The continuous detention of Bhai Ranjit Singh Gill and Bhai Sukhminder Singh Sandhu in a high security New York jail for six years is a black mark on the face of the American democracy and should serve to disqualify the U.S. administration to be champion of human rights worldwide, The young Sikhs from Punjab are political activists dedicated to the formation of an independent country for Sikhs and are no criminals to attract the kind of punishment they have been meted out by the administration. Not many people perhaps know the true meaning of a high security prison. Its inmates are not exposed to the sun or natural light except for four hours in a week. The high security prison has no windows. This kind of prison life is unknown even in the most backward countries of Asia, Africa or Latin America. The jail facilities in semi fascist countries like India are more humane. The manner in which the two Sikh political activists have been lodged in New York itself should put the United States to shame as a democracy.

India’s case for the extradition of the two Sikh youths rests on their alleged involvement in the conspiracy to murder General A.S. Vaidya, a former chief of army staff. The general’s assassins, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda, were convicted and hanged about a year ago and courts in India ruled out conspiracy and involvement of anyone else in the case. The U.S. mal court rightly found India’s case for extradition as returnable. India, then, went in for appeal to higher court to seek reversal of the lower court’s order. As such, prima facie, there is no Case against Bhai Gill and Bhai Sandhu. Yet, they have been incarcerated and that too, in a high Security jail. The U.S. administration is fully aware of violations of human nights of Sikhs, Muslims and others by India on a large scale. Only this week Asia Watch has produced yet another report on the situation in Kashmir. India has been doggedly opposing investigation of human rights Situation in Punjab and Kashmir by Amnesty International or other international human rights groups, On the other hand, the U.S. administration also could not be unaware of India’s consistent failure to award punishment to the violators of the human rights of Sikhs and other minority groups, As such, the U.S. administration is ill advised in clinging to technicalities leaving the vital facts of India’s reality out of its consideration. The least the Clinton administration should do is to immediately release Bhai Ranjit Singh and Bhai Sukhminder Singh and compensate them by permitting them to stay in the U.S.A.

But, why is the administrative so insensitive to the pleas of the two Sikh activists themselves, the conclusions of the trial court in the case, the memoranda from human rights groups and Sikh sangats in the U.S.A.? The obvious answer is that the Clinton administration, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, values its relations with India far more than the dictates of its conscience or demands of fair play. Perhaps, Security agencies which guide the administration are much too occupied with the thoughts of collaboration with India’s defense forces and are keen to placate the latter by not settling the extradition case in a fair manner. Whether in reality these considerations are weighing with the administration is not the central issue. ‘The real issue is whether it behaves the U.S. democratic system to keep two innocent victims of India’s repressive regime in such inhuman conditions and for so long. The Future of the administration to respond sensitively to the Kuki case” so far appears to be symbolic of a “society that is fast turning sick. The organs of public f of human rights including the Amnesty

 

International and enlightened intelligentsia should come forward to put pressure on President Clinton to see reason, set free the two young men and save the face of the U.S.A.’s democratic system itself. For if the reality of the case becomes known to the World at large the United States will lose moral right to talk of human rights elsewhere in the world. Sooner this is realized the better.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 14, 1993