The Honorable P.V. Narasimha Rao Prime Minister of India
New Delhi, India
Dear Prime Minister Rao;
According to an Amnesty International “Urgent Action” bulletin issued ‘on September 7, Punjab police abducted Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra from his home in Amritsar on September 6. His whereabouts are unknown, As the general secretary of Human Rights Wingh (Shiromani Akali Dal), Mr. Khalra had published a report showing that the Punjab police have arrested more than 25,000 young Sikh men, tortured them, murdered them, then declared them “unidentified” and cremated their bodies, These atrocities are intolerable in any country, especially one that calls itself a democracy. After the report was published, Mr. Khalra was told by the Amritsar district police chief, “We have made 25,000 disappear. It would be easy to make one more disappear.” This ‘abuse of police power is inexcusable.
The right to speak out and expose atrocities is one of the most fundamental rights of free individuals, As long as Mr. Khalra remains in detention, how can anyone in India feel secure exercising his or her democratic liberties?
Many of us wrote to you previously urging that the passports of Sikh leader Samranjit Singh Mann and Dalit (“black untouchable”) leader V.T. Rajshekar be restored. Your government has not acted, and Mr. Mann and Mr. Rajshekhar remain unable to travel, The right to travel is fundamental to. a democratic nation.
Mr, Prime Minister, we call upon your government to release Mr. Khalra immediately. We also urge you to restore the passports of Mr. Rajshekar and Mr. Mann, If India is a democratic country, it must end these gross violations of human rights and democratic principles, Only then can. democracy truly begin to flower. We await your response.
Sincerely,
Bi Partisan Group of 67, Members of Congress,
(list is available upon request).
Article extracted from this publication >> October 27, 1995
