Justice Sikri’s regret

“As a result a crafty statesmanship of certain Indian politicians, the Sikhs and Punjab were embroiled in a holocaust of racial nature aimed at destruction of Sikh proms. The result was the operation “Blue Star”. Mopping-up operation “Wood rose “November 1984, Sikh massacre and false encounters. It was most unfortunate that most of these inhuman acts were committed with the aid of laws, rules and proclamations made by the brutal majority in the Indian Parliament.

The rule of law, a basic necessity of the Society, was done away with, in Punjab and for the Sikhs.

“And it should be plainly admitted that the Sikh community in India has been alienated. Justice S.M. Sikh, former Chief Justice of India, who headed the public enquiry commission on the November 1984 Sikh carnage in the wake of assassination of Indira Gandhi, concluded in his report saying “if the Sikhs, the valiant guardians of our Western marches, who have fully contributed to the independence of our country and to its process and prosperity, feel injured or alienated, it weakens the very fabric of our society and vitality of our nation.

“Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees that no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. The Supreme Court of India has further held that even amidst the clash of arms the laws (of life and liberty) shall not be terrorized into silence

“Justice is what justice does, and a prosecutor (the police) cannot become a judge, are two of the world’s fundamentals of the legal jurisprudence. So the police cannot take away the life of any person, howsoever dreaded he may be, without the “due process of law”. It cannot be allowed in a civilized country that the law enforcing agencies may short cut the legal process and let the security forces become the summary executioners.

Punjab-a political problem

“We hope that human right groups and outside India will take up these issues with the Indian Government and use their good offices in solving the Punjab problem which is essentially a political problem and not a law and order problem, as is being claimed by the Indian government. I, therefore, approach this forum with the hope that you will raise your voice against state Terrorism in Punjab al all the appropriate forums including Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG)”.

The British Parliament group of MPs assured the PHRO that they would take the issue of human rights violations in Punjab, both with the Government of India and in the British Parliament.

Earlier, D.S. Gill met Anthony Colombes, the secretary of Parliamentary Human Rights Group in this regard. Other MPs, whom he met separately at different times, included Terry Dicks, John Watts, Jacob Arnold, Patrick Ground, Sydney Bidwell, Sir Gelard Vaughan, Patrick Wall, John Hughes and David Nellist.

The PHRO activist also addressed a number of conventions and meetings, organized by local groups and attended by several European parliamentarians.

there emerged a movement of lobbying r human rights among the Sikhs in U.K. they Started influencing members of the European Parliament (M.E.P.s): and embers of the British Parliament (M-P.s) distributing PHRO literature reprinted its London office which included books like “The Fascist Offensive in Punjab, The Rape of Punjab. An Indian Torture hamber-Ladha Kothi, I Swear a collection of 20 affidavits on violation of human rights, and Sikhs and Human rights.

It was due to the local lobbying by certain Sikh organizations and human rights activists that a joint team of European and British parliamentarians comprising Rihard Balfe (M.E.P.), Max Madden (M.P.) and John Taylor (C.M.G.) came to Punjab on a fact finding mission in 1990.

The UK M.P. speaks out

On findings of the mission the British AP. (Bradford, West) Max Madden, on March 22, 1990 reported to the Parliament saying “I am pleased to introduce a short debate on relations between Her Majesty’s government and India, the first such debate in the House for some considerable time. I have recently returned from a brief visit to India and I thank the authorities, especially the governor of Punjab, for their assistance and cooperation, and a range of human rights organizations and their brave and dedicated members for their help and support during my visit.

“My main purpose was to investigate human rights in the Punjab. With the intractable problem of Northern Ireland much in my mind, I realize that no British in India can feel superior when discussing human rights in the Punjab, where the forces of Law and order are pitched against

Militants .I talked to police officers in the Punjab who, like security officers in

Northern Ireland, told me that many of the militants were gangsters who preyed on Sikhs and Hindus for money and power. Few, they argued, were motivated by dreams of an independent Khalistan.

“I talked to human rights organization in the Punjab who, like their counterparts in Northern Ireland, told me that state violence and repression had alienated many in the Punjab, Sikh and Hindu, and had provoked widespread violence and terror. Both sides claimed, rightly lam sure, that all ordinary people in the Punjab, Sikh and non-Sikh, are sickened by violence and want an end to it. I talked to scores of those ordinary people and their stories were deeply disturbing.

The vivid memories of torture

“I shall never forget the Sikh father whose 14-yr-old daughter was raped and drowned by a police officer. The father was brutally beaten by police three times over two days. He was seeking the return of his daughter’s body for cremation. He was warned that if he did not stop complaining, what had happened to his 14-yr-old daughter would happen to his 7-yr-old daughter. The father is refusing to wear shoes until he gets justice (The Rape of Punjab pp. 21-23).

“I shall not forget the young Sikh who was shot as a terrorist after he stood with his arms above his head in a field for five minutes. The police later admitted that they had made a mistake. Senior police officers saluted at the young man’s cremation. His family is still waiting for the compensation that it was promised.

“I shall not forget the relatives of the young man who was shot while marching in a Sikh religious festival. Again, the police admitted a mistake; His brother has been warned off pressing for police officers to be punished.

I shall not forget the 500 prisoners in the Amritsar security prison who lined up in the sun to meet me and my team. Each one was holding his record papers. There were more than 300 held on petty offences without bail. The youngest was a boy of 14 and a half who had been held in that prison of eight months without trial.

“There were mothers and daughters who talked about their husbands and brothers, who had been abducted by the police months and even years ago. There were men and women who showed us bruises, scars, woken arms and broken legs that were the result of police interrogation. I shall never forget the men and women who complained if systematic police harassment, with regular house searches, property smashed goods and money stolen, and threats of extortion of money to avoid imprisonment. “There is no doubt that Operation Bluestar, his Army code name for the attack on the golden Temple in 1984, will never be forgotten or forgiven by most Sikhs. It defiled their holiest place and strengthened he view of many of them that the Indian government had embarked upon a delicate policy of eradicating Sikhs, who form just 2% of India’s population. Such feelings were intensified by the massacre of 5,000 Sikhs in Delhi hours after the assassination of Indira Gandhi and of many Sikhs in other parts of India.

“In Delhi I visited some of the 1,200 widows struggling to bring up their families alone. One woman cried bitterly as she showed me the photographs of her dead husband and sons. She lost 18 relatives to the murderous mobs. From the window of a two-roomed tenement, home to a family of six, I looked down across a mud hut village which is home to 1,000 families who fled cast Delhi to find relative safety with other Sikhs in west Delhi. With the monsoons this mud village becomes a sea of mud, with the summer heat a stinking cesspit. There are no drains, water supply or electricity; there are typhoid and cholera. The new governor of Delhi has promised these people a plot of land nearby where they can build decent homes. They hope that this promise will be kept and that the bulldozers will not return.

The deliberation behind crimes

“None of these people, the victims of murderous communalism, believe that what happened was spontaneous. The mobs were organized. They were led. The plan was to kill as many male Sikhs as possible, including boys and even babies.

“If there is uncertainty about the future of the Punjab, there is great anxiety about the future of Kashmir. During my visit to Kashmir there were many reports of mass protests involving anything up to | million people, with deaths, injuries and many more soldiers being deployed. It is now believed that between 200,000 and 300,000 security forces are deployed in Kashmir and more are on the way. A permanent curfew has been in place for the past nine weeks.

“Many argue that the people of Kashmir should be given a referendum in which they could vote freely and fairly for their future. There appear to be three options for them to remain part of India, for them to join Pakistan or, the option that has been gaining support, for Kashmir valley to join Azad Kashmir and parts of Jammu, to become a new independent state, “During my visit, a prominent Kashmiri business man who favored the third option said:

“We could become the Switzerland of Asia, with tourism and the careful development of our natural resources. The borders could be guaranteed internationally, safeguarded by the United Nations. A state of 10 million people, we could become a tranquil, prosperous buffer between India and Pakistan”.

Free access to tortured areas

“The Indian Government is making a serious mistake by alleging that there are those outside Kashmir and outside India who are instigating violence and disorder in Kashmir. In making those charges, the Indian Government’s credibility is seriously undermined so long as they refuse permission to foreigners to visit Kashmir and 60 long as they stop the world’s media reporting what is happening in Kashmir.

“I hope that India’s new Prime Minister will quickly see the difficulties that his Government will face if they continue that policy. I hope that he will allow visitors and the free reporting of what is happening in Kashmir. I hope the Indian Government will agree to a request that I made informally today to the Indian High commission for a parliamentary delegation from the House to be allowed to visit Kashmir shortly. I welcome the visit that is to be made to Kashmir next month by my right honorable friend, the Member of Manchester Gorton (Mr. Kaufman).

“Some 56 British Members of Parliament, representing all political parties and from all parts of the United Kingdom, have now signed and supported motions on the Order Paper calling for the people of Kashmir to be allowed to determine their own destiny.

“At this time in Kashmir there are severe shortages of food and water. There are drastic evacuations of non-Muslims from Kashmir. The authorities are transferring large number of pensioners from Kashmir to the much hotter climate of Rajasthan, and there are worrying reports that death squads are being formed and trained. As I said earlier, there are reports of substantial extra troop deployments to Kashmir. “There can be no doubt that what has happened in the Punjab since 1984 scars the reputation of India, the world’s largest democracy, and that the popular uprising in Kashmir threatens peace in the region.

All true friends of India we are all well aware of the deep affection and regard that you, Speaker, have for that country which is shared by many honorable Members wish every good fortune to Singh and his Government in resolving the vexed and dangerous issues that threaten the future of his Government and, more important, the future and well-being of all the people of all religions of India.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 25, 1991