In the so-called free world, the whole area of human rights has in recent times become completely politicized. It is now all about spheres of influence. Recently a very senior officer in the United States Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the US is only interested in human rights if these involve violations in such rights by the Soviet block countries. Britain for its part turns a blind eye to human rights violations by “friendly” countries and positively condones them. For political advantage it is prepared to Kowtow to regimes in countries like India, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria which have disgusting records on human rights and which are the leading exponents of state terrorism. In the world of international diplomacy and international politics the argument about human rights in any country always resolves about political expediency and trade contracts with human beings being used as barters or bargaining counters, and the Britain is no exception.
India’s war of propaganda against Sikhs
In Britain the Indian authorities have achieved a considerable victory over the Sikhs with victims being presented as the aggressors and the Indian authorities being cast in the role of angels. India is relentlessly waging a propaganda war against the Sikhs as a cover up for its dastardly record on human rights. This has been made possible in no small measure by the reluctance of British parliamentarians, the Government ministers and the British press to speak out honestly and dispassionately on the calamity that has befallen the Sikh community.
On this vexed subject there is indeed a conspiracy of silence between the British and the Indian authorities. We, therefore, appeal to the voice of conscience in the British community by highlighting the Indian authorities’ nefarious design to annihilate Sikh culture, religion, language and the distinctiveness of the Sikh community, all in the name of Indian secularism, and to maintain unity and integrity of the country.
This was stated by Barrister Harjit Singh, the president of the UK branch of PHRO, when he introduced the then PHRO general secretary, D. S. Gill to a British parliamentary group of MPs at a meeting held on July 25, 1989 at the House of Commons, London.
The lawyer activist D. S. Gill, in his speech, said: “On behalf of the Punjab Human Rights Organization I thank Keith Vaz (M P) for convening this meeting, the other M Ps and friends, who have come here to get firsthand information on human rights violations in Punjab.
“The most serious challenge, the people of Punjab particularly the Sikhs and the State Punjab, faces is the near absence of democratic norms for which the Centre must be held squarely responsible. Democracy is under great strain in India. All the major organs of State which sustain democracy such as an impartial and fearless judiciary, an independent press and conscientious legislature are on the retreat.
Punjab—a laboratory for fascism
“Needless to state that the PHRO stands for restoration and strengthening of democracy in India and is opposed to the authoritarian was of the Government of India and some of the State Governments.
“The ruling party in order to maintain themselves in power, made Punjab a laboratory where all counter revolutionary machinations were put to test. The Constitution of India was undermined in several ways. The martial law was introduced under cover of providing aid to civil administration.
“Thousands of Sikhs were killed in blatant violation of laws. Lawless laws were specially enacted and made applicable to Punjab. It is a pity that judiciary generally thought it expedient to live with these laws.
“False encounters have become a way of life with the police and other security forces. Indescribable methods of torture have been introduced that may put to shame as mild mannered many fascist rulers in the world. Several thousands men and women are rotting in jails, many without trial and even without charges. The entire system has become brutal.
“The deliberate departures from the Constitution are evident and for this Delhi rulers are fully responsible. Democratic rights and civil liberties of the Sikhs have been constantly under attack for more than five years now. These attacks have been further stepped up recently in Punjab. Large scale “arrests” and tortures of Sikh women are the height of the state repression.
“The energies of the PHRO have been directed during the past five years against the manner in which New Delhi tried to suppress and crush democracy in Punjab, deny the Sikhs their human rights by killing hundreds of Sikh youth in fake encounters.
The State attacks the Sikh Press
“The state violence is either directed against political opponents or against those who organized themselves to oppose the arbitrary and unjust use of force by the State. Many are arrested, harassed and detained in jails because of their activities as lawyers, journalists, leaders of political groups or religious organizations.
“During the last two years, number of Punjab Sikh Lawyers Council and PHRO activists, Jagmohan Singh, Gurcharan Singh Ghuman, Gurdev Singh Benipal, Dr Rajinder Paul Singh, G. S. Bal including myself, were arrested or detained in jails only because of our professional and human rights activities.
“Undeclared political censorship has been imposed in Punjab. Raids, searches, arrests and imprisonment of “offending” journalists are indications of the state repression on the press. Newspapers and journals belonging to the Sikh community and Dalit groups have been proscribed, viz a viz Dignity, Samparak, Jantak Lehar, Sant Sipahi, Quami Rajniti etc. and their printers, publishers and editors Ilke V. T. Rajshekar, Sukhdev Singh (President, PHRO) and Kamaljit Kaur have been booked under TADA. Sukhdev Singh was detained in jail for six months mainly because he had been highlighting the grievances and human rights situation of Punjab and the Sikhs.
“Even the judiciary has not been spared. It has been terrorized into silence and subordination due to certain policies, interferences and enactment by the central government of dreaded legislations which have curbed the powers of the judiciary. Even judges who tried to do justice were transferred post-haste in a most disgusting manner.
“There have been extra-judicial killings and tortures even in judicial lock-up. Four Sikh youths were killed in Sangrur jail. The under-trials of Nabha jail, who were arrested from the Golden Temple in 1984, were tortured in the Ladha Kothi.
“In Punjab the Indian State has been continuing to contravene Article 14 of the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights by enacting special laws such as the National Security Act (Preventive Detention), The Disturbed Area Act, The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
“More than 5,000 Sikhs belonging to all shades of opinion are rotting in jails without trial. There is no rule of law in the State, fair trial is not possible in face of these draconian legislations. The world known concept of criminal jurisprudence that a person is presumed to be innocent unless proved otherwise, has been turned on its head as the onus has been laid down on the individual to prove his innocence.
Special courts against Sikhs
‘Under the provisions of the TADA special courts have been created for the trial of the Sikhs. These designated courts are mostly held in jails, where open trial, any access to lawyers, press and the public are not possible. These political courts are aimed at punishing the persons because of their political and religious beliefs.
“The PHRO’s report called “Security Forces as Private Senas (Armies)” reveals how the Punjab Police and paramilitary forces are themselves involved in unlawful and criminal activities, including plunder and adjudication upon private disputes for considerations of money.
“The secretive pro-government death squads, are operating in Punjab, which have been assigned the job of assassinating the Sikh rebels, who are demanding an independent Sikh State, Khalistan. One such gang leader was Santokh Singh Kala, who has been killed by a militant group. The so called counter-terrorist, Santokh Singh Kala was responsible for eliminating more than 50 Sikhs and their families in Amritsar district alone. Kala had himself boasted of his mission being blessed by none other than the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and the advisor to the Punjab Governor, J.F. Rebeiro (Punjab Bulldozed, a PHRO report to the world on Operation Black Thunder II, p 17).
The Rape of Punjab, yet another report, reveals how the Punjab police has launched a massive, inhuman aggression on the hapless women folk. We have evidence, on how women have been made to suffer abuse in public, in front of their family members. They were taken to police stations, where they were stripped in front of their male relatives. In some cases they were mass raped by the police.
“The aim behind this aggression is to bring to submission the whole Sikh community and to show them that the State can go to any extent to stop the Sikh people from sympathizing with Sikh militants.
Justice Sikri’s regret
“As a result a crafty statesmanship of certain Indian politicians, the Sikhs and Punjab were embroiled in a holocaust of racial nature aimed at destruction of Sikh norms. The result was the operation “Blue Star”, mopping-up operation “Woodrose”, November 1984 Sikh massacre and false en-counters. It was most unfortunate that most of these inhuman acts were committed with the aid of laws, rules and proclamations made by the brutal majority in the Indian Parliament. The rule of law, a basic necessity of the society, was done away with, in Punjab and for the Sikhs.
“And it should be plainly admitted that the Sikh community in India has been alienated. Justice S. M. Sikri, former Chief Justice of India, who headed the public enquiry commission on the November 1984 Sikh carnage in the wake of assassination of Indira Gandhi, concluded in his report saying ”If the Sikhs, the valiant guardians of our Western marches, who have fully contributed to the independence of our country and to its process and prosperity, feel injured or alienated, it weakens the very fabric of our society and vitality of our nation.”
“Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees that no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. The Supreme court of India has further held that even amidst the dash of arms the laws (of life and liberty) shall not be terrorized into silence.
“Justice is what justice does, and a prosecutor (the police) cannot become a judge, are two of the world’s fundamentals of the legal jurisprudence. So the police cannot take away the life of any person, howsoever dreaded he may be, without the “due process of law”. It cannot be allowed in a civilized country that the law enforcing agencies may short cut the legal process and let the security forces become the summary executioners.
Punjab—a political problem
“We hope that human right groups and governments outside India will take up these issues with the Indian Government and use their good offices in solving the Punjab problem which is essentially a political problem and not a law and order problem, as is being claimed by the Indian government. I, therefore, approach this forum with the hope that you will raise your voice against state terrorism in Punjab at all the appropriate forums including Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG).”
The British Parliament group of MPs assured the PHRO that they would take the issue of human rights violations in Punjab, both with the Government of India and in the British Parliament.
Earlier, D. S. Gill met Anthony Coombes, the secretary of Parliamentary Human Rights Group in this regard. Other MPs, 10
whom he met separately at different times, included Terry Dicks, John Watts, Jacob Arnold, Patrick Ground, Sydney Bidwell, Sir Gelard Vaughan, Patrick Wall, John Hughes and David Nellist.
The PHRO activist also addressed a number of conventions and meetings, organized by local groups and attended by several European and British parliamentarians.
There emerged a movement of lobbying for human rights among the Sikhs in U. K. They started influencing members of the European Parliament (M.E.P.$) and members of the British Parliament (M.P.$) by distributing PHRO literature reprinted at its London office which included books like ‘The Fascist Offensive in Punjab’, ‘The Rape of Punjab’. ‘An Indian Torture Chamber—Ladha Kothi’, I Swear…„’a collection of 20 affidavits on violation of human rights, and ‘Sikhs and Human Rights’.
It was due to the local lobbying by certain Sikh organizations and human rights activists that a joint team of European and British parliamentarians comprising Richard Balfe (M.E.P.), Max Madden (M P.) and John Taylor (C.M.G.) came to Punjab on a fact finding mission in 1990.
The UK M.P. speaks out
On findings of the mission the British M. P. (Bradford, West) Max Madden, on March 22, 1990 reported to the Parliament saying : “I am pleased to introduce a short debate on relations between Her Majesty’s Government and India, the first such debate in the House for some considerable time. I have recently returned from a brief visit to India and I thank the authorities, especially the governor of Punjab, for their assistance and co-operation, and a range of human rights organizations and their brave and dedicated members for their help and support during my visit.
“My main purpose was to investigate human rights in the Punjab. With the intractable problem of Northern Ireland much in my mind, I realize that no Britisher in India can feel superior when discussing human rights in the Punjab, where the forces of law and order are pitched against militants. I talked to police officers in the Punjab who, like security officers in Northern Ireland, told me that many of the militants were gangsters who preyed on Sikhs and Hindus for money and power. Few, they argued, were motivated by dreams of an independent Khalistan.
“I talked to human rights organization in the Punjab who, like their counterparts in Northern Ireland, told me that state violence and repression had alienated many in the Punjab, Sikh and Hindu, and had provoked widespread violence and terror. Both sides claimed, rightly I am sure, that all ordinary people in the Punjab, Sikh and non-Sikh, are sickened by violence and want an end to it. I talked to scores of those ordinary people and their stories were deeply disturbing.
The vivid memories of torture
“I shall never forget the Sikh father whose 14-year-old daughter was raped and drowned by a police officer. The father was brutally beaten by police three times over two days. He was seeking the return of his daughter’s body for cremation. He was warned that if he did not stop complaining, what had happened to his 14-year-old daughter would happen to his 7-year-old daughter. The father is refusing to wear shoes until he gets justice (The Rape of Punjab pp 21-23).
“I shall not forget the young Sikh who was shot as a terrorist after he stood with his arms above his head in a field for five minutes. The police later admitted that they had made a mistake. Senior police officers saluted at the young man’s cremation. His family is still waiting for the compensation that it was promised.
“I shall not forget the relatives of the young man who was shot while marching in a Sikh religious festival. Again, the police admitted a mistake. His brother has been warned off pressing for police officers to be punished.
“I shall not forget the 500 prisoners in the Amritsar security prison who lined up in the sun to meet me and my team. Each one was holding his record papers. There were more than 300 held on petty offences without bail. The youngest was a boy of 14 and a half who had been held in that prison for eight months without trial.
“There were mothers and’ daughters who talked about their husbands and brothers, who had been abducted by the police months and even years ago. There were men and women who showed us bruises, scars, broken arms and broken legs that were the result of police interrogation. I shall never forget the men and women who complained of systematic police harassment, with regular house searches, property smashed, goods and money stolen, and threats of extortion of money to avoid imprisonment.
“There is no doubt that Operation Bluestar, the Army code name for the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984, will never
be forgotten or forgiven by most Sikhs. It defiled their holiest place and strengthened the view of many of them that the Indian Government had embarked upon a deliberate policy of eradicating Sikhs, who form just two per cent of India’s population. Such feelings were intensified by the massacre of 5,000 Sikhs in Delhi hours after the assassination of Indira Ghandhi and of many Sikhs in other parts of India.
“In Delhi I visited some of the 1,200 widows struggling to bring up their families alone. One woman cried bitterly as she showed me the photographs of her dead husband and sons. She lost 18 relatives to the murderous mobs. From the window of a two-roomed tenement, home to a family of six, I looked down across a mud but village which is home to 1,000 families who fled east Delhi to find relative safety with other Sikhs in west Delhi. With the monsoons this mud village becomes a sea of mud, with the summer heat a stinking cesspit. There are no drains, water supply or electricity ; there are typhoid and cholera. The new governor of Delhi has promised these people a plot of land nearby where they can build decent homes. They hope that this promise will be kept and that the bulldozers will not return to demolish their huts.
The deliberation behind crimes
“None of these people, the victims of murderous communalism, believe that what happened was spontaneous. The mobs were organized. They were led. The plan was to kill as many male Sikhs as possible, including boys and even babies.
“If there is uncertainty about the future of the Punjab, there is great anxiety about the future of Kashmir. During my visit to Kashmir there were many reports of mass protests involving anything up to 1 million people, with deaths, injuries and many more soldiers being deployed. It is now believed that between 200,000 and 300,000 security forces are deployed in Kashmir and more are on the way. A permanent curfew has been in place for the past nine weeks.
“Many argue that the people of Kashmir should be given a referendum in which they could vote freely and fairly for their future. There appear to be three options for them to remain part of India, for them to join Pakistan or, the option that has been gaining support, for Kashmir valley to join Azad Kashmir and parts of Jammu, to become a new independent state.
“During my visit, a prominent Kashmiri business man who favored the third option said :
“We could become the Switzerland of Asia, with tourism and the careful development of our natural resources. The borders could be guaranteed internationally, safeguarded by the United Nations. A state of ten million people, we could become a tranquil, prosperous buffer between India and Pakistan.”
Free access to tortured areas
“The Indian Government are making a serious mistake by alleging that there are those outside Kashmir and outside India who are instigating violence and disorder in Kashmir. In making those charges, the Indian Government’s credibility is seriously undermined so long as they refuse permission to foreigners to visit Kashmir and so long as they stop the world’s media reporting what is happening in Kashmir.
“I hope that India’s new Prime Minister will quickly see the difficulties that his Government will face if they continue that policy. I hope that he will allow visitors and the free reporting of what is happening in Kashmir. I hope the Indian Government will agree to a request that I made informally today to the Indian high commission for a parliamentary
