Two-digit killings of Sikh youths in Punjab has been an unfailing daily feature for about a decade Every conceivable ruse is employed to attribute the killings to” encounters” “escape from police custody” inter-gang war” “border crossing” “attack by militants on police party escorting militants for recovery of arms” “death by snake bite in police custody” et. But this one surpasses all previous records According to Pioneer a New Delhi daily hundreds of Sikh youths were killed early this year most probably by Indian security forces and their bodies were thrown into irrigation canals. As sensational as the reports is, it has expectedly failed to evince any interest by the Indian government. Infect the report points out the police authorities had looked the other way as and when canal maintenance officials or farmers of adjoining fields fished out the bodies and reported the matter to the nearest police station. At many places according to Pioneer the police actually suppressed the post mortem reports on the bodies.
“The mass slaughter of Sikh youths most probably took place in the months of December 1991 and January and February 1992 on the eve of the recent election to the Punjab Assembly. One is reminded of an incident on the eve of 1989 election in UP where the notorious provincial armed constabulary of that state picked up a few hundred Muslim youths tied their hands behind their backs and sot them dead throwing their bodies into the Gang canal. No enquiry was ever held into that massacre Indian government has not reacted to the report. Nor will it do so in future. The plain reality is that these murders of Sikhs had the sanction of the present prime minister just as the U.P. incident had the approval of the Rajiv Gandhi government.
The only course open to the world public opinion is to raise the mater in the U.N Security Council or in the U.N human rights commission. The initiative must come from Sikh organizations in the first instance. Then Amnesty International should be apprised of the incident. WSN also appeals US Congressmen and other leaders of public opinion to send teams to Punjab to investigate the incident and take other appropriate measures to make India see reason. The U.S administration cannot remain blind to the fascist ways of the Indian authorities. It must stop issuing statements praising India as a democracy because every such praise gives Indian Hindu fascists a license to kill and maim countless Sikhs Muslims Tribal and others under cover of maintaining unity and integrity of India.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1992
