[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 64 (Thursday, May 10, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E773-E775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FREEDOM FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 10, 2001

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I was proud to be one of 19 signers of a 
letter sent last month to President Bush urging him to work to get 
political prisoners in India freed. We are Republicans and Democrats 
from across the political spectrum, but we understand that democracies 
don't hold political prisoners and countries that do are not friendly 
to democracy.
  It is interesting that on the day after we sent our letter, a well-
known Sikh human-rights organization called the Movement Against State

[[Page E774]]

Repression (MASR) issued a report exposing the continuing holding of 
political prisoners in India and the repressive laws under which they 
have been held, such as the very repressive ``Terrorist and Disruptive 
Activities Act'' (TADA), which expired in 1995. Despite this, many 
prisoners are still being held under TADA. According to the report, in 
many cases, the police would file TADA cases against the same 
individual in different states ``to make it impossible for them to 
muster evidence in their favor,'' It was also common practice for 
police to re-arrest TADA prisoners who had been released, often without 
filing new charges.
  MASR reports that the Indian government itself admitted in 1993 to 
52,258 persons, detained under TADA. Of those, according to the report, 
``14,457 were in Punjab and 14,094 in Gujarat, a relatively peaceful 
state. Obviously there were a number of Sikh TADA prisoners held in 
Gujarat jails.'' Gujarat was only one state that the police would use 
to register secondary TADA cases against Sikhs. They would also 
register cases in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, 
and Delhi, among others.
  ``In November 1994,'' the report states, ``42 employees of the 
Pilibhit district jail and PAC were found guilty of clubbing to death 6 
Sikh prisoners and seriously wounding 22 others. They were TADA 
prisoners. Uttah Pradesh later admitted the presence of around 5000 
Sikh TADA prisoners,'' the Movement Against State Repression wrote, 
``Another press report in 1993 mentioned beating of striking prisoners 
held in jail at Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Nearly 500 of these prisoners 
belonged to Punjab and were held under TADA,'' It was also in November 
1994 that the Indian newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian 
government paid the late Governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, $1.5 
billion to foment covert state-sponsored terrorist activity in Punjab 
and Kashmir.
  According to the report, the Punjab Civil Magistracy wrote a 
memorandum to the Governor of Punjab in 1993 in which it said that ``if 
we add up the figures of the last few years the number of innocent 
persons killed would add up to lakhs [tens of thousands.]'' To this 
date, neither the central government nor the state government has 
revealed the list of people killed or those detained under TADA. In 
September 1995, the police kidnapped Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human-
rights activist who exposed the government's policy of picking up 
innocent Sikhs, torturing them, murdering them, then cremating their 
bodies, declaring them ``unidentified.'' The Jaijee report says that 
``thousands of Sikh young men have disappeared since 1984.'' According 
to General Narinder Singh, another human-rights leader, ``Punjab is a 
police state.''
  The Movement Against State Repression is headed by Inderjit Singh 
Jaijee, a longtime human-rights activist who wrote the book The 
Politics of Genocide, which exposed the fact that the Indian government 
has killed over a quarter of a million Sikhs in the last 17 years. The 
government has also killed more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland, 
over 70,000 Kashmiri Muslims, and many thousands of other minorities, 
including the Dalit ``untouchables,'' the dark-skinned aboriginal 
natives of the subcontinent. Is this the behavior of a democracy?
  If India is a democracy, as it claims, why does it need a Movement 
Against State Repression anyway?
  According to Amnesty International, tens of thousands of Sikhs are 
being held in illegal detention in India without charge or trial. Some 
of them have been held since 1984. Many Christians, Muslims, and other 
minorities are also being held.
  This is not an acceptable situation, Mr. Speaker. I am a minister's 
daughter. I understand the importance of religion and the need for 
religious tolerance. It is time to take action to protect the religious 
liberty of all the people of South Asia.
  There are so many more details of this repression in the report that 
I do not have time to tell my colleagues about all of them. I would 
like to submit materials relating to this situation into the Record.

                      Like an Undeclared Emergency

                            (By G.S. Grewal)

       Militancy in Punjab was not controlled by the extra-
     judicial killings or by the enforcement of harsh laws like 
     TADA. It was contained, firstly, because the people in Punjab 
     did not support it and secondly, by establishing democratic 
     rule under the determined mass-based leader Sardar Beant 
     Singh who had built a successful bridge between the people 
     and the rulers.
       Under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) 
     Act (TADA), not a single known militant had been convicted in 
     Punjab. During Operation Black Thunder, more than 250 
     militants hiding in the Golden Temple complex were arrested 
     and the whole scene was viewed by millions of people all over 
     the world on television. They were booked under TADA. Within 
     a few months, they had to be released from jail because of 
     insufficient evidence. The prosecution made the request and 
     the court discharged them. Mr. K.P.S. Gill was confronted 
     with this episode at a Rotary Club (Mid town) meeting and he 
     replied that the investigating agency had become corrupt. 
     When he was asked how and why none of the persons discharged 
     was alive, he preferred to duck the question.
       The validity of TADA was challenged in the Supreme Court 
     with the plea of the government in defence of TADA being that 
     under abnormal circumstances, abnormal laws were necessary. 
     This plea was accepted by the Court. The State counsel 
     further argued that an undeclared war was going on with the 
     active provocation of our neighbour. The situation could not 
     be classified as a mere law and order or disturbance of 
     public order. Activities of terrorists were such which could 
     not be controlled by ordinary laws. So TADA had been framed 
     to meet that special situation.
       In actual practice, the TADA became notorious more for its 
     abuse than for its legal use. The head of the police 
     department assumed more powers than the Chief Secretary of 
     the state. It became impossible to tame the DGP of that time. 
     Even the Chief Minister time found himself helpless before 
     the DGP who was more feared than respected. This was the era 
     when many innocent people were illegally killed. Some because 
     of suspicion, others because of greed and revenge. The CBI 
     had discovered the dead bodies of thousands of people who 
     were supposed to have been killed in fake encounters by the 
     police.
       At the insistence of the Supreme Court, the matter is being 
     debated before the National Human Rights Commission, for the 
     last many years but no decision has yet been taken. The era 
     of terrorism in Punjab
       Though the police was and is, by and large, a disciplined 
     force, during militancy many of them lost their sense of 
     commitment towards duty and were involved in making a quick 
     buck.
       Militancy not only affected the routine life of an average 
     citizen, it also made the administration spineless. While 
     some lawyers were killed, allegedly by the police because 
     they defended militants, some district and session judges 
     were attacked. Threats were issued to some High Court Judges 
     and it was not too difficult to believe that the cause of 
     justice had received a setback.
       Since religious places remained the centre of militancy, 
     the sanctity of those places was also damaged. It further 
     facilitated the cause of those who wanted to exploit religion 
     for political powers.
       During the Emergency, the government gagged the press with 
     some success. During militancy, the terrorists tried the same 
     with partial success. Now, when there is neither militancy 
     nor emergency the government wants to control the press by 
     making a law which would compel the Press to disclose their 
     sources, which they gather through their own resourcefulness. 
     Nowhere in the free world are such conditions imposed on the 
     Press.
       When the Press is not free, even other institutions become 
     weak. During the Emergency, fundamental rights were suspended 
     and it created fear and havoc among those who wanted to be 
     bold and fearless. Even the Judiciary ceased to protect 
     people and started justifying the excesses of the Executive. 
     In the case of ADM, Jabalpur, the Supreme Court held that 
     even if a person was to be killed illegally by the state 
     executive with malafide intentions, he had no right of life 
     and could not seek protection from the courts. When the 
     Emergency ended, many judges, who had constituted the bench, 
     admitted that the judgement was wrong and the Janata Party 
     Government had to pass the 44th Amendment to the Constitution 
     to nullify the affect of the judgment.
       If the proposed amendment in the new TADA was incorporated 
     into the law of the land, it would operate as an undeclared 
     emergency with its side-effects. In one sense, undeclared war 
     is more dangerous than the declared one because it lasts much 
     longer. Similarly, an undeclared emergency with lame freedom 
     of the press would convert our enlightened, democratic free 
     society to an ignorant and controlled system that the country 
     could and should never accept.

                                  ____
                                  

                                                     June 3, 1997.
     To: The Prime Minister of India, Mr. I.K. Gujral
       Dear Prime Minister: The Movement Against State Repression 
     is heartened to read Mr. K.P.S. Gill's open letter to you, 
     published in The Tribune of June 1, 1997, and supports his 
     demand for equality before the law for all persons, for 
     prosecution of all persons, including police, as per the due 
     process of law, and for a review of judicial, and 
     administrative functioning in Punjab over the past 15 years.
       Mr. Gill admits that security forces committed excesses 
     during these years and pleads--not for immunity--but that 
     they may be judged leniently in view of the circumstances. 
     MASR has always advocated that justice be tempered by mercy. 
     In the case of officers of the state accused of serious 
     crimes it must be remembered that not only is the crime per 
     se at issue, but there is an issue of public responsibility. 
     All officers

[[Page E775]]

     of the state, whether administrative, police or military, 
     take an oath at the time of joining service to uphold the 
     Constitution. This is a most sacred duty, making it all the 
     more important for them to not only observe the law in letter 
     and spirit in all their actions . . . but to be seen to 
     observe the law. When one sworn to uphold the law himself 
     disregards it, the common citizen is all the more encouraged 
     to hold the law in contempt.
       The citizen does not exist for the state, rather the state 
     exists for the citizen . . . to provide protection to life 
     and property, to provide opportunities for potential of every 
     citizen may be realised and brought to productive use. This 
     is the raison d'etre of the state. When officials of the 
     state act in a way that betrays disrespect for human life 
     they act against the very purpose of the state.
       Mr. Gill asks for a special fund to be raised to pay for 
     best legal defense of policemen brought to trial for 
     excesses. There is reason to believe that the Punjab Police 
     already gives policemen money to hire the best lawyers from 
     its own secret fund. Is Mr. Gill in fact asking that this 
     practice be brought into the open? In any case, the 
     Constitution already empowers the courts to appoint lawyers 
     at state expense for those who cannot afford them. However, 
     ``best lawyers'' raises the issue of equality. If the state 
     provides lawyers of great ability to the defendent while the 
     complainant, having no such assistance, can only afford a 
     weak lawyer, then where is equality before the law?
       It may be remembered that the next of kin of the alleged 
     militants suffered not only loss of their relatives but 
     confiscation and destruction of property, with a result that 
     they can ill afford litigation costs and in many cases have 
     to depend on lawyers on ``shared compensation'' basis. This 
     category of persons need state aid.
       Aside from a commission to be set up to examine records of 
     judicial processes, Mr. Gill demands a commission to identify 
     all officers in all branches of the judiciary and 
     administration who were guilty of gross dereliction of duty 
     during this period. Mr. Gill goes on to urge that ``these 
     steps demand the active participation of the judiciary and 
     the legislature''. MASR appreciates this suggestion but 
     cautions that while such commissions must be respected by the 
     government, at the same time they must be independent and 
     insulated from official pressures; their findings must be 
     placed before the public. A situation in which the judiciary 
     and legislature sits in judgement on themselves must be 
     avoided. The interests of truth and justice demand 
     independent commissions.
       MASR points out that the past 15 years saw not only the 
     malfeasance of individuals, it was also a period when 
     institutions were subverted, with some services subjected to 
     the dictation of others. The civil services ceased to control 
     the police, rather the police controlled the civil services, 
     including the state magistracy. Officers of the state medical 
     service were made to give reports dictated by police. Even 
     the office of governor came under Police domination to the 
     extent that two governors were made to leave the state 
     abruptly for demanding accountability from the police.
       MASR sympathises with conscientious and upright officers of 
     the Punjab Police who may feel that they have been unjustly 
     maligned on account of the misdeeds of some of their 
     colleagues. We also sympathise with the families of
       It is certainly a terrible thing to be slandered. The 
     entire Sikh community will vouch for this, as they have borne 
     some of the most abhorrent epithets--``anti-national'', 
     ``traitor'', ``terrorist'', ``religious fanatic''; the Sikh 
     soldier has smarted under the label ``questionable 
     reliability''. They have not only had to bear verbal insult, 
     the Sikh community has been subjected to genocide on a 
     terrible scale for the ``crime'' of demanding more powers for 
     the state.
       The Sikhs were made victims of politicians' power games. In 
     ``Policing the Police'', (Indian Express, August, 1996) 
     Shekhar Gupta asked ``. . . who provided K.P.S. Gill and a 
     select band of the most trusted Intelligence Bureau aces 
     suitcases full of unaudited cash to buy militant loyalties, 
     to build a whole army of cats? . . . The Punjab crisis saw 
     five prime ministers as many internal security ministers. 
     Each one knew precisely what was going on. Some routinely 
     boasted of how ruthlessly they were putting rebellion down. 
     Why are they hiding now?''
       In his letter, Gill says ``the real question is whether a 
     strategy of state terrorism was adopted by the police; and 
     the answer is unequivocally in the negative.'' Was the 
     strategy adopted at a higher level and simply passed on to 
     the police for implementation? In ``Dateline: Tarn Taran'' 
     (Pioneer, June 1, 1997) Ajaz Ashraf and Bindu quote Satya Pal 
     Dang as saying: ``The clearance for fake encounters could 
     have only been given by political leaders.''
       Regarding Mr. Gill's apprehensions of ``media trial'' of 
     accused policemen and hounding of the police in the press, 
     MASR sees little evidence to support these misgivings. The 
     press, both local and national, has given ample space to 
     police versions both during the worst days of turmoil and 
     now. Nearly two full columns of precious space have been 
     spared for Mr. Gill's letter--surely that does not bespeak a 
     biased press. No human rights group has ever had it's letter 
     published in full, even if it were a short one.
       Mr. Gill accuses the human rights movement of twisting 
     facts. If we have erred in respect of any case we are sorry. 
     Part of the problem is that we must rely on Mr. Gill for much 
     of our information. For instance in his letter he writes: 
     ``Even in a case as fully documented as Operation 
     Blackthunder, where the entire action was carried out in full 
     view of the media, not a single conviction was pronounced.'' 
     But earlier, addressing a Rotary Club (Midtown) meeting, Mr. 
     Gill said: ``that some people sympathetic to the militants 
     had infiltrated into the prosecution agency of the police 
     and, therefore, enough evidence could not be collected'' and 
     subsequently cases against all the persons accused in 
     Operation Black Thunder had to be withdrawn. Mr. G.S. Grewal, 
     Advocate General has accused Mr. Gill of twisting facts. 
     Grewal says: ``Those persons who were arrested during 
     Operation Black Thunder were in fact put on trial. After a 
     few months all were released at the insistence of the 
     prosecution because of lack of evidence. It is another matter 
     that, perhaps, none of them may be alive today. It will be 
     too much to presume that they have died a natural death.''
       Mr. Gill also has no reason to disparage the human rights 
     movement. Human rights are for all, including Mr. Gill and 
     his policemen. Human rights stands for political and 
     religious freedom, for the legal rights of common citizen of 
     criminal offenses.
       Mr. Prime Minister, a previous letter sent to you jointly 
     by MASR, PHRO and PUCL Punjab Chapter, will be in your hands. 
     This letter asked your support for our request to the Punjab 
     Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for an independent census 
     of human rights violations, including killings and 
     disappearances during the 1984-1996 period. We had also 
     enclosed the various assessments regarding disappearances and 
     killings. We again ask for your help in implementing this 
     census.
       With regards,
           Yours sincerely,

                                        Inderjit Singh Jaijee,

                                                         Convenor,
                                Movement Against State Repression.

                                  ____
                                  

              [From the Burning Punjab News, May 9, 2001]

             Bihar--Blast in Church, Christ Statue Damaged

       Muzaffapur.--Cracker explosions by miscreants in a church 
     here has caused partial damage to a statute of Christ sending 
     shock waves among the Christian community in the Bihar town, 
     official sources said. The unidentified miscreants burst 
     three crackers one after another on Saturday evening in St. 
     Francis Church which led to the ripping off of the head of a 
     statute of child Christ seated on the lap of St. Joseph, the 
     sources said. The miscreants also left behind pamphlets which 
     said ``Seva Ki Aar Mein Dharmantaran Band Karo (stop 
     religious conversions in the garb of service),'' ``Isaiyon 
     Bharat Choro (Christians leave India)'' and ``Poore Bharat Ko 
     Hindu Rang Mein Rangna Hai (Hindus should prevail in entire 
     India).'' An FIR was lodged at the local police station by 
     Father Julius Lazarus of the church. The top district and 
     police officials remained tight-lipped over the incident, but 
     said the investigation was on. A police contingent had also 
     been posted at the church, they said. When contacted, State 
     Director General of Police RR Prasad in Patna ruled out the 
     possibility of the explosion being triggered by bombs and 
     said the police were looking into the matter. Lazarus said 
     the Christian community was terribly hurt by the incident and 
     described it as ``extremely serious.'' He felt that some 
     religious institution was behind the incident, but refused to 
     name anybody.

     

                          ____________________