By A. Singh, Boston

Recently some local Sikhs visited Punjab for about 4 weeks and here are some of their observations,

STAGED ENCOUNTERS

During the short time we were there, we believe that no less than 20 militants were executed in staged “fake encounters”. Typically what happens is that the police or paramilitary officials arrest some Sikhs (mostly young males). They then torture them while interrogating them. Then in a few days they are killed and fake “police encounter” in which “dreaded Sikh terrorists” are killed is announced in the press (usually headlines). Some arms and ammunition is planted on the bodies of these men (there was a rumor of one of the “terrorists”, who had just been shot and was presumed to be dead by the police, actually used the ‘weapon planted on him to shoot and wound the police officer). There are never any police causalities in such encounters and the victims are never wounded or captured, but always killed out right.

In the past police used to send telex records of arrests of Sikh militants to their central office in Chandigarh. Recently, some journalists and human rights activists managed to get copies of some of these telex messages and showed that in many cases the reported encounters took place several days AFTER the date of the arrest. So the police now have orders to not make any records of the arrests and report them only verbally over the phone. However, now the families of the arrested Sikhs will immediately go the post office and send a telegram to the Governor recording the date, time and place of the arrest. Some will even contact the local press (the Punjabi papers routinely publish such reported arrests; the English and Hindi papers seldom do). Unfortunately, the police still kills the arrested Sikhs a few days with the same resulting headlines (“Dreaded Sikh terrorist killed in a fierce encounter”) on TV, radio and the English dailies. Except for a few human rights groups there is hardly anyone else who speaks out against or writes about these killings.

UNMARKED POLICE JEEPS

While in Chandigarh and Punjab we saw several unmarked, unregistered (Le, without any registration plates) jeeps carrying several heavily armed men in civilian clothes. We suspect that these may be the Police Killer squads that are now commonly reported to be ‘operating in much of the state. It is rumored that many of the killings attributed to the Sikh militants are actually carried out by such gangs,

A human rights activist told us that she once took a picture of such a jeep, but was made to hand over the film at gunpoint. Nevertheless she was able to video film such a vehicle later,

The Punjabi papers often carried statements of militant leaders denying their involvement in much publicized killing of innocent people. They claim to mainly target the police (especially the ones that are responsible for torture or are known to be corrupt), paramilitary forces, police informers and some politicians and suggest that the government uses the police killer gangs to defame their movement for independence. Indeed many of the police officers, well known for carrying out ghastly tortures, have been assassinated.

 

PUNJAB HUMAN RIGHTS BILL INTRODUCED IN THE U.S. CONGRESS:

As most of you are probably aware, a bill to deny “Most Favored Nation Status” (MFNS) to India for trade purpose (unless the Indian Government takes specific steps to respect human rights in Punjab) was introduced by Congressman Wally Herger. Within a week of the introduction, Rajiv’s government released the 186 remaining Sikh Jodhpur detainees (held since June 1984 without charges or trial. About 80 were immediately rearrested though) and opened parts of Punjab to foreign visitors (kept out since June 1984), The government, however, refused to allow international Human Rights groups (like Amnesty International or Asia Watch) access to the state for independent verification.

Despite the denial of the Indian authorities, it was interesting to note that the introduction of the bill has already had some of the desired effects (contrary to vehement denials by the Indian authorities). It would be wise for the US Congressmen to continue the pressure (without of course, being too intrusive). It is extremely important that the Indian government allow Amnesty International to independently verify the situation in Punjab and if it finds that there are no human rights abuses there, then let the bill be withdrawn. We do not understand why the Indian authorities do not want Amnesty International to have access to Punjab when it itself conveniently quotes reporters when condemning other governments (most notably South Africa) for human rights violations in their ‘countries.

MEDIA IN INDIA

 As many people are aware TV, Radio and the wire services are government owned. The print media, while privately owned, is under tremendous pressure of the authorities (through control of quotas of print material and allocation of government advertisement money). Some of the newspapers, though, do write antigovernment material and are usually harassed for it.

During our trip we conducted a small experiment to gauge the English print media, We scanned several English papers to evaluate their “slant” on different subjects. We found them to be reasonably “independent” in most areas, but quite in unison on certain subjects. The news on Punjab was IDENTICAL in all papers (except for slightly differing headlines). The “slant” on stories relating to events in Sri Lanka and Nepal (two current “national security” issues), were generally quite similar (pro government) in all the papers. There was another interesting phenomenon we noticed about the reporting on Punjab (and about Sikhs in particular). Government propaganda has made the average Indian so antiSikh that they swa low all the propaganda directed against the Sikhs quite easily. Even though with the passage of time, many of these planted stories are disproved, they never question any of the new stories being put out by the same sources. For example, the 400 Sikhs arrested during the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple were initially made out to be “dangerous”, hardcore terrorists” and imprisoned in a distant jail in Jodhpur. Now, 4 % years later, it is well known (and widely accepted) that they were mostly innocent pilgrims who were at the Golden Temple for a Gurpurab (holy day) celebration. Yet, not many people in India even question the reports on the “dangerous, hardcore terrorists” in Punjab today.

RELEASE OF THE SIKH DETAINEES (FROM JODHPUR)

The Indian government is projecting the release as a “conciliatory” gesture on Rajiv Gandhi’s part. However most Sikhs feel that the key question that needs to be answered is why were they arrested in the first place and then kept in jail for this long, without a trial (there have been stories of ill treatment and torture as well). Some are even demanding compensation for their illegal detention. Also the fact that about 80 of them were rearrested immediately after their release further makes them believe that the government is just playing a game (trying to stall the trade restriction bill introduced by the US Congressman).

THAKKAR COMMIS SION REPORT

 While we were in India, there was a lot of uproar in the Indian parliament about the publication of parts of the secret inquiry report (on the investigation of Indira Gandhi’s assassination) in the Indian Express newspaper. The report suggested that Indira Gandhi’s own secretary, RK Dhawan may have been involved in the conspiracy. Even though the inquiry was commissioned by the parliament the resulting report was. kept secret from it be enacting special legislation. It was also kept from the President, the Supreme Court and the lawyers of the alleged assassins. There was enough pressure applied by the opposition that Rajiv was forced to agree to table the report in the parliament. The controversy died down after selected parts of the report were made public about 10 days later. The Sikhs ask why the opposition parties did not ask for the report to be made available to the courts before the two alleged assassins (both Sikhs) were executed. They feel that this shows the opposition to be antiSikh in that they are more concerned about minor political advantages than a “fair” trial for the two Sikhs.

 REPORT ON STATE TERRORISM IN PUNJAB

A report on state terrorism in Punjab was released by the Committee for Information’ and Initiative on Punjab (comprised of all nonSikhs). We also learnt that Tappan Bose, an internationally acclaimed filmmaker had made a film on the Punjab situation. We were told that members of his film crew were harassed and beaten and the authorities are trying to stop the release which is expected quite soon.

SIMRANJEET SINGH MANN

Recently, the authorities have involved S.S Mann, Profs. Daljit Singh and Jagmohan Singh in the Indira Gandhi assassination case. S.S. Mann was a high ranking Sikh police officer who resigned after the attack on the Golden Temple. He went underground when he felt his life was in danger. He was arrested 6 months later while crossing over the border to Nepal. He has been in solitary confinement in a distant state for over 4 years and there are reports that he has been tortured. Profs. Daljit Singh and Jagmohan Singh are Sikh academicians from Bombay who were arrested for criticizing the governments handling of the Punjab situation. They were released a few months ago but have now been rearrested. Some pertinent questions that need to be asked;

— Why were Satwant and Kehar Singh executed before the investigation was complete?

— Why did it take the government over 4 % years before it filed charges against S.S. Mann (he has been in custody for over 4 years)/ — If the authorities were so sure of his involvement why were government emissaries making secret trips to strike political deals with him in jail (widely reported)?

— How come there is no mention of his (and the Prof’s) involvement in the Thakkar inquiry report?

When the two professors were being transported to New Delhi one of them shouted to a reporter “it took six million Jews .. How many Sikhs will it take before the world realizes what is being done to them?” Most English dailies did not include this statement of his in their reporting. Political pundits are predicting that Rajiy Gandhi is ‘going to use his mother’s assassination (and the associated antiSikh hysteria) to improve his worsening chances of reelection in the upcoming polls.

GENERAL RUMORS (Unconfirmed)

Contrary to the push to indigenous, the Indian government has contracted Soviet passenger aircraft (with crew and fuel) for that this may be the “escape hatch” (to flee the country) for Rajiv and his henchmen and their families if the Congress (I) were to lose the ‘upcoming national elections.

‘There were strong rumors that the Indian government had sent several pilots and military advisers to help shore up the Najibullah government in Afghanistan. There ‘were unconfirmed reports that an Indian pilot had been shot down and captured by the Mujahedin,

There were rumors that the two Gurdwaras in Jalalabad were actually bombed (resulting in heavy causalities) by the Afghanistan government planes. This was ostensibly done to cause a rift between the Mujahedin and the Sikh militants.

The reason why Congressman Dymally is so blatantly pro India is that the Indians are rumored to have some information on his liaisons with Pamela Bordes (who has been involved in well publicized sex scandals in Britain).

There are rumors that the Indian authorities are first going to foment trouble (terrorist, secessionist violence) in Punjab, Kashmir and Assam and then use it to win the upcoming elections. (Some of this prophecy seems to be already begun to be played out; recent killings of RSS workers in Moga, the Delhi Railway Station bomb blast, the Assam railway station bomb blast and the recent escalation of violence in Kashmir). The stepped up violence is to create a feeling amongst the voters that the country is about to break up and the only party that can save it is the Congress (I).

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 14, 1989