This is a compilation of reports of investigation prepared by teams of the Punjab Human Rights Organization on violation of human rights by the Indian State in the “land of five rivers” i.e. Punjab.
Beginning with the firing on the Sikh Holla Mohalla congregation at Anandpur Sahib (March 26, 1986), the book concludes with the affidavit of an Army Captain Naurang Singh(Retd.) where he has stated how he was picked up by the police , kept in illegal custody, tortured and falsely implicated under the anti-terrorists laws.
The P.H.R.O. does not have to add anything to the reports except for the one regarding the stray firing incident at Ludhiana on March 27, 1986. The conclusion drawn by the authors of the report, is not borne out by the facts subsequently revealed to the P.H.R.O. Secretariat, although the facts are more or less correct. The incident was the direct sequel to the Anandpur Sahib firing by the police. It was the militants’ tit for the Indian State’s tat at Anandpur Sahib. The conclusion drawn in the report is unwarranted and is even otherwise far-fetched, it being a mere conjecture.
It is obvious enough from the reports that the Government of India took the initiative to drive the Sikh militant movement underground; by resorting to indiscriminate, pre-planned firing on the Holla Mohalla congregation; which until March 1986, was being run, to all intents and purposes, in a democratic manner. The Government was evidently scared by the mass action proposed by Bimal Kaur Khalsa to fill up the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal. Implementation of Bimal Kaur Khalsa’s call would have meant an instantaneous death of the Rajiv-Longowal accord together with the Government of India’s clever political manoeuvres in Punjab.
The Dera Baba Nanak youths were eliminated in a fake encounter by the Border Security Force(B.S.F) directly controlled by the Union Government. This fact was subsequently confirmed even by a Cabinet sub-committee set up by the Akali Government led by Surjit Singh Barnala. The incident exposed the so – called Panthic Government as a mere puppet institution
without any authority. The elimination of youths was based evidently on a Central policy of doing away with all those who did not support the Rajiv Longowal accord. Until the Hola Mohalla of 1986 the Sikh youths had not called for “Khalistan”. Nor had they mounted any vampaign involving indiscriminate killings. Thus the call for “Khalistan” came only after before the Holla Mohalla provocation by the Centre.
The P.H.R.O. does not claim to have undertaken an investigation into every case of human rights violation in Punjab. It did not have adequate machinery to do that. Thus hundreds of cases remain to be investigated. In man 4 these cases the violation of human rights is far more brazen than what is reflected in this book.
Not that there have been no genuine militant-police encounters in Punjab. There have been such instances. But in most real encounters, the casualties suffered are by both the parties. In Punjab, the Indian State has been following a policy of systematic elimination of youths after they are picked up from their own homes, their relations’ houses or even from jails. Some are shown to have been killed in “encounters”, a few in “inter-gang warfare’, some as “intruders from Pakistan” and some in “escape bids”. The Sangrur jail killing report is an eye-opener. The killings are most often done after the youths are tortured in numerous torture chambers set up all over Punjab. All this has been continuing since 1982 and not merely since 1984 as is the common belief. But the Sikh struggle continues. It is likely to continue despite occasional ups and downs. The Indian State must realize that its policy of repression is no answer to an essentially political problem in Punjab. CHANDIGARH JUNE 15, 1989 SUKHDEV SINGH Former President P.H.R.O.
