In preparing this booklet we in the P.H.R.O. relied heavily on reports of investigations and interviews conducted by a team comprising D.S. Gill, 3iwan Jot Kaur, Rajinderpaul Singh, Malwinder Singh ‘Mali, Gurbhajan Singh Gill and Gurcharan Singh Bal, all eminent professionals and human rights activists.
The P.H.R.O. thanks all those who cooperated with the team, shared information and expressed their opinions on matters put before them. We mention in this connection Bhai Jasbir Singh and four outgoing Singh Sahibs, the authorities of Central Jail, Amritsar, the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, Mr Sarbjit Singh, Mr. O.N. Garg, Mr. Surinder Awasthi and other journalists of Amritsar, senior members of the Damdami Taksal, certain militants and retired civil and military officers and members of Punjab Sikh Lawyers Council and Sikh Vichar Manch and officials and members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (S.G.P.C.).
Violation of human rights in Punjab is not the only or the dominant theme of this report. Considering the issues involved in the context of recent happenings in the State, this report covers a wider field of analysis of the policies and practices of the Indian State vis-a-vis Punjab. Needless to say, the report covers a series of human rights’ violations in the course of operation Black Thunder II conveniently glossed over by the official media.
The operation Black Thunder II, a major concern of this report, was planned more than three months ago. It was conceived in panic in view of the apprehended increased Pakistan pressure on Punjab as a sequel to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, although a different impression on the public mind may have been left by the rather “smooth conduct” of the deadly proceedings at Amritsar between May 9 and May 18, 1988.
The most crucial questions the Government of India will have to answer are: whether the operation will lead to the solution of the Punjab issue? Has the “back of the Punjab agitation been broken” as is claimed? Will there be peace in Punjab?
While the operation appears to have been triggered by Moscow’s pullout, India would do well to learn, or rather unlearn, from the Soviet policy towards Afghanistan. The wise C.P.S.U. leadership has left Afghan affairs to be handled by Afghans and has given up a “military solution” they had planned and had carried out for nine long years. The situation in Punjab, in a way,
