LUDHIANA: The International Human Rights Organization (THRO) is deeply concerned about the unending disappearances of Persons at the hands of the state police in Punjab said its chairman D.S. Gill in a statement.
“Disappearance is a heinous crime It is doubly paralyzing: for the victims who are frequently tortured and constantly fearing for their lives and for family members who wait and wonder sometimes for years and who may never receive any news” the HRO chairman added.
The statement continued; “They (police) force their way into family’s house student’s hostel in a city or in a village anywhere. They came at any time day or night usually in plain clothes sometimes in uniform. They drag off one or more members of the family or students and take them away without saying anything or informing the inmates.”
The IHRO had taken up dozens of such cases recent ones included that of advocate Jagwinder Singh (Kapurthala) GNDU student Param Satinderjit Singh (Amritsar) Gurnam Kaur 82 mother of Dr. Pritam Singh Sekhon (Sangrur) Baljit Singh Gazipur 18 (Jalandhar) Paramjit Singh (Mohali) and Amarjit Singh Panjwar (Amritsar).
All these cases have been taken up with Amnesty International and the UN Center for Human Rights. The IHRO will further take up the Kapurthala advocates case with International Bar Association US Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and International Commission of Jurists said Gill.
The IHRO he said has today telegraphically sought the intervention of the Punjab Home Secretary in cases of Dr.Ranbir Singh Khalsa SSF (Daljit Singh) activist and PAU student Satnam Singh who have been picked up by the police respectively from near Amritsar Khalsa College and PAU hostel recently.
The organization has also called upon the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-party and political groups to raise their voice against these state crimes urging the immediate release of the victims.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 18, 1992
