India condemned over Sikh ‘missing thousands’

Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Thursday October 18, 2007
The Guardian

The families of thousands of civilians “disappeared” during the Indian government’s violent suppression of a campaign for a Sikh homeland more than a decade ago are still waiting for perpetrators of the crimes to be brought to justice, human rights monitors have warned.

In a new report entitled Protecting the Killers, Human Rights Watch says the Indian government needs to “hold accountable members of its security forces who killed and tortured thousands of Sikhs” during counter-insurgency operations in Punjab that ended only in 1995.

continued

http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,2193909,00.html

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

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–The charges leveled against Khalra by the people of his area – his own village Khalra, Narli, Bhikhiwind, Sursinghwala, Mari Meghan are also very serious. These pertain to providing information to the Babbar Khalsa and BTKF, carrying weapons and ammunition for them, identifying likely targets, in short all the tasks undertaken by an over ground worker (OGW).If you come to India I can introduce you to these people who suffered at his hands and you can then make up your mind for yourself. In any case note the company kept by his wife and political heir these days –all of them militants. I again repeat what I said earlier about his party the mainstream Akali Dal having disowned him. Why?
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I would say being disowned by a corrupt party such as the Akali Dal is a ringing endorsement in itself. These guys are basically a corrupt gang of Jat landowners whose only interest with Sikhs is a caste based selfish one in the political and financial arenas.

Funny how you seem to be suggesting I accept the comments by various people against Khalra. Whilst India parades a butcher like KPS Gill around who was directly implicated in his torture and murder and God knows what else.

You make a comment about the company kept by Mrs. Khalra – do you think the company of the other side is more wholesome?

As for your comments about “militants”. There are uncomfortable questions that do need to be pondered over regarding the nature of the Khalsa. Historically the antecedents of this group was a people’s revolutionary army. So your simplfying the issue by throwing around the “militant” label doesn’t make sense to me. The question is whether some of them were fighting for a just cause and whether genuine oppression was taking place. Even if I take your statement about the 1981 statement at face value, you can’t detach this from the protection given to the killers of the 1978 AKJ incident, which most people feel is the true genesis of the conflict. So it was indeed the government of the time that initiated the cycles of killings through their actions (or rather inaction.)

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–Khalistanis and their supporters have always been pointing fingers at the govt for giving a bad name to their movement by orchestrating killings or organizing them through hirelings as you say. Fair enough. But why are killings ascribed to terrorists by the govt and to govt agencies never condemned by the Khalistanis? Why is no sympathy ever expressed for these innocents? Why are these incidents never investigated in the same manner as excesses by the security forces?
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You make me laugh here. Like the killings of the Delhi riot victims has ever been seriously investigated let alone the “militants” in the Panjab.

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–Why did the Khalistan movement fail in Punjab? Have you ever pondered over the reasons for the collapse of militancy? The foremost reason is that the Sikh masses never, ever supported Khalistan or a separatist movement in any form. The majority was silent as they always are but once the terrorists started attacking, plundering and looting them the common people came forward and gave information to the police about the whereabouts of terrorists.
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Or the public were tortured, brutalised and the movement infiltrated by government agents and selfish opportunists. Do you deny that the notion of Khalistan attracted quite wide support in the early 80s?

I think that the fact that Sikhs did recently have a sovereign state of their own also plays a part in this. It is natural for a people to want to rule and govern themselves. Even if they are not prepared for this and don’t fully understand what is involved.

India had the option for some devolution of power and a few token gestures to keep Sikhs happy (Anandpur Resolution) but instead took the dark route. Some of the Sikh leadership equally need to be condemned for their activities.

Why don’t you have a look at the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Arms and Abuses in Indian Punjab and Kashmir? The part dealing with Punjab is available at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kashmir/1994/kashmir94-03.htm

Let me quote from the opening lines of the Report ‘Although violent Sikh activity virtually ended in 1993 in the wake of a ruthless campaign by the government to crush separatist efforts, during the last decade Sikh militants regularly engaged in widespread armed violence, including attacks on civilians.’ For the rest please read the full document. It may come as an eye-opener to you. It certainly will shake others who may not have access to full information on the events in Punjab.

HRW concludes with ‘It allowed militants to increase the frequency and severity of their attacks on the unarmed population, resulting in a greater number of civilian casualties, and permitted them to sustain a higher level of terror and control over the general population.’

If there were no violence enshrined in the Khalistan movement why then did the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia see fit to ban the organisations Babbar Khalsa International and International Sikh Youth Federation?

IMHO there was never a peaceful movement for Khalistan. You were either with the militants fully or earmarked for elimination if you weren’t. The Khalistan movement had no legitimate, peaceful, sensible side. The violence was overpowering. Look at the number of Sikhs the Khalistanis killed in pursuit of their objectives! Even in the West they routinely use the tactics of violence and intimidation to overawe their opponents. The killing of Tara Singh Hayer and the beating of Ujjal Dosanjh are cases in point.

Khalistanis and their supporters have always been pointing fingers at the govt for giving a bad name to their movement by orchestrating killings or organizing them through hirelings as you say. Fair enough. But why are killings ascribed to terrorists by the govt and to govt agencies never condemned by the Khalistanis? Why is no sympathy ever expressed for these innocents? Why are these incidents never investigated in the same manner as excesses by the security forces? These people if they were killed by govt agencies should be martyrs for the Khalistanis shouldn’t they? How come if Mr. A who is alleged to be a terrorist is eliminated by the police there are all kinds of objections to the manner of his killing? Evidence pours in as to how he was an innocent gunned down in cold blood by the brutal police. But none when a group of Hindus is shot down in cold blood by a group of terrorists? How come none of the desi human rights bodies which specialize in investigating human rights abuses by the police and usually come up with evidence never take up cases of killings by terrorists much less unearth evidence that the security forces actually carried them out ?

Why did the Khalistan movement fail in Punjab? Have you ever pondered over the reasons for the collapse of militancy? The foremost reason is that the Sikh masses never, ever supported Khalistan or a separatist movement in any form. The majority was silent as they always are but once the terrorists started attacking, plundering and looting them the common people came forward and gave information to the police about the whereabouts of terrorists. Punjab was a very different kind of insurgency, something like Northern Ireland. There was no redoubt, mountain or jungle fastness where the insurgents could hide. The guerrilla had to be the fish in the sea of the people as Mao enjoined. The Punjab terrorists had to hide among the people. It was the people who gave them up by informing the police. That speaks volumes for the level of support enjoyed by the movement among the people. Currently Khalistan is an issue for the Diaspora not Indian Sikhs.

Certainly there were grey areas in the history of Punjab 1978-93 but at the end of the day what was the whole issue about? The issues were peace, progress, stability and security. And those goals could not be realized through violence, separatism, hatred, terrorism or the Khalistan movement. .

You could say the same for those responsible for killing on the other side but I take it you believe one side is legitimised because of their official governmental status?

Did you ever think that young men may have felt compelled to fight back against what they perceived as governmental oppression; especially when loved ones and relatives may have been slaughtered in the name of national security?

Trying to besmirch a respectable human rights worker like Mr. Khalra is a serious cheap shot. If you can be bothered find the full version of his final speech posted earlier. Then you will clearly see he explicitly states that his efforts are not for Khalistan but for justice of those killed which included women and children. So the impression that only militant Khalistanis were killed in the Panjab conflict is plainly false.

The way you end the last post almost suggests that the truth behind the killings is well established. I dispute that and the fact that India has denied organisations such as Amnesty International access to investigate the matter fully isn’t exactly promising. Only God knows what happened.

I’m not in favour of war but to deny Sikhs the freedom to freely discuss a “Khalistan” is an abuse in itself. It is not like Sikhs did not have their own independent sovereign nation before. In your books are the Jews who dreamt of (for centuries) and then fought for the state of Israel also terrorists/crazy weirdos/killers?

Yes some Khalistanis seem to be plainly of “dubious character” whose motivations were probably no more than financial gains and ego based caste aspirations. These are a disgrace to all Sikhs. But you can’t deny that some where pushed into the conflict by the worsening situation in Panjab where the politician was as guilty as the AK-47 carriers in fomenting trouble. Also given that even those responsible are now slowly admitting their underhand tactics, we cannot even be sure if some of killings you mentioned were by genuine Khalistanis and not governmental hirelings/plants. You could easily argue that the armed movement was the end result of some badly thought (or very clever) political manoeuvring, depending on perspecive. Which came first the militants or the politicians?

How a people who historically lay at the forefront of the safety and freedom of the nation through major sacrifices, turned this way is another story that needs to be told one day.

But in the meanwhile Mandeep please portray a more balanced/realistic picture of the situation than a simplistic “Khalistani monsters” and “beleaguered national security force” dialogue.

All respect and that.

The use of counter-insurgents,surrendered terrorists or intelligence moles is nothing new. The security forces used such methods for instance in Northern Ireland. Wrongs done by the govt and its security forces cannot wipe out ethnic cleansing, wholesale massacres and killing of innocents by the Khalistanis.

As for Khalra did you know that he was an overground worker for the Babbar Khalsa and BTFK ? I do recognise that he did discover illegal cremations carried out by the police and for this he must be eulogised.However he himself was involved in killings, indirectly of course. And his figure of 25,000 cremations was wide off the mark – the investigating agency found evidence of just 10% of that number.Still if even a single innocent was killed by the police it is reprehensible.

Can you tell me why Khalra has been disowned by his party ? He was the General Secretary of the Human Rights wing of the mainstream Akali Dal led by Badal.

The Khalistanis aren’t just slightly crazy weirdos. They’re killers !

How many of them were genuine “terrorists”, seeing as some of the people who had been “killed” in “encounters” are now resurfacing? Who were the people who were killed in their place for rewards?

I strongly advise you to watch the link below. This guy represents the true spirit of the Khalsa. The link also gives an indication of the scale of murder taking place with government blessing. I’m wholeheartedly against ignorant, casteist fake Khalistanis myself for the record but don’t use these j.erks as an excuse to play down genocide please.

http://www.ensaaf.org/docs/khalravideo.php

Oh that’s easy to explain. Most Sikh/Punjabi politicians here and in India are incompetent self-serving idiots. But that goes for most politicians in India. After all, the 2002 Gujarat riot victims haven’t got compensation either… such is the Indian way. I’m not sure how having a state run by the Khalistanis would improve things for anyone. These people can barely run Harminder Sahib
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This doesn’t detract from the fact that corruption is also rampant in Indian politics. In fact it is so rampant that it looks like people have got away with mass murder.

I’m as disgusted with organisations such as the SGPC myself, but syphoning money for selfish ends (as disgusting as it is) is a world away from orchestrating mass murder, which is essentially what some politicians did in 1984. Seeing as twenty + years later, nowt has been done and the killers can sit and scoff like you plainly saw in the video, means organisations like SF have a place.

If India carries on like this then those Sikh separatists just might have a case.

Riazat Butt is fast making a reputation for herself as a hack who falls flat on her face when joining a national newspaper.

See this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2179377,00.html

The ‘call’ to prosecute was made by an ‘aid to the Bishop of Bradford’. Big name there.

Also, has Riazat not considered the fact that thousands of these ‘offensive’ facebook groups exist -thereby making the story a non-story.

If you cared to read the Dalbir’s post, he is not talking of Sikh speratism. He is talking only of human rights.

After putting your name to countless campaigns to see that Muslims/homosexuals etc obtain justice for human rights violations, why not speak up on the Sikh issue?

What would you rather hear about? the police cover-up of who got stabbed? It’s an open secret that it involved the SF, Babbar Khalsa, Shere Punjab and others.

we wouldn’t have the guys who organised the mass killings sitting in positions of power right now.

Oh that’s easy to explain. Most Sikh/Punjabi politicians here and in India are incompetent self-serving idiots. But that goes for most politicians in India. After all, the 2002 Gujarat riot victims haven’t got compensation either… such is the Indian way. I’m not sure how having a state run by the Khalistanis would improve things for anyone. These people can barely run Harminder Sahib.

Already forgotten the big riot in Vaisakhi in Birmingham? Highlightiing human rights abuses my ass… there are much more deserving Sikh organisations who do that already.
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What has the B’ham thing got to do with any of this? I don’t know what happened there and I damn sure don’t want to hear any of your “undercover informer tips” either.

If the current organisations highlighting human rights abuses in Punjab were sufficient we wouldn’t have the guys who organised the mass killings sitting in positions of power right now. So more attention is required to be drawn to the situation. Let the SF play whatever part they can in this.

Here is something for you to ponder over my fiery friend.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N16XrqWkLbE

Sunny-Look at what your saying, you’re tarring all Khalistanis with the same brush. I’m sure there are loads of so-called liberal lefties that are akin to your warped perception of Khalistanis (i.e. Galloway). The reality is that the majority, particularly the youth, are concerned with human rights.

Also would be interested to see how many Sikh organisations there are that have the political backing of all three mainstream parties (look at the link to the booklet (@ 16) and have specific aims for British Sikhs as well as human rights.

Funny you say that, since it’s usually the Khalistanis who want to shut down debates, take over Gurudwaras through force, and funnel money to India for their activities, than the rest.

Already forgotten the big riot in Vaisakhi in Birmingham? Highlightiing human rights abuses my ass… there are much more deserving Sikh organisations who do that already.

If highlighting human rights abuses makes you a “nutter” – we need more of them.

Although in any religous group, the nutters often are.

TFI

Calling Sikhs names such as ‘nutters’ or ‘zealots’ or [insert derogation here] is par-for-the-course for folks like (I’m assuming) ’sunny’. Sikhs are not a homogeneous entity, many different individuals support organizations like the Sikh Federation, to brand all the Sikhs attending, with one label is mental laziness at best, and an example of personal animosity and hate towards them at worst.