STOCKTON,CA: The New York Times in a front page news item Says that though surface calm prevails in Punjab, the state is seething with rebellious sentiments and hatred of Police.
In the process of curbing militant activity, the Police have created a reign of terror in the state. After 10 years of excesses in which thousands of Sikh youth have been killed and villages upon villages subjected to brutalities and harassment, the people have developed a deep seated resentment, Smaller militant groups may have been crushed but the major ones like the Khalistan Liberation Force have merely gone underground.
The New York Times says, “on the surface, Punjab appears to have reverted to the normality it en joyed before the Sikh insurgency erupted in the early 1980’s. Its cities are once again alive, farmers are regularly in their fields after sundown and the roar of truck traffic continues through the night. But many Punjabis both Sikhs who make up more than 60% of the population, and Hindus, who account for 36% say that the new tranquility has been achieved by un leashing a reign of police terror, that the enemy is no longer armed militants, but ruthless and unre strained policemen.”
The Police abuses are not isolated but every field and village speak of rapes, murders and at tacks unleashed upon a angry population who seek justice and self-rule. The Sikhs are being subjected to repressive measures which have only further alienated them. “The police have become a hydra headed monster,” said Ravi Nair, the director of the South Asian Human Rights Documentation Center, the only independent human rights monitoring group in India. “Abductions, disappearances, torture continue,” he said. “They’ve knocked out the smaller gangs, no question about it. But the bigger groups, the Khalistan Liberation Front, has just gone underground, The fact that they can strike and strike hard was shown by the bomb blast in Delhi.” No Rule of Law: There is no rule of law in Punjab and violation of human rights is the order of the day. Even eminent jurist who have spoken out against state repres sion faced arrest and harassment. A former justice of the High Court, Ajit Singh Bains was arrested and held for over five months with no charges filed. The times quoting Justice Bains writes, “In Punjab there is no rule of law”. “Amnesty International is still not allowed in Punjab. State terrorism has reached the saturation point. The talk that peace has been restored is a farce,”
Unannounced wars the moderate Sikh parties were destroyed by Indira Gandhi for seeking greater independence. She attacked the holiest Sikh shrine of Harmandir Sahib in 1984 in an Army action in which Bhindranwale and his followers were killed. After that India launched upon an unannounced war on the Sikhs militant movement which seeks independence, Although active militancy might have been subdued and all attempts being made to crush public opinion in favor of an independent state, the calm is only superficial. Even moderate Sikhs who do not seek Khalistan seek justice and more freedom from Dethi. The people in general lead a scared kind of life in Punjab reports the New York Times.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 29, 1993
