A Backgrounder

Ever since the Sikhs launched their peaceful agitation for the fulfillment of their just aspiration, it has been the policy of the authoritarian regime of India to take repressive measures to suffocate the spirit of freedom of these dauntless people. It was Indira Gandhi who in 1984 gave vent to her anti-Sikh and anti-minority venom by ordering invasion of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army. Many saw this as an invasion by the Hindu army at the orders of a Hindu Prime Minister in a Hindu country. All the claims of secularism were thrown to winds and a full scale war on Sikhs was launched by Indira Gandhi and other Hindu bigots. Punjab was cut off from the rest of the world and powers that be started treating Sikhs as enemies of the nation.

The massacre of the Sikhs in the Hindi belt (known as Cow belt in western media) left no one in doubt about the Hindu character of his Rashtra (country), The vandals, the rapists, the looters, the killers, the politicians, the ministers-all joined hands to kill the Sikhs; to burn the Sikhs, to finish off the Sikhs. And what was common among all of them? They were Hindu bigots. And they were aware of the fact that this Hindu Rashtra belonged to them.

And the successive secular regimes of Hindu India continued with the anti-Sikh operations. The combing operation the Black Thunder operation and all other operations should be seen as continuation of the government’s policy of military initiative to solve the Punjab problem. The continued protection of the rapists, the mass murderers and scum of society by the central government simply confirms that they are all united against minorities agitating for their legitimate rights.

It was against this background that many Sikh youth were forced to go underground and organize themselves in different militant bodies and work for the formation of Khalistan, a sovereign state, The police repression and barbarities committed by Central Reserve Police Force (C.R.P.F.), Border Security Force (B.S.F.), National Security Guards (N.S.G.) and other military and semi military out-fits simply confirmed the view of these young Sikhs that the country no more belonged to them. Moreover the civil population of Punjab too chooses to sympathize with those engaged in active resistance and struggle for survival.

The change of Government at New Delhi unfortunately did not bring any succur to the Sikhs. Be it Rajiv Gandhi or V.P. Singh, the Sikh youth continues to be killed in fake encounters. Punjab is still being ruled by security forces. We continue to have Director General of Police (operations) and other officers at Division and District level in charge of operations. And we all know what these operations are. After the notorious Operation Blue Star, no one should have even an iota of doubt about the word operation.

It is time the rulers of this country give up their policy of hypocrisy and realize that they cannot continue trample the minorities for long. State terronsm may satisfy the blood thirsty communalists among the majority community but it is, by no means, an accepted tool of state polity and is bound to lead to chaos and misery for all including those who indulge in it.

Harinder Singh Khalsa,

Chairman, P.H.R.O.

Ludhiana

October 31, 1990

The Report Operation teach them a lesson

August 29 and 30 of 1990 would always haunt the Memories of the men, women and children of Chachowali, Talwandi Khuman, Marrari, Bhangali and Gujjarpura villages in police station Kathunangal of Amritsar district. It was on these two days that the notorious central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) unleashed terror in these five villages. The CRPF personnel of the 10thsieged these Villages; ransacked the houses.

picked up about 200 Sikh youth and tortured them at their torture chambers in the Battalion headquarters at Triewal, Filthy abuses were hurled at womenfolk and dignitaries of the area who had gone to the CRPF headquarters to plead for the release of the innocents picked up and kept in illegal custody by the force, What prompted the CRPF to indulge in such vandalism was the fact that on 29th August, a CRPF vehicle had been damaged in a field mine explosion when its convoy was passing through Talwandi Khuman.

 The victims reluctant to talk

A PHRO team comprising its chairman Harinder Singh Khalsa, General Secretary D.S. Gill and Public Relations Secretary Mohinder Singh Grewal visited these villages soon after the incident to gather information and investigate. The team, during its visit, met about 250 persons of the affected villages and heard shocking accounts of their harassment and torture at the hands of CRPF, the para-military outfit supposed to have been dispatched to maintain peace and law and order in the area and curb terrorism. The villagers were so terrified that they were not willing to come out with any details. Once convinced about the bonafides of the team, they started giving details of the incident. One could see how much were they terrified. It was a pathetic spectacle, a miserable sight to watch these victims of state terrorism.

It may be borne in mind that this is not an isolated incident in which the innocent villagers were tortured en mass by the peace keeping security forces of India. On December 26, 1986, the CRPF on a similar peace keeping mission  had raided Brahm pura village in Amritsar district at night. The provocation at that time was said to be an announcement by Sikh militant leader Avtar Singh Brahma over the village public address system that he was present in the village. He challenged the CRPF men, stationed in the Girls School of the village, to capture him and warned them not to harass the villagers. This announcement was made at 9:30 p.m. after which Brahma and his associates left the village. But the CRPF chose to attack the villagers at 10:30 p.m. after they were convinced that Brahma had left and the defenseless villagers were in no position to defend themselves against the onslaught. During the raid, CRPF men raped five women, beat up and old man to death, burnt the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs and tortured the people of the village en mass. The menfolk were made to sit throughout the chilly night without any warm clothing.

Incident falls in pattern

Similar incident took place in Latala village in Ludhiana district on April 20, 1987, when Dehlon police station personnel raided the village and tortured the villager’s en mass  The women-folk and even children were dragged out of their houses and beaten up mercilessly by the sadist policemen. An old man of 70 Gurdev Singh Sodhi who is a retired Line Superintendent, was also beaten up badly by the police. One Panchayat Member (member of the village council) Kartar Singhs right arm was broken in this mass torture. Another victim of the police torture was Daljit Singh, a pre-University student in a college. His face was badly disfigured because of the cruel beating. A photographer of the village, Sukhwinder alias Buta was forced to take obscene photographs of the village womenfolk and about 29 elders of the village who had gone to the police station Dehlon to protest against this state terrorism were charged under various sections of the Indian law for raising pro-Khalistan slogans.

The above two incidents have been mentioned to bring home the point that what happened in the five villages of Kathy Nangal police station has been happening in many other parts of Punjab, And this incident of August 29 and 30 is not the last one. After this another mass torture case in Hargobind pur area has come up in the press. Such incidents, it is now certain, have the backing of the rulers in Delhi. Otherwise how such barbarian acts could be allowed in a country which prides in calling itself the largest democracy in the world.

Article extracted from this publication >> January 11, 1991