If there is any commonality in the hundreds of voices we hear both political and non-political coming out of Punjab it is a cry of anguish against the barbaric and inhuman repression of the Sikhs. This cry has also been the wailing of thousands upon thousands of widowed Sikh women and orphans but unfortunately no one has heard the agony of an entire nation now under siege for over a decade. This cry has again reached a crescendo pitch as the Indian government senses that it is losing its most important and productive colony of Punjab. The army has been let loose yet again on the innocent people and the police and paramilitary forces have stepped up repressive activities in what we have firmly come to believe to be India’s “Operation Genocide” against the Sikhs. We are confident and have reason to believe that despite seemingly overwhelming odds that truth shall prevail and that the Sikhs will have their freedom in Khalistan again.
Two recent cases though very typical have yet again gouged festering wounds. Atamjit Singh a 19-yearold youth and the son of a prominent Sikh activist of the Punjab Human Rights activist and educationist Dr Gurbachan Singh Mavi was picked up by the police from a marketplace in Ludhiana along with another youth. A few days later two “unidentified” youths were killed in an “encounter” with the police. The PHRO has been in the forefront in highlighting the cruel lawless and arbitrary police functioning. Perhaps it was an attempt to silence this fearless champion of human rights.
The other recent case which caused uproar was the cold blooded murder of six Sikh farmers by the Indian army in broad daylight. These farmers carrying cans were on their way to buy diesel fuel. After a few months the Indian government will perhaps admit that it was a big mistake. It has admitted to many such mistakes but never has a single policeman or soldier ever been punished in the 10 years. How can they be punished for pursuing the unstated goal of the government of crushing the Sikhs altogether Remember the anti-Sikh pogroms of November 1984 when Indian politicians led crazed mobs in killing innocent Sikhs. Not one person has been brought to book so far.
Indian news agencies report around 20 deaths every day in Punjab. We know it for a fact that the actual number of victims of state terrorism is at least twice that figure. The state attributes almost all these deaths to militant violence. Every couple of years it says that there are only 40 or so militants and then it kills off more than 10000 Sikhs every year yet the number of militants is a constant 40.
The Press which was mostly toeing the government line in the first place has still had censorship slapped upon it so that India’s dark deeds remain away from the public awareness. If it was a murder here or an occasional case of torture it may have gotten away with it. No government no matter how repressive can hide its crimes for long Even Stalin’s mass murders got out. India is fooling itself in thinking it can get away with the genocide of Sikhs Why else is Amnesty International not allowed into Punjab? The world will wake up to the painful truth one day. Will that day be too late?
Article extracted from this publication >> March 8, 1991
