The fall of the Berlin Wall and the growth of democracy in Eastern Europe should encourage all who fight for human rights against great odds. Though we are seeing progress in the struggle against oppression all over the world, it has never been more important than now to continue our efforts to improve the human rights condition in India.
Since coming to the House of Representatives in 1987, I have been learning more and more about the human rights situation in the Indian State of Punjab. Despite a change in the Indian government in 1989, the reports of atrocities continued unabated. The pictures I have seen and the accounts I have read sound as if they have originated in an oppressive totalitarian regime, and not in a nation which calls itself a democracy. World Sikh News continues to play a crucial role in bringing attention to the plight of those living in Punjab. In my view. Without this attention. There is little hope that things there will improve.
Together, I believe we can begin to turn the tide in India, and in so doing, improve the lives and the future of your friends and relatives still in Punjab.
Wally Herger Member of Congress
Article extracted from this publication >> December 21, 1990
