In a front page editorial, the Hindu fundamentalist newspaper, The Hindustan Times, called for instant public execution of Sikhs captured by the police or paramilitary troops, “Being democratic is all very fine commented the editorial, “but there can be times when the due process of law has to be suspended. Mad dogs are destroyed in every well-ordered society.
No professional psychiatrist is required to diagnose the inherent perversity and the frothing venom that mark the editorial, Its writer, evidently, is afflicted with a much deeper malady than suffered by a mad dog and the sooner a “well ordered” society rids itself of such Sick elements, the better it be for its health, Ordinarily also Hindustan Times has never tried to conceal its congenital hatred for the Sikhs and has relentlessly been pursuing its Policy of Sikh baiting ever “since India gained independence.
In Punjab, fifteen bus passengers are killed by unknown gunmen. In a frenzy of communal vendetta Sikh religious shrines are attacked, holy scriptures are burnt, men killed in their homes and Sikh establishments are torched in Delhi and Sikhs protesting against this outrage are shot dead by the Delhi police. Yet no eyebrows are raised, no angry editorials are written and necessity of “suspending due process” of law is not felt.
Indian government pampered Nirankaris gunned down thirteen unarmed Sikhs in cold blood at Amritsar on April 13, 1978 and Hindustan Times “well-ordered” Society was not even shaheed, Hundreds of Sikh young-men are being eliminated through fake Police encounters for the last four years, yet the horrid fate of these helpless victims merits no mention in the columns of the Hindustan Times.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 2, 1991
