Presented at: United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 47th session of the Sub Commission on Prevention to Discrimination and a Protection of Minorities. [Prepared by: Dr.Jasdev Singh Rai, Read by Navtej Singh Ahluwalia
Liberation appreciates the importance placed on the economic, social and cultural rights of minorities by the Sub com n. The consideration and promotion of such rights by the Center for Human Rights contributes to world peace and order.
The Sub Commission is aware by the presentation and interventions of NGO’s of increasing number of internal conflicts around the world arising from denial of such rights. In fact many human rights violations result from state efforts to subvert demands for economic, social and cultural rights by prouns of peoples.
In view of this, Liberation commends the endeavors of the Sub Commission to consider and debate wider issues in this forum with specific reference to minorities, Liberation would like to lake this opportunity, therefore, and with the Chairman’s permission, to speak on the particular social, economic and cultural rights of a minority seeking to assert them; the Sikhs in India.
The Sub Commission will be aware of the protracted unrest faced by the Sikhs particularly in the Punjab. Human Rights violations such as detentions without trial, torture and extrajudicial executions by various state agencies have been well documented and presented here,
Liberation is aware of the insurgency mounted by some groups in Punjab and the claimed legitimacy of the State’s response. However this is not only been complimented by excessive derogations from international norms but has been an excuse for intimidation and suppression of the peaceful pursuit of these rights.
‘The Sikhs are a distinct and identifiable people with their own culture, language, religion and common history who trace their historic roots to the North West regions of the Indian subcontinent, Punjab, where the largest concentration of Sikhs live. This is considered as the Sikh homeland. However, the Sikhs remain a dispersed minority throughout the world. The Sikhs were aware of their distinct identity and the possible contact that could arise with nationalist tendencies of the Indian state. Consequently the Sikhs had sought to determine and secure their economic, social and cultural future with a degree ‘of autonomous status within the Indian subcontinent, Agreements reached by the Sikhs with the emerging Indian state in the presence of the British were subsequently reneged unilaterally by India following its independence in 1947. This has had an unfortunate resulting relations between Sikh is and respective Indian governments, It has also adversely affected their cultural rights in some parts of the world. Economically the Punjab has not reached its full potential because of restrictions imposed by the State. A command economy chartered by the Indian State for its provinces was on forced on the Punjab inspire of its protests, For four decades the Punjab was not allowed to develop a non-agrarian economy. With increasing population, land holdings per person began to diminish to the point of being unprofitable. The other traditional venue for employment, the army, was restricted by the introduction of quota system based on population percentage. These affected the Sikh population of Punjab and increased avoidable unemployment significantly. Even the agrarian based economy is now under threat. The Indian government has forced diversion of Punjab’s river waters to adjoining states in deference to the needs of the region’s ‘own agriculture, There are now reliable reports from Punjab Agricultural University to suggest that Punjab’s agriculture will suffer from water depletion within 10 years.
Although the economy is now being liberalized in India, the Punjab’s lack infrastructure has placed it at a disadvantage. Moreover the reluctance of the Indian State to reach political settlement on differences that Jed to the unrest has made the State unattractive to investment.
But it is the erosion of cultural rights, since 1947 that has most concerned the Sikhs, Of the cultural rights, language and religion have been mainly affected. After Partition in 1947, the ‘Muslim Punjabi population migrated to Pakistan and opted for the Urdu language. In India the Hindu Punjabi population declared Hindi to be their mother tongue. This left the Sikhs in a minority to preserve the centuries old language of the Punjab. ‘While other Indian states acquired their linguistic status early on, Punjab expenenceda belter and divisive campaign for 15 years before the Punjabi language was given its due status and achieved only at the expense of division of its’ land In the adjoining states, where a significant Sikh population live and where Punjabi is the second most spoken language, it has been denied even third language status.
The religious institutions and consequently religious freedom of Sikhs have been directly affected by the lack of autonomy in these affairs. The Akal Takhat in the Golden Temple precinct was established in 1602 as a sovereign institution to regulate and represent the temporal affairs of the Sikhs. In principle, the custodian of this institution, the “Jathedar’ by democratic consensus, has the role of mediating in almost all Sikh doctrinal and temporal issues anywhere in the world. However, in practice, his office and his appointment are indirectly controlled by the India through the 1925 Gurdwara Act. This Act has enabled the state to interfere in the institutional affairs of the Sikhs in other centers and places of worship. ‘This Act allows the government to hold elections for the central body of the Sikh institutions, In the last 17 years the Indian state has failed to call elections to this body as it fears that the result would not be in its own interests.
The Sub commission will appreciable the predicament this has placed the entire institutional structure of the Sikh religion, it is common to blame religions for meddling in secular politics, Here a religion is trying hard to free itself from interference and manipulation of secular political interests, The Sub Commission will also appreciate the problems this creates for Sikhs worldwide. In many countries Sikhs remain unrepresented by an autonomous central institution that can negotiate and mediate issues affecting them. In the U.K. for instance, disputes arising from Sikh Gurdwaras are dealt differently by different authorities and courts. Attempts to impress upon the Government to recolonize a standard code and authority have met with disinterest. ‘However the U.K. is commended as being the first State to legally recognize the importance of the Sikh turban, This remains a problem in many countries including Canada and the largest western block, the European Community. France, the country that prides itself on its’ liberal views has shown the most intolerance in many cases on the issue of Sikh religious symbols. Such problems continue to arise around the world for the Sikhs. They are invariably tackled disparately through protracted campaigns. The alternative available to almost all other religions is a strong centralized and autonomous, sovereign institution that can represent and mediate the interests of its followers. In the case of the Sikhs that possibility is subverted by political interference of the Sikh religious institutors by Indian political parties. The Sub Commission is asked to appreciate that this 1s a peculiar problem brought to its attention. It is not the intention here to discredit the Indian state, which is simply applying its constitutional prerogative.
“The resolution of this problem lies with the international community. The Sikh religion must be recognized as distinct and the autonomous function of its religious institution must be ‘accepted on par with that enjoyed by other major religions. The Sikh religion, like the Catholic Vatican has a historic claim to a sovereign center whose independence was recognized through history. The Sub Commission is asked here to appreciate some of the economic, social and cultural issues that have led to the unrest between a major section of the Sikh people and some States, notably India. The various agencies of the Center for Human Rights must be commended for their investigations of human rights abuses affecting the Sikhs. However, the Sub Commission will appreciate that there remain economic, social and cultural rights issues that can and need to be addressed. Liberation notes that the socioeconomic rights issues are often specific to the region and can be resolved only by a regional will. However, Liberation would like to express hope that the current ‘peace’ in Punjab will be used constructively by the Indian government to find lasting solutions to these problems.
‘The cultural issues are however of a more international nature and affect Sikhs across the world and require international solutions. It is hoped that the Sub Commission will begin to address the issue in its future deliberations. Liberation welcomes the Working paper of Mr. Eide on Enslaved Minorities/CN/4/Sub2/1995/ 24 on the Establishment of an intercessional working group to consider the particular difficulties faced by ‘groups around the world.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 25, 1995
