Governments forces operating in Punjab have systematically violated inter- national human rights laws as well as the laws of wart governing internal armed conflict. Members of the Punjab police, the federal paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force and, to a lesser extent, the Indian army have engaged in widespread summary executions of civilians and suspected militants. Many of these executions involve persons who, were first detained in police custody and then subsequently reported by the
Authorities as having been killed in an encounter with the security forces.
The Asia Watch delegation investigated extrajudicial killings by. Government forces that
occurred primarily in 1989 and 1990. The frequency with which these killings were reported to take place and the consistency of the eye- witness testimony indicate that they are not aberrations but rather the product of a deliberate policy known to high-ranking security personnel and members of the civil administrations in Punjab and New Delhi. Moreover, there is credible evidence to indicate that, in some cases, the police have actually recruited and trained extrajudicial forces to carry out many of these killings .Security legislation has increased the likelihood of such abuses by authorizing the security forces to shoot to kill and by protecting them from prosecution for human rights violations.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 4, 1991
