NEW DELHI: Knives are once again being sharpened against the Punjab Congress dissident of long standing and MP, Jagmeet Singh Brar. The case against him this time in his criticism of certain aspects of the proposed National Human Rights Commission and his sharp rebuttal of the stand taken by the Union Home Minister, §.B.Chavan, in the Lok Sabha. The member’s contention was that even though the USA was not a signatory to the UN Protocol on Human Rights, it was able to exert pressure on India on the human rights issue, His other contention was that the Army and the security forces would not be covered under the proposed commission. Besides, Brar said the very same people who had diluted the final report on the 1984 Delhi riots were now heading the proposed commission.
Rounding off his sharp speech, Brar had said that the proposed commission would not have any value until the government revised its view about Operation Bluestar. Later, during Chavan’s reply, Brar had interrupted him to say that the minister had to admit that “there is a lot of state terrorism also.” When Chavan said state terrorism had become a fashionable term used for maligning India, Brar had reported by saying that there was evidence of excesses by police officers in Punjab even now. He cited the instance of the Bharatiya Kisan Union president, A.S.Lakhowal, against whom a case under TADA was registered, “The SSP gave his approval on the same day, and the ADA gave it on. The same day and the IG also gave the approval on the same day. Usually it takes a month for such cases 10 are registered,” Brar had said. At another point of time, Brar had interrupted Chavan to ask: “T would like to know the answer for one simple question. Five committees dealing with the massacre of 1984 have recommended action against 294 police officers and not a single police officer has been punished in this matter so far,” Chavan had replied. “Sir, I do not think I should answer this question now.”
Article extracted from this publication >> December 24, 1993
