A team of Amnesty International at last was in India early this week. It was after many years that India permitted representatives of this respected human rights group to visit Delhi The limited extent of the permission shows that India has done so on its own terms There is no question of any change of heart on the human rights issue on the part of India. It is well known that international concern about Indian treatment of the people of Punjab and Kashmir in particular had been causing an acute embarrassment to Delhi It was to mitigate this that a team from the Amnesty was allowed in The Indian aim is to get maximum political mileage out of the visit. The team will not be allowed to hold any enquiries in Punjab and Kashmir where human rights have been massacred mercilessly by Indian security forces in recent years. The only concession granted to the A.L. is that India is now responding to enquiries. It furnished a detailed reply to the A.1 in respect of its report on custodial deaths since 1985. The reply itself amounts to white-washing all the crimes committed by Indian security forces By stepping up killings mostly in fake encounters of Sikhs and Muslims in Punjab and Kashmir respectively during the days the A.I. team was in Delhi India displayed its defiance of international public opinion against the violations of human rights of all persons whether militants or non-militants The A.I. will do well to take note of the killings. The Indian government should not be allowed to drum up support for its “democracy” and “open government” at international for a merely on the strength of the limited permission granted to the A.1. It should be clear to the human rights group that India tried to impress it by propagating the myth of holding crash courses for visiting judges police and district magistrates on human rights. This is a mere propaganda stunt. The A.I. and other human rights groups should view Indias sincerity on human rights in the light of whether Delhi is ready to (1) scrap the T.A.D.A. that lawless law and other similar laws giving immunity to security forces from action on wrong-doing; (2) hold credible enquiries into all deaths in police custody in Punjab and Kashmir during the past 10 years and punish the guilty police officers; (3) sack guilty officers like Sumedh Saini for beating up a senior Indian army officer; (4) release all 30000 persons in prison for years under T.A.D.A and other related laws; (5) decommunalise judiciary media and other Indian institutions and (6) give freedom to the people of Punjab and Kashmir to decide their own political future on the basis of a free vote under international supervision.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 27, 1992
