Courtesy of Glasgow Sikhs
Please send the follow up letter to your MP and MEP via www.WriteToThem.com about the sustained attack on Sikh Human Rights in India:
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“Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere.”
-
Dr.
Martin Luther King, 16th April 1963
Dear
Sustained attack on
Sikhs human rights in India
I write to inform
you of the abandonment of human rights protection afforded to Sikhs across
India. This is perhaps most starkly portrayed in the state of Punjab, where a
mass of violations has occurred, and continues to do so, over the last 50
years. Although there are a catalogue of instances where such incidents have
occurred, they are unfortunately not considered newsworthy; a worrying trend
that shall be addressed later. During any long running campaign, there are
spikes which occur. In the one being perpetrated against Sikhs, the most recent
was the farcical decision to enforce the death penalty against Balwant Singh
Rajoana. This letter shall address the Balwant Singh case before moving on to
explore the persecution faced by Sikhs in general, detailing the most severe of
the human rights infringements, showing the troubling trends which appear to be
cyclical in nature, with no end in sight to these contraventions.
Balwant Singh was
imprisoned and sentenced to death for involvement in a murder case in 1995.
Despite the unnaturally long term of incarceration, he was scheduled to be
executed on 31st March 2012, some 17 years after being convicted.
Such time delays are a common occurrence when dealing with Sikh prisoners in
India, and has been criticised by Amnesty International[1].
This policy of detention for an extended period time is clearly a breach of the
right to a fair trial provision enshrined in Article 11 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Although not binding, the UDHR is set as a
guideline for all members of the UN as a barometer for gauging bare minimum
thresholds of human rights protection. Case law around the globe has deemed
that keeping inmates on death row for any extended periods of time amounts to
inhuman and degrading treatment[2].
Of course, the barbarity of the death penalty is obvious and many jurisdictions
have expressed disgust at the practice.[3]
Right to a
Fair Trial & Right to Liberty
In the past twenty years, India has gone as far as to amend its legal
system in a crude attempt to legitimise its morally repugnant actions. For
example, the Terrorism and Disruptive
Activities Act allowed for the detention of a person merely on suspicion, a
dossier compiled by Jaswant Singh Khalra discovered, through the examination of
municipal records, that 3 000 Sikhs were arbitrarily arrested and never seen
again.[4]
Similarly, under draconian laws such as the National
Security Act, persons were liable to be detained for up to a year without
charge if found at the scene of a crime.[5]
Prohibition of Torture
Torture has been well known for decades to be an unreliable method of
gathering intelligence, despite this fact, the State’s machinery in India have
employed it almost as a de facto method
of dealing with Sikh prisoners. Amnesty have informed of hundreds of people
being arrested and routinely tortured during interrogation.[6]
The witness reports are both tragic and disturbing, and although unpleasant,
one has been included in order that the desperate reality of the victims of
such actions is conveyed.
“...the Senior Superintendent beat a Sikh
youth with an iron rod, then he suddenly turned to her and struck her with the
rod across the stomach. He rained blows on her stomach until she began to bleed
through her vagina...Next morning she was taken to the factory Beiko again, her
legs were cut open and chillies were pasted into her wounds, followed by
further beating. With her legs crippled by rollers, she was molested and
threatened with death.”[7]
Thousands of
similarly harrowing victim reports are available from www.ensaaf.org, each repulsive
recollection of their experiences crystallising the fact that such actions are commonplace
in Punjab, and India when dealing with Sikhs.
Rape is an
extension of torture, and has similarly been employed relentlessly in cases
involving Sikhs and the Indian State.[8]
Well known underground operations were carried out by members of the security
forces, whether they were rogue elements or not is unclear, due to the State’s
blanket refusal to open any independent investigation into these most
egregiously haunting claims[9].
Anecdotal evidence from both victims and retired members of the Security forces
has filtered through and there has been repeated mention of “Operation Shudi
Karan” (literally meaning to straighten out, or to purify), which is code used
to refer to the mass rape of Sikh women.[10]
Despite India being a signatory to The International Convention on Civil and
Political Rights, and thus bound by Article 7[11],
case law shows that custodial rape is rampant in India[12]
Right to
Life
Perhaps the most sacrosanct human right is the very right to life. Every
democratic state in the world in one way or another considers this to be true.
It is somewhat unfortunate then, the largest democracy in the world, India, has
gone as far as to alter its Constitution, allowing for the suspension of its
right to life commitment under Article 21, as it has done on more than one
occasion in the State of Punjab in recent history. Indeed, the State allows its
Agents to indulge in whatever acts they choose. This includes the abduction of
human rights activists such as Jagwinder Singh and Jaswant Singh Khalra, both of
whom had chosen to speak out about the atrocities being committed as
commonplace. Their actions resulted in both being abducted by officers of the
police force disguised as civilians and them never being seen alive again. [13]
Despite reports from human rights watchdogs stating that the state was
inflicting “violence”, “targeted enforced disappearances”, “extra judicial
executions” and “large scale lethal human rights violations”[14]
the right to life for Sikhs in India, is nothing more than a decorative bauble
adorning a crippled and corrupt legal system, designed to afford the State
impunity from accountability. The most recent example being that of Jaspal
Singh, an 18 year old college student killed on 29th March 2012
whilst campaigning against the death penalty imposed on Balwant Singh Rajoana
when the police opened fire on the unarmed protestors with no legitimate cause,
in contravention of the laws of the land.
Freedom of Expression
Despite the regularity of such occurrences, little
is heard of them, due to the latest media blackout imposed across the whole of
Punjab, by the State. Again, this is a tactic that is routinely fallen back on
when the State finds its oppressive practices under the uncomfortable scrutiny
of international spotlight. In 1984, during Operation Bluestar, all media
agencies, domestic and international were expelled from Punjab prior to the
attack on the central Sikh place of worship Harmandir Sahib and 40 other
Gurdwaras. It is lamentable that in 2012, we find the same brutish methods
being employed in a desperate attempt by officials to escape rebuke for its
shameless actions.
The preceding
paragraphs are but a mere drop in an ocean of blood that is dripping from the
hands of the State of India, however horrific, these are merely extracts of
daily occurrences. As such, I would once again urge you to liaise with your
peers to raise the concerns outlined in this letter. Furthermore I would ask
for you to lobby the institution of which you are a member and demand that the
Indian government stop committing atrocities against Sikhs and other minorities
in India.
I would request
that you treat my personal details with the strictest of confidence, without
exception. There have been a number of instances of UK Sikh citizens being
imprisoned when travelling to India for raising concerns whilst in the UK about
India’s human rights record[15]. The mere existence of a Non Resident Indian
(NRI) blacklist[16] compiled by the State
raises genuine fears of repeat occurrences.
Yours sincerely,
