[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 195 (Friday, December 8, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2329-E2331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
______
HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 7, 1995
Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, as International Human Rights Day
approaches, Indian repression of the Sikh nation continues. Over
150,000 Sikhs have been killed by the regime since 1984. The State
Department reported in its 1994 country report on India that the regime
paid more than 41,000 cash bounties to police officers for killing
Sikhs. One of those Sikhs, Mr. Harpreet Singh, was reported killed in
an encounter with the police 4 years ago. Interestingly enough, the
Associated Press reported that he appeared in court last month to sue
the Indian authorities for wrongful custody. That is quite an
achievement for a dead man.
Unfortunately, cases like Mr. Singh's are typical of the human rights
abuses committed by Indian authorities in Khalistan. A similar case is
that of Sarabjit Singh, a man twice killed. On October 30, 1993. police
brought two bodies to a hospital for an autopsy, claiming that they had
been killed in an encounter. However, one of the two men, Sarabjit
Singh was indeed alive. While the Doctor called to inform his family
that he was not dead, the police took Mr. Singh away, killed him, and
cremated the body.
These two incidents, plus the many others which my colleagues and I
have placed in the Congressional Record are only the tip of the
iceberg. These brutal acts of tyranny and terrorism must be stopped.
American support for an end to these atrocities and for the right for
the Sikhs to live in peace is crucial. I commend the Council of
Khalistan for its tireless work to ensure that the plight of these
people is not forgotten. It is time for our Government to join in this
effort. With the many human rights causes this great Nation fights for,
surely we can raise our voice for the people of Khalistan as well.
India is the third-largest recipient of United States aid. It is time
for the United States to tell the Indian Government that there will be
no more aid until the repression of minority nations has ended. Not
until the repression of the Sikhs and other minorities begins to hurt
the regime will the suffering end and the glow of freedom shine
throughout the subcontinent.
I am introducing an article from the November 2 issue of the New York
Post on the case of Harpreet Singh into the Record as reference for
this atrocity.
[From the New York Post, Nov. 2, 1995]
Dead Man Resurrected in Court
New Delhi, India.--A Sikh man who police claimed was killed
in a gun battle four years ago appeared in court yesterday to
sue authorities for wrongful custody, his lawyer said.
The case of Harpreet Singh highlights irregularities
allegedly committed by police in Punjab state during their
campaign to crush a decade-long uprising for a separate Sikh
homeland.
Human rights groups say thousands of civilians were accused
of being militants, illegally detained, and sometimes killed.
[[Page E 2330]]
INDIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
______
HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 7, 1995
Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, this coming Monday, Dec. 10, has been
declared by the United Nations as International Human Rights Day. It is
a day on which we note the basic rights of all people and speak out
against the violations of these most basic rights.
We are all aware of the deplorable human rights situation arising
from the war in Bosnia. We hope that the Dayton accords will finally
put an end to these brutal acts. The ongoing violations of human rights
in Haiti continue to draw our attention. We are also aware of the
executions of nine political activists in Nigeria, which friends of
human rights condemn. Today I would like to address human rights
violations in India, the country which bills itself as ``the world's
largest democracy.''
Let me cite just a few examples. On Sept. 6, Sardar Jaswant Singh
Khalra, the general secretary of the human rights wing of the Shiromani
Akali Dal, a Sikh political party, was kidnapped from his Amritsar home
by local police. He had put out a report in which he proved that the
Indian regime had kidnapped more than 25,000 young Sikh men, tortured
and murdered them, then covered up police responsibility for their
deaths by declaring their bodies ``unidentified'' and cremating them.
Unfortunately, this reprehensible practice is just a part of the
ongoing Indian oppression of the Sikh. In all, more than 150,000 Sikhs
have been killed by the Indian regime since 1984. The Indian regime has
also killed over 43,000 Muslims in Kashmir and over 200,000 Christians
in Nagaland. Christian Nagaland is a restricted area--no one is allowed
to travel there without a special permit. No one is punished for it. In
fact, the State Department's 1994 country report on India states that
the regime paid out more than 41,000 cash bounties to police officers
for killing Sikhs between 1991 and 1993. One of those Sikhs was a man
named Harpreet Singh, who came to court last month to sue the regime
for illegally imprisoning him. Harpreet Singh was allegedly killed in
1991. Apparently a police officer collected a bonus from the Indian
regime for killing an innocent person in Harpreet Singh's place.
Half a million Indian troops currently occupy Punjab, with another
500,000 in neighboring Kashmir. At no time during their rule did the
British station 500,000 troops in all of the subcontinent. Recently,
the government called off scheduled elections in Kashmir after
attacking its most venerated mosque last year in an incident strongly
reminiscent of the June 1984 attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar,
the Sikhs' holiest shrine. The regime has denied passports to Dalit
(``black untouchable'') leader V.T. Rajshekar and Sikh political leader
Simranjit Singh Mann. Earlier this year, a 5-year-old Dalit girl named
Dhanam was blinded by her teacher for the social sin of trying to take
a drink of water from the community pitcher. Does this look like the
face of a democracy which respects human rights?
The Indian rulers cannot escape the simple truth that human rights
apply in their country too, whether they like it or not. It is time for
India to begin respecting human rights. To observe International Human
Rights Day, I call on the Indian regime to release Jaswant Singh Khalra
immediately, to respect the political rights of the Sikhs of Khalistan,
the Muslims of Kashmir, the Assamese, Nagas, Dalits, and others living
under the boot of Indian oppression; to drop all charges against Mr.
Mann and allow him and Mr. Rajshekar to have their passports; and to
release over 70,000 Sikh political prisoners held without charges under
the brutal so-called Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act [TADA]
despite the fact that this act expired months ago. These measures would
begin to re-establish India's reputation as a democratic nation. Until
then, all U.S. aid to India should be cut off and our Government should
place trade sanctions on India. These steps would make it clear to the
Indian regime that the United States takes human rights seriously and
it is time that India did so as well.
I am introducing Iqbal Masud's article from The Pioneer entitled
``The Bogus Peace of Beant and Gill'' which shows that India's claim of
peace in Khalistan is a fraud.
[From the Pioneer, Nov. 4, 1995]
The Bogus Peace of Beant and Gill
(By Iqbal Masud)
Amnesty International believes that the Punjab Police have
been allowed to commit human rights violations with impunity
in the State. While the organisation recognises that the
Indian Government has had to face ruthless and violent
opposition in Punjab, it is totally unacceptable for
Government agents to resort to human rights violations
themselves in their fight against these groups. The UN
Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance makes clear that ``no circumstances whatsoever,
whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political
instability or any other public emergency may be invoked to
justify enforced disappearances''. (Conclusion to Amnesty
Report, ``Determining the fate of the `disappeared in Punjab'
'', October 1995.)
The fate of Amnesty reports in India is over-familiar.
Either hostile tearing apart by Subhash Kirpekar in The Times
of India or contemptuous dismissal in The Economic Times. The
second has happened but not the first up to the moment of
writing (October 25) with regard to this report. But I would
find it difficult to dismiss this report because it is
effectively factual. It gives dates, it names the victims and
perpetrators and, most important, it quotes Supreme Court and
High Court judgements in specific cases--judgements which
have been ignored by the police. The only result has been a
complaint by Mr. KPS Gill to the Punjab Government that such
judgements are demoralising.
I will analyse this report presently. But in its totality I
find it a damning indictment whose importance goes beyond
human rights. It has become a political document without
remotely intending to be. It shows how the Pax Beant-Gilliana
was ``purchased'' during 1993-95. Tacitup said of the Roman
conquests: ``They make a desert and call it peace.'' The
Beant-Gill duo committed mass incarceration and disappearance
and called it ``normalcy''.
The question arises: Why was this nightmare charted by
current reportage and Supreme Court and High Court judgements
not apparent to the rest of the nation? Why did Khushwant
Singh and other eminent columnists make Mr. Gill into an all-
time hero and Beant Singh into a saviour of the nation? True,
disquieting hints that all was not well in Mr. Gill's raj
were all the time appearing in the Press. But actually Mr.
Gill's night attacks against the militants over-shadowed
everything else. Mr. Gill was proposed to be sent to North-
East, to J&K and every place which troubled the Indian middle
class law and order ethos. One development of the 1990s is
that the middle class has become brutalised. Witness the joy
with which Amnesty reports are pilloried for the least
discrepancy.
the courts' comments
Let us look into some of the specifics of the current
report. The first is the phenomenon of ``unclaimed bodies''
cremated by the police. A particularly horrible instance is
that of Sarab-jit Singh. On October 30, 1993, the police from
Valhotra brought two unclaimed bodies to the hospital for
autopsy. One of them was still found to be alive--Sarabjit
Singh. The doctor called his family but meanwhile the police
took Sarabjit away. A few hours later his body was brought
back and cremated without his family being allowed to see it.
When I read that I said, Welcome to Super Nazi State.
A former Black Cat Commando filed a petition in the Punjab
HC alleging the police had killed people in fake encounters
and cremated their bodies without due procedure.
The most important sector of the report concerns SC's and
HC's critiques of the Punjab Police. It will be difficult for
our media to reject this portion of the report. Of course,
one has read about critical judgements of the courts, but
this is the first time they have been brought together in
this damning fashion. In May 1995 the SC commented about a
habeas corpus petition filed in 1991 about the disappearance
of seven members of a family. ``It is a serious matter,
people are being killed, their whereabouts and their dead
bodies are not known. No doubt we will ensure that the law is
maintained and its majesty upheld. But what about the
people who are being eliminated . . . and who will be
accountable for that?''
In another case the SC recommended prosecution of senior
police officers on charges of murder on the basis of a CBI
report that an entire family had been killed in custody. They
rejected Mr. Gill's plea that he had not been informed of the
murders. They chided the solicitor-general who defended the
officers on the ground that no judge in Punjab had the guts
to refuse bail to the accused: ``You are asking for
commendation to eliminate persons. It's a most blatant thing
I have heard from you.''
a serious document
The cases in which action was taken by the HC reveals an
equally alarming picture. Three instances will serve as
illustrations.
In May 1995, three persons--all in their 70s--Ranjit Kaur,
Niranjan Singh and Mohinder Singh, found in police custody,
were ordered to be released by the HC. They had been detained
since 1992 to procure surrender of suspects. In July 1994 and
enquiry ordered by the HC found the police guilty of
murdering Maninder Singh Dalli in a fake encounter. The HC
ordered proceedings for murder under IPC against the police
and ordered compensation to be paid to parents of Dalli.
In September 1995, the HC passed orders in a particularly
awful case. One Vinod Kumar, his brother-in-law, and driver,
had ``disappeared'' in March 1994, when accompanied by a DSP.
Vinod Kumar had gone to collect the ashes of his father. The
CBI suggested four officers were involved. The HC ordered
pursuance of criminal proceedings and payment of substantial
compensation.
The response of the police to this barrage of judicial
censors is fascinating and throws light on future police
tactics all over India to meet ``human rights'' criticism. It
is a mix of administrative trickery and the familiar to
middle class insecurity vis-a-vis
[[Page E 2331]]
terrorism. The HC premises are riddled with police spies. The moment an
order is issued to release a detenu, the police agent sends
an advance police official to shift the detenu elsewhere, Mr.
SB Chavan and the Human Rights Commission have repeatedly
asked the Punjab Government to check allegations of
``disappearances''. The only police response has been to ask
the Government that the flow of judicial criticism is checked
as it is demoralizing the police. There is a proposal to
enact an ``extraordinary law'' to bar judicial
``interference'' with anti-terrorist tactics of the police
for a limited period of time.
The Amnesty has made recommendations for correcting all
this. Of course, this is just ignorable counsel for the Brar
Government and Mr. KPS Gill. But the report is a serious
document for the Government to ponder over.
Basically the report is a political document which contains
a dire warning though Amnesty did not intend it to be so. The
Government can ignore the implications of this report only at
great cost to the people of Punjab and to human rights
situation in the rest of India.