WASHINGTON,DC: September 6, marked the first anniversary of the Indian regime’s brutal kidnaping of Jaswant Singh Khalra, general secretary of the Human Rights Wing (Shiromani Akali Dal). Mr. Khalra exposed the regime’s policy of mass cremations of Sikhs. Mr. Khalra published a report showing that over 25,000 young Sikh men had been abducted by the police, tortured, murdered, and their bodies were declared “unidentified” to cover up police responsibility and they were cremated. Their families were never notified. Recently, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) admitted in court that its preliminary investigation has turned up “prima facie evidence” of 984 cremations. This investigation continues, and many more bodies are expected to be found. The Supreme Court justices called the mass cremation policy “worse than a genocide.”
After Mr. Khalra published this report, the police chief of the Tar Taran district, Ajit Sandhu, warmed Mr, Khalra that “We made 25,000 disappear. It would not be hard to make one more disappear.” Although a criminal case has been filed against Mr. Sandhu and eight other police officers for their roles in the kid napping of Mr. Khalra, the Indian regime has not yet arrested him. He recently told an Indian newspaper that “I am proud of what I did.” According to Mrs. Khalra, her husband is in the custody of India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB). Kikar Singh, who shares a jail cell with Mr. Khalrain October, gave an interview on August 21. He reported that MR. Khalra had been beaten into unconscious ness. He was unable to feed himself, so Kikar Singh fed him. According to Mr. Singh, Mr. Khalra’s legs were badly swollen and he had swollen black eyes. Bmuises and swelling covered the rest of his body, Mr. Singh reported. Members of the U.S. Congress have taken note of the anniversary. Several statements were placed in the Congressional Record regarding the Khalra kidnapping.
“Jaswant Singh Khalra has suffered the most brutal torture for a full year just because he exposed the brutal Indian policy of mass cremation of Sikhs,” said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, of Council of Khalistan. “Even the Akalis will not lift a finger to help him. Khalra makes it clear that exposing the brutality of the regime is dangerous in the country that calls itself the worlds largest democracy, he said. That shows the need for a free Khalistan more clearly than ever. We had hoped that Prime Minister Gowda’s government would clean up the mess left by the previous regime, unfortunately, he has not. The repression continues. If India has any principles or the slightest shred of decency, then Mr. Khalra must be released immediately.”
Article extracted from this publication >> September 11, 1996
