rights and which are the leading exponents of State Terrorism, escape censure,
It further mentions, “In this climate it is not, therefore, surprising that Sikhs have lost out entirely in propaganda war which the Indian Government is waging relentlessly as a cover up for its dastardly record of human rights and to malign a brave community.”
The report concludes with the observations; “As yet not a single Hindu has been detained under these draconian laws. Are there then one law for the minorities and another for the Hindu majority? Can a Hindu never be a militant? Is the mass murder of Sikhs, rape of Sikh women, in the post Indira Gandhi assassination riots to remain forever unpunished under India’s secular laws? Will the international community never speak out against these outrages? For the sake of the Punjab these questions must be answered with utmost urgency.”
The report has highlighted seven cases of violation of human rights in 1989. Most of the cases mentioned had also been covered by the Press.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 20, 1990
