It is an honour to be asked to write the foreword to the first publication by the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (P.H.R.O) in this country. It is an impressive document which builds on the violations of human rights in the Punjab detailed in Amnesty International’s report on the Punjab dated August 1988. It provides a lamentable catalogue of the atrocities being committed by the government of a country which prides itself on being the largest democracy in the world. Those of us who have an intimate association with the Punjab know only too well that as the Indian authorities fail to contain the militant elements in the Sikh community, they are resorting to state terrorism of the worst kind to suppress a brave community and its just aspirations. Evidence is emerging that it is the state and not the militants which resorts to the gun, not in any attempt to find a political solution to the Punjab problem, but to fan the flames of communalism for electoral advantage in the coming general election.
In the so-called free world, the whole area of human rights has in recent times become completely politicized. It is now all about spheres of influence. Recently a very senior officer in the United States Foreign Affairs Ministry Said that the United States is only interested in human rights if these involve violations of such rights by the Soviet bloc countries. In the post-second world war years the USA has supported state terrorism by the late Shah of Iran in Iran, by General Somoza in Nicaragua and by ex-President Marcos in the Philippines. Britain for its part turns a blind eye to human rights violations by “friendly” countries and positively condones them. For political advantage it is prepared to know tow to regimes in countries like India, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria which have disgusting records on human rights and which are the leading exponents of state terrorism. Mrs Thatcher’s recent visits to Poland and Hungary and her expressed concern for the human rights of the Poles and the Hungarians are touching examples of the hypocrisy, double standards and sham which now predominate the whole area of human rights. To cap it all, just last week we had Sir Geoffrey Howe’s meeting in London with Mr. Bassam Abu Shariff a top representative of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. In the world of international diplomacy and international politics the argument about human rights in any country always resolves around political expediency and trade contracts with human beings being used as barters or bargaining counters.
In this climate it is not therefore surprising that Sikhs have lost out entirely in the propaganda war which the Government of India is waging relentlessly as a cover up for its dastardly record on human rights and to malign a brave community. In Britain the Indian authorities have achieved a complete victory over the Sikhs with victims being presented as the aggressors and the Indian authorities being cast in the role of angels. This has been made possible in no small measure by the reluctance of British parliamentarians, the Government Ministers and the British press to speak out honestly and dispassionately on the calamity that has befallen the Sikh community. On this vexed subject there is indeed a conspiracy of silence between the British and the Indian authorities. It is therefore gratifying that this publication seeks to shed some light on the true magnitude and dimension of the Sikh plight in the Punjab. It appeals to the voice of conscience in the British community by highlighting the Indian authorities’ nefarious design to annihilate Sikh culture, religion, language and the distinctiveness of the Sikh community, all in the name of Indian secularism.
In 213 years since the Declaration of Independence the United States of America has amended its constitution only 12 times. Within the short space of 42 years India has already amended its constitution 64 times. A country’s constitution represents a sacred pact between the rulers and the ruled. Tinkering with India’s constitution in this way raises serious doubts about its sanctity. The 59th Amendment is particularly galling as it gives the Indian government the right to proclaim an emergency in the state of Punjab on the vaguely defined ground of “internal disturbance” which threatens the integrity of India. The Amendment also annuls the right of life and personal liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Indian constitution. This amendment is totally incompatible with India’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. To-day a Sikh in the Punjab and in India has no right to life. The Punjab is a police state where all civil and legal rights have been abrogated and where extra-judicial killings in ‘false police encounters’ are the order of the day.
India has a comprehensive network of legislation to deal with those who threaten its security and integrity. The notorious National Security Act is being used to curb all legitimate opposition and to hold without charge or trial an indefinite number of Sikhs and members of other minority communities whom the government finds unpalatable. The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 1985 and the Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act 1984 are being used indiscriminately to deny fundamental rights and legal safeguards to detainees and defendants. Allegations of torture, deaths in custody and “disappearances” are commonplace. An yet not a single Hindu has been detained under these draconian laws. Is there then one law for the minorities and another for the Hindu majority? Can a Hindu never be a militant, terrorist or secessionist under Indian law? Is the mass murder of Sikhs, rape of Sikh women and pillage of Sikh properties in the post-Indira Gandhi assassination riots and since, to remain forever unpunished under India’s secular laws? Will the international community never speak out against these outrages? For the sake of the Punjab these questions must be answered with the utmost urgency.
HARJIT SINGH, BARRISTER LONDON
President, P.H.R.O; U.K Branch 17 July 1989
