WASHINGTON DC: The Jalandhar Punjab offices of the Aj Di Awaz (Today’s Voice) a major Sikh daily sympathetic 10 the plight of the Sikh nation under Indian government repression were raided at $:30 a.m. by Indian police on Tuesday Jan.11. With ho warrants for search or arrest Deputy Superintendent of Police Satinderpal Singh Inspector Chanchal Singh and Assistant Subinspector Sucha Singh accompanied by a heavily armed corps of police seized the offices and arrested cight men including Management Trustee Jasbir Singh Khalsa and Managing Editor Gurdeep Singh. All cight were locked in a store room until whisked away in an unmarked van. Other staff members of the Aj Di Awaz ‘were held in the typing room. Subeditor Harpreet Singh and Mr Buttar were forced to lie on the floor until 12:00 pm and the premises were completely sealed off until 2:00 pm. The cight employees arrested remain held by police at an unknown location. Asia Watch has reported that “Virtually everyone detained in Punjab is tortured” Bach of the eight detainees faces the real possibility of torture and “extrajudicial murder.”
Ten days prior to this illegal raid Managing editor Gurdeep Singh was threatened by Assistant District Commissioner Mrs. S.K. Sandhu to cease his criticism of Indian government policies and stop providing a platform for the expression of Sikh views. Mr .Gurdeep Singh refused to compromise the editorial policy of this newspaper. Dr.G.S_Aulakh President Council of Khalistan said in a Press release “The unlawful raid of the Aj Di Awaz offices is a blatant attempt by the Indian government to silence the criticism it has voiced over India’s brutal oppression in the Sikh homeland Khalistan which declared independence from India on Oct.7,1987.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 28, 1994
