[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2118-E2120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SIKH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST CALLS PUNJAB A POLICE STATE (PEOPLE'S
COMMISSION MUST BE SUPPORTED)
______
HON. DAN BURTON
of indiana
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, October 13, 1998
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, many of us have spoken out over
the years about the ongoing human-rights violations by the Indian
government in Punjab. I have recently come into possession of a very
interesting document on that subject. Thanks to Dr. Gurmit Singh
Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, I have seen a letter
written by Professor Jagmohan Singh, General Secretary of the Akali Dal
(Amritsar), in which he declares that Punjab is still a police state,
even under the Akali-BJP government of Chief Minister Badal.
``Human rights abuse in Punjab in the last decade and a half has
shattered the lives of a number of individuals and their families,''
Professor Singh wrote. ``Effectively, Punjab has been administered as a
police state,'' he added. ``No fresh legal or political initiative has
been taken to reinforce rule of law and protect the most endangered
primary fundamental right--the right to life.''
Jagmohan Singh writes that five false cases are still pending against
longtime Sikh activist Simranjit Singh Mann, a political opponent of
the Badal government. His is just one prominent case among many. Tens
of thousands of Sikhs remain in Indian jails; with no charges pending
against them. Alarmingly, some of them have been rotting in jail since
1984! Human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who exposed the
Indian government's brutal policy of mass cremations of Sikhs, was
killed in custody by the police, according to a police witness. Jaspal
Singh Dhillon, another prominent human-rights activist, was picked up
by the police on a false charge as recently as July of this year. And
if that wasn't enough, the police even picked up his attorney! Mr.
Speaker, the judicial system in Punjab is a joke, no one is given an
ounce of justice.
Jagmohan Singh points out that no action has been taken to punish the
police who have committed these atrocities against the Sikhs. In fact,
the Badal government even boasts that it has taken no action against
these police officers. More than 150 atrocities have been documented
since the Akali government took power in Punjab in February of 1997.
Professor Singh cites 15 separate ways in which human rights are
violated in Punjab. Mr. Speaker, allow me to list just a few of these
horrible and inhumane acts that police commit upon the innocent people
of Punjab. Professor Singh has included, among other despicable acts,
the promotion of police officers based upon the number of Sikh youth
they have killed; bounties offered for the murder of particular
individual Sikhs; forces occupation of public places, including houses
of worship, like the Golden Temple in Amritsar; extrajudicial killings
of political workers, relatives of political leaders and activists; and
the planting of illegal weapons and explosives on unsuspecting people
who are then labeled as ``militants'' or ``terrorists.''
Jagmohan Singh strongly defends the work of the People's Commission
in exposing the tyranny of the Punjab police, and supports its
continuation. The Commission has come under vigorous attack from the
Punjab government, which is desperately trying to interfere in its
mission and close it down. The Commission issued 90 citations against
police officers and has taken on 3,000 more cases. Now the government
has gone to court to stop the People's Commission. I agree with
Professor Singh that the Commission's work must continue so that police
atrocities can be exposed, and will cease to be covered up by India's
political sponsors.
Mr. Speaker, Professor Jagmohan Singh's letter is a chilling
description of the ongoing police state in Punjab. I am placing it into
the Record, and I recommend to my colleagues that they read it
carefully.
Jagmohan Singh, General Secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal
(Amritsar),
Rahon Road, Ludhiana, September 24, 1998.
Rtd. Justice V. K. Khanna,
Chairperson, Panjab State Human Rights Commission, Kendriya
Sadan, Sector 9A, Chandigarh.
Dear Justice Khanna: Is Panjab still a police state?
Human rights abuse in Panjab in the last decade and a half
has shattered the lives of a number of individuals and their
families. Effectively, Panjab has been administered as a
police state. The situation did not change even after the
election of Beant Singh's Congress government in 1992 and
diminution of alleged extremist activities. The people of
Panjab expected that the political and human rights
environment would change with the election of the Akali Dal
Badal-BJP government in February 1997.
Panjab, however, continues to be a police state. The
Panjabis now realize that all along they were chasing a
mirage. For the last 18 months, the Badal-BJP government has
taken no steps to undo the wrongs perpetuated during the last
decade. No fresh legal or political initiative has been taken
to reinforce rule of law and protect the most endangered
primary fundamental right--the right to life.
Let us examine the scenario in present day Panjab:
1. Release of Detenues: No political detenue, including
those who have been languishing for more than 8-10 years
without trial or protracted trial, has been released from the
jails of Panjab. Their cases have not been reviewed. No
attempt has been made to bring back detenues from Panjab
languishing in the jails of Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Gujarat. There are five false cases still
pending against party president, Simranjit Singh Mann.
2. Trial of Police Officers: No attempt has been made to
expedite the trial of police and other security force
personnel against whom cases of human rights abuse are
pending in various courts, including cases in the Panjab and
Haryana Court and the Supreme Court. Actually, the
prosecution has been delayed under one pretext or the other.
3. Speedy Trial of the Guilty: To ensure speedy trial, it
was necessary to constitute a Tribunal with instructions to
conduct day to day proceedings to try the guilty police
officers, bureaucrats and politicians responsible for
executing and directing crimes against humanity. Despite the
poll promise to do so, the present government has failed to
take any initiative in this direction.
[[Page E2119]]
4. Suspension or Dismissal of Police Officers: No police
officer or bureaucrat, at various levels in the hierarchy,
responsible for formulating policies and strategies for
harassment, torture, illegal detention and extrajudicial
murder of Sikh youth, in total violation of rule of law, has
been suspended or dismissed by the state government. No
enquiry has been constituted to expose and identify the
conspiracy of the police, the high-ranking bureaucrats and
the politicians in Delhi. No step has been taken in the case
of the involuntary disappearance of human rights activist
Jaswant Singh Khalra. The report of the police inquiry in
the extrajudicial murder of former Jathedar of Sri Akal
Takht Sahib, Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaunke has not been
released. Human rights and political activists have
documented the involuntary disappearance of Jathedar
Kaonke at the hands of the then Senior Superintendent of
Police of Jagraon police district and his officers in
January 1993. No attempt has been made to order enquiries
about gross abuses in all districts of Panjab to unearth
cases as have been detected in the ``cremation of
unclaimed bodies case'' in Amritsar district.
5. Unlawful Promotion of Police Officers: A large number of
police officers, who had been promoted on the basis of the
number of Sikh youth killed by them, have not been reverted
to their original positions or ranks. To rub salt on our
wounds, police officers like SSP lqbal Singh, who has a
consistent track record of lawlessness and maltreatment has
been recommended for the President's medal for his
`meritorious' service. We cannot forget that it was SSP lqbal
Singh, then posted in Tarn Taran, who sent a police team
which tortured and extrajudicially murdered Kashmir Singh of
village Pandori Rukman of district Hoshiarpur on March 14-15,
1997. Kashmir Singh was propaganda secretary of the Youth
Wing of our party. Many such officers have been awarded
medals for their genocidal role. On the other hand,
responsible police officers, who have refused to participate
in the genocide of the Sikhs, are still not on active duty.
6. ``Head Count'' of the Sikhs and Rewards From the State
Exchequer: Hundreds of Sikhs have been killed and hundreds of
policemen have become rich with the `head prizes'. With this
unlawful enrichment, police personnel have acquired movable
and immovable properties. The Panjab State Human Rights
Commission should carry out a detailed enquiry into the
Comptroller and Auditor General's Report of the last 15 years
and prepare a report on the `head prizes'. It will also be
befitting to find out the issuance of any more secret orders
or circulars, as the one issued by the then Director General
of Police, K.P.S. Gill on 30 August 1989 to the senior police
officers ordering the liquidation of 53 alleged militants
with price money against each name.
7. Impoundment of Illegal Properties of Police Officers: A
survey of all the illegal properties acquired by police
personnel is a prerequisite for peace in Panjab. This
research will unearth properties not only bought but also
those which were ``just taken over''. Such properties and
moneys should be deposited with the state exchequer. Ill-
gotten wealth has fuelled disrespect for human rights and
further desensitized the police.
8. Police Districts and ``Peace'' in Panjab: Police
districts (Khanna, Jagraon, Majitha, Tarn Taran, Batala and
Barnala) were created on the ground that the law and order
situation require a small command area. However, although the
senior police authorities and the Badal-BJP government claim
that ``peace has descended on Panjab'', the police districts
have not been dismantled. De facto, the police administration
has become so top heavy that senior police officers,
including Senior Superintendents of Police of various
districts and the Director General of Police, Mr. P.C. Dogra
ingratiate a pliable section of the media in Panjab, without
fear of their political masters in Panjab and in active
connivance with their political masters in Delhi, to
perpetuate the hegemony of the police in Panjab. The state
government or the Panjab State Human Rights Commission has
failed to monitor the contradictory claims of the Panjab
police chief. The State Commission should procure data
regarding the cost of the exchequer of these police districts
and recommend the winding of the same.
9. Occupation of Public Places by Police Administration: A
large number of public places, including parks, private
houses, in villages and cities, have been forcibly occupied
and converted into police stations, police posts and
torture centers. In spite of public protests, the Badal-
BJP government has failed to direct the police authorities
to vacate these places.
10. Extrajudicial Acts of the Police: In the last 18
months, a number of political workers, relatives of political
leaders and activists, (Kashmir Singh of Shiromani Akali Dal
(Amritsar), Vijayinder Singh- a nephew of party leader
Simranjit Singh Mann, Avtar Singh Karimpuri, General
Secretary of Bahujan Samaj Party), human rights activists
(Jaspal Singh Dhillon) witnesses in human rights abuse cases
(Rajiv Randhawa, Kirpal Singh) and a multitude of alleged
militants, have been tortured, harassed, detained or
extrajudicially killed by the police. Families of slain
militants continue to face the vengeance of the police. Even
in cases not related to militants, there has been a spurt in
deaths in police custody. No attempt has been made by the
Badal government to dignify the police and to train them to
respect human rights.
11. ``Confiscation'' of Explosives: The Director General of
Police has ``confiscated'' tons of explosive material. Apart
from the news-story that such material was recovered from
``such and such militant'' or ``former militant'', the DGP
has failed to inform the people of Panjab about the
ineffectiveness of the police and other security agencies
when the material was brought inside Panjab (that is, if we
believe the police version to be correct). Is it inertia or
is it a well planned conspiracy to allow the monster to grow
and then make a big fuss to catch it?
We strongly suspect that the movement of arms, ammunition
and explosives in Panjab is a new strategy of the pervert
masterminds of the Panjab police-Home Ministry nexus. We
cannot forget that journalist Dhiren Bhagat of the Indian
Post was killed by Indian security agencies, in 1993, soon
after he had documented the illegal and unlawful movement of
arms and ammunition by the Indian state through its secret
services.
We are closely monitoring the progress made by the police
in recovering the huge arsenal of arms and ammunition
ostensibly recovered from militants and now missing from
police records and stores. According to a communication from
the Additional Director General of Police (Crime), Mr.
Jarnail Singh Chahal (as mentioned in internal memos to all
district SSPs in Panjab in September 1997) as many as 10,451
weapons comprising AK47s, AK57s, rifles, revolvers, pistols,
rocket launchers, rockets are missing. There is no iota of
doubt that they have either been distributed as bounties to
the pet vigilantes of the Panjab police or to the Congress
leaders of Panjab. To make matters worse, a large number of
such arms have been given to untrained ``special police
officers'' to provide security cover to a large number of
people for whom such security is not a requirement but a
status symbol.
The Panjab State Human Rights Commission must study the
records of the Firearm Bureau at Phillaur and the police
stores (Malkhanas) of police stations in the Panjab.
We request the Panjab State Human Rights Commission to
prepare a compilation of the total amount of explosives
seized by the Panjab police in the last one year and inform
the people about the disposal of the same, lest it be used to
implicate more innocent youth of Panjab.
12. Extension of Services of Panjab Police Chief. We
strongly urge the Commission to look into the reasons cited
by the state government while granting extension to the
Director General of Police, Mr. Puran Chand Dogra, six
months ago. The Commission must also look into the reasons
for the state government to recommend the case of DGP Mr.
Dogra (bypassing the rules laid down by the Central
Administrative Tribunal) for another extension of six
months. Media reports say that the government has sought
the extension ``to combat terrorism in Panjab''. This
investigation alone by the State Human Rights Commission
will be enough to know whether ``Panjab is still a police
state'' and whether ``peace has descended on Panjab''.
13. Human Rights Defenders in Danger: Defending human
rights is a dangerous activity in all banana republics or
near-banana republics. Panjab has been governed as such. It
is not for the first time; even during his earlier tenure as
chief minister, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal resorted to
extrajudicial methods to crush opposition in the state.
Today, either under pressure or in complicity with the
police, human rights defenders are behind bars. Those still
working continue to face the wrath of the state in one form
or the other.
14. Why Forgive and Forget? Human rights include civil and
political rights. Therefore politics and human rights are
related to each other. Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, 18 months
ago, had promised to the people of Panjab to investigate the
causes and factors; and identify the individuals and the
political parties responsible for the tragedies in Panjab and
to pinpoint the administrative and political accountability
for the same. Nothing has been done so far. The present
signature tune is ``Forgive and Forget''. This was the tune
of the Congress and the BJP against which the traditional
Akali leadership instigated hundreds upon thousands of Sikh
youth to revolt! Panjab and its people have forgiven enough
and forgotten a lot. Today is the time to prosecute each one
of the alleged perpetrators--executive, police and
political--for crimes against humanity.
15. The Only Incomplete Positive Step: The only positive
step take by the present government is the formation of the
Panjab State Human Rights Commission. Unfortunately no
changes have been made in the powers and authority of the
commission. The commission can investigate only those cases
that fall within the last one year. So, the commission,
according to the current mandate, cannot redress the fears,
grievances and genuine complaints of families of victims of
the last decade and a half.
From Police state to People's Commission . . .
In this frightening police state scenario, what should the
people do? The people have come together and formed a
People's Commission that will listen to their woes and
deliberate upon the merits of each case of violation of human
rights in the Panjab, irrespective of the time lag. The
Commission has been formed at the initiative of dedicated
human rights and political activists under the aegis of the
``Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Panjab.''
This Commission comprises of Retd. Chief
[[Page E2120]]
Justice D. S. Tewatia, Retd. Justice H. Suresh and Retd.
Justice Jaspal Singh. After the first session of the
commission at Chandigarh on 8-9-10 August 1998, the affected
families see a glimmer of hope. The People's Commission is
the people's response to the non-fulfillment of election
promises by the present government at the state level and the
incapability of the ruling coalition at the Centre to rectify
the wrongs of yesteryears. If people can form governments
surely they can form commissions as well; can they not?
Now, the Congress, the BJP and the Police (the trinity
responsible for gross human rights abuse in the Panjab
through acts of omission and commission) are pressurizing the
Badal government to wind up the People's Commission, calling
it ``illegal'' and ``harbinger of disturbance'' and other
names.
We appeal to the Panjab State Human Rights Commission, to
advise the state government, not to stoke the fires that are
lying buried. Though we contest the ``quality of peace'' that
has ``descended on the Panjab'', any attempt by the state
``not to let people cry for their beloveds'' will boomerang.
The endorsement of the Panjab State Human Rights Commission
of the work of the People's Commission will go a long way to
enhance respect for human rights and to smother the
politically motivated propaganda against this humble attempt
by the people to assuage the hurt of victims and their
families. This certainly is part of the moral mandate of any
human rights body, more so of a state-sponsored Human Rights
Commission.
Moreover the labour of the People's Commission will not go
in vain. The report of the People's Commission will not meet
the same fate of hundreds of Commissions set up by the Indian
state under the Commissions of Enquiry Act. It will perhaps
be useful for the Human Rights Commission to conduct a
statistical analysis of the total number of Commissions of
enquiry instituted by the state and those whose
recommendations have been accepted.
The focus of the work of the People's Commission is also
not at loggerheads with the working of the judiciary as is
being propagated by the wanton statements of the Panjab
Advocate General, Congress and BJP leaders and the Panjab
police chief. Their consternation is more about the
uncovering of truth about their shameful deeds. Those
opposing the People's Commission will do well to remember
that before the official Srikrishna Commission was setup to
pinpoint the responsibility for the riots in Bombay in 1992-
93, a People's Commission was set up by an independent body,
The Indian Peoples Human Rights Commission. Justice S.M. Daud
and Justice H. Suresh made an extensive enquiry and submitted
a report on the role of the government and the police in the
rioting in Bombay. The report was first published in August
1993. The evidence collected by that People's Commission made
the task of witnesses much easier when they deposed before
the official Srikrishna Commission.
It may also be noted that the panel of judges on the Indian
People's Human Rights Tribunal have conducted enquiries into
the firing in Arwal in Bihar in 1987, the burning of 646 huts
of tribals in Vishakapatnam district by the Andhra Pradesh
government in 1988, the role of the Provincial Armed
Constabulary in the riots in Meerut in 1988, the role of the
Karnataka government in anti-Tamil riots and the role of the
Tamil Nadu government in anti-Kannadiga riots in 1992.
At the international level, the journey for trial of guilty
officers, bureaucrats and political leaders responsible for
crimes against humanity, which started with the Nuremberg
trials has fructified this year in the formation of an
International Criminal Court.
The Panjab State Human Rights Commission and the National
Human Rights Commission will do well to train the Indian
police, paramilitary and military forces to recognize the
harsh reality that sooner or later nemesis will catch up.
Transparency and not secrecy is the watchword. ``Reasons of
state'', ``demoralization of the police forces'' and
``amendments to the Criminal Procedure code to make it
difficult to prosecute police officers'', ``orders of
superiors'', ``ignorance of law, especially international and
humanitarian law'' will not be adequate to protect either the
protagonists or the perpetrators of human rights abuse.
We are concerned that no serious effort has been made by
the government of Panjab or the Commission to popularize the
commission and its work among the people of Panjab. No public
sitting of the commission has taken place since its
formation. The people of Panjab are eager to know the number
of cases in which suo moto action has been taken by the
Commission. We look forward to the first annual report of the
Panjab State Human Rights Commission and we anxiously wait to
see how it nails down the state government and the police
machinery. Should the commission require details on the above
points, we shall gladly furnish them.
We appeal to you and through you also to the overindulgent
Advocate General of Panjab, Mr. Gurdarshan Singh Grewal, to
advise the present State government in Panjab whether it
wants to join the sanguineous trinity of the Police-Congress-
BJP or to find a respectable place in contemporary history,
particularly in a year, when the international community,
inspite of India's abstention, has formed the International
Criminal Court to try individual cases of gross human rights
abuse.
(Prof.) Jagmohan Singh,
General Secretary.
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