WASHINGTON,DC: U:S. Congressmen including long time Sikh supporters Dan Bunton, Gary Condit and Wally Herger wrote a letter to Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger urging U.S. scrutiny of the Punjab Electoral Process.
The letter to the Secretary of State said “We wish to draw your attention to the upcoming election of Village Councils in Punjab, India which are scheduled for January 15 to January 22,1993. We urge the State Department to pay close attention to this process.
Unlike other elections, several Sikh political parties are participating in these elections. We urge that independent and impartial observers from the U.S., the United Nations, and International Human Rights Organizations be sent to watch these elections. Such actions will help prevent the intimidation of voters as occurred in the February 1992, elections for the state assembly in Punjab.
Intimidation of voters in the February election was widely reported by the Indian newspapers and international human rights organizations. Between March and April of 1992. most village councils and village mayors resigned Lo protest the continuing unrelenting human rights violations in Punjab under the new regime, The Indian government is now attempting to fill the resulting vacancies with their own people. We believe that observers should be sent to Punjab to ensure that Sikhs can freely exercise their right to vote.
We have received many reports that pro-Sikh movement candidates are being intimidated and coerced into withdrawing as candidates. Some candidates have been arrested by the police and detained at undisclosed locations. This has happened in previous elections. In 1991, one of the candidates for state assembly, Avtar Singh, was tortured to death by the Punjab police.
Once again, we urge that outside observers be sent to prevent human and civil rights violations and to ensure honest and free elections.” signed the Congressman.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 15, 1993
