MR FAZIO, Mr. Speaker, it is time for the Government of India to lift the ban on foreign press access to the Punjab and allow foreign reporters and human rights committees access to the state to provide the world with an objective, fair assessment of the conditions under which the Sikh people now live in Punjab.
Since the Indian Army attacked the “Darbar Sahib”, the holiest place of Sikh worship known as the Golden Temple, in June of 1984, the Sikh community of Punjab has lived under an information blackout Report filtering out of Punjab tell of religious and cultural persecution, of arbitrary arrest and detainment and murder. But those reports conflict sharply with official statements regarding the ‘treatment of Sikhs.
I think there is no one in the body who feels more strongly about the basic validity of the democratic institutions that are the firm foundation of the State of India, but I do believe that it is important for people throughout the world to express their concern about human rights violations When they occur against obvious religious and ethnic minorities in the world. The so called black laws, for example, which have given the military and civilian police nearly unrestricted arrest and detainment authorities since 1984, must be removed. Further all religious and political prisoners should be released, there are 16 million Sikhs in India, Mr. Speaker, most of who reside in the Northern State of Punjab. But Sikhs make up 2 percent of India’s 750 million populations. Sikhs are a hardworking, deeply religious people who contribute a significant amount to India’s economy. For example Sikhs produce 60 percent of the total Indian wheat reserve and 26 percent of the gross national product of India,
A solution must be found. Al) parties, including the Sikhs and the Indian Government, should recommit themselves to restrain and condemn all acts of violence and terrorism wherever they occur. Violence and terrorism have no legitimate role in the settlement of the issues of sectarian, religious and political differences which divide these two great people.
‘The rights of Sikh minority must be protected. And one of the ‘most positive steps that the Hindu majority can take, as a symbol of its commitment to preserving the civil liberties of all the citizens of India, is lift the current information blackout on the Punjab and allow outside journalists and observers into the region to fairly judge the conditions under which the Sikh minority now lives.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 31, 1986
