Sir,
We write in connection with the United Nations Human Day which is being celebrated all over the world We wish to record our appreciation and thanks for the sterling work the Commission of Human Rights is doing to promote human dignity and freedom The United Nations came into formal existence on October 24 1945 with “The United Nations Charter as its principal instrument of governance. This impressive document had been drafted by delegates of fifty nations who met in San Francisco from April 25 June 1945. Since then the Charter has become the repository of mankind’s hopes for a just and Peaceful world The preamble to the Charter declares “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights in the dignity and worth of the human person in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small” Thereafter on December 10 1948 the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which proclaims that “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want ..(is).. the highest aspiration of the common people”. It thirty articles deal inter-alia with equality at birth of all peoples and equality before the law and seeks to eliminate discrimination based on race sex political religious or any other belief or national or social origin; degrading treatment or cruel punishment. It further seeks to provide protection against tyranny oppression or arbitrary detention and/or exile Based on the Declaration the Commission on Human Rights was set up to monitor abuses of human rights. India is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to the Universal Declaration and to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is therefore obliged to respect the Charter the Declaration and the Convenient. The Indian Constitution which came into force in 1950 and is the longest document of its kind in the world pays lip service other ideals of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration. Nonetheless it enshrines no provision for protection of its minorities or minority religions. Indeed an amendment to the constitution made in 1976 pro-Claims India’s secularism thereby justifying the absence of provision for religious or minorities protection This sets the scene for oppression and persecution of India’s minorities in the name of Indian secularism. Besides successive Indian governments have amended the fundamental’s provisions of the constitution at will (there have been 76 amendments so far) there by using the constitution as an instrument of political oppression particularly galling example of this occurred in March 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi’s government passed the 58th Amendment to repeal Article 21 which guaranteed every Indian citizen the right to life. While V-P Singh’s government in its short tenure reversed this Amendment the Present Congress (I) government is showing scant respect for Indian and in particular Sikh life Since the dastardly invasion of the Golden Temple complex by India’s paramilitary forces in June 1984 Punjab police and India’s security forces have been engaged in a calculated campaign of religious and cultural genocide against the Sikhs. Today an Indian army of occupation numbering 255000 soldiers occupied every inch of the pocket-sized state of Punjab. They are allegedly engaged in a sweeping up operation against Sikh militants. The Indian army and police are the sole arbiters of who is a militant. Extra judicial killings in false police encounter disappearances of Sikh detainees in police custody inhuman torture rape of women and pillaging of properties is an everyday occurrence in the Punjab.
In the post-Indira Gandhi assassination riots some 10000 Sikhs were killed in orchestrated violence at the behest of the Indian authorities. Not one Hindu has been brought to book in respect of these massacres. Amnesty International and international human rights agencies are denied visas to visit Punjab to assess the true level of atrocities against Sikhs.
American congressmen and British MPs who have sought to visit the troubled state have been refused entry. Punjab is in the grip of a reign of terror perpetrated by the army and the police. Rule of Jaw has been abrogated and the judicial system has entirely collapsed. The police and security forces openly defy the courts and judicial process. The press is subject to censorship and leading newspaper editors and reporters are being harassed and persecuted. All the paraphernalia of a police and a fascist state is in place.
So far Amnesty International has produced six reports castigating the Indian authorities for blatant violations of Sikh human rights. The Foreword to our first publication in this country Fascist Offensive in Punjab written in July 1989 was used by the UN Commission on Human Rights for indictment of the Indian government on seven specific charges of Sikh human rights violations. Such indictment was served in. April 1990; notwithstanding a lapse of cover 20 months the Indian authorities have yet to give a detailed reply to the various allegations. Such inordinate and culpable delay is inexcusable. May we therefore urge immediate follow up action? We have witness’s ready to fly out to Geneva to prove our allegations up to the hilt.
We are a human rights organization based in Indian Punjab. It was set up by Sikh intellectuals in the wake of the Indian army’s invasion of the Golden Temple complex. Since our inception we have actively agitated both in India and internationally for protection of human rights. We have units in the United Kingdom the USA Canada and in other Asian and African countries which lobby international agencies such as the UNO Amnesty International the European Human Rights Commission etc. on behalf of Sikhs Muslims and other minorities in India. Understandably our main preoccupations with Sikh human rights. All the recent reports by Amnesty International rely heavily on our reports to Amnesty direct from India. Indeed with press censorship in Punjab which shuts out Western and international media our Organization provides the only window on Punjab.
The Punjab tragedy has now assumed holocaust dimensions. The international community must speak out before it is too late Your Charter gives peoples all over the world the fundamental right to self-determination. We would urge you to dedicate this year’s Human Rights Day to the indication of Sikh human rights.
We that you will not fail us.
Punjab Human Rights Organization (UK)
New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced Tuesday that the federal government would soon hold discussions with the trade union leaders on economic policies and agreed that measures to end unemployment and poverty cannot be left to market forces alone.
At a pre-budget discussion with the trade unionists the first in a series of such meetings the Finance Minister said that the government would rationalize the tax structure and make it easier (0 understand and simpler to administer.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 31, 1992
