Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Thursday October 18, 2007

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.

By then the unrest, sparked by a call for Khalistan, or a Sikh nation, had lasted more than 10 years. Democracy was suspended as the Indian army occupied the state.

The security forces eventually crushed the Khalistani movement by adopting a "bullet-for-bullet" policy of extra-judicial killings in which more than 40,000 people died. The embers of resentment have not completely burned out: a bomb blast on Sunday in Punjab, which killed seven, was blamed on Sikh separatist groups.

One of the key cases highlighted by Human Rights Watch is that of the mass cremation of 2,097 bodies in Amritsar, the Sikh holy city. The country's human rights commission, civil rights groups say, has for more than a decade failed to investigate a single case of the "mass crematorium" and explicitly refuses to identify any responsible officials.

The scale of the deaths was uncovered by a local civil rights lawyer, Jaswant Singh Kalra, who was later murdered. Five policeman were convicted of abducting and killing Mr Kalra.

His widow, Paramjeet, is still campaigning for the "missing thousands". "It took a decade for these men to be found guilty," she said. "What about the thousands of others?"

Rajinder Bains, a civil rights lawyer in Amritsar, estimated that 25,000 people were "still missing".

"There were 35 police and officials charged but none were prosecuted," he said. "The charges were set aside by the supreme court on technical grounds. The state has the money and the power to protect its own."

Human Rights Watch says India is fostering a "culture of impunity" around its counter-insurgency operations, giving a free hand to its security services to act without supervision.

However, senior Indian officials dismissed the report, describing it as "propaganda worthy of Goebbels". KPS Gill, a former director of police in Punjab during the counter-insurgency, said the New York-based organisation was "ill informed and biased", asking: "Do these people think about the innocents killed by terrorists?"

Mr Gill, who Human Rights Watch claim has led "the attack against the pursuit of justice", said the bodies in the crematorium in Amritsar were those of "beggars, vagrants, possibly some Bangladeshi migrants. In India, unclaimed and unidentified bodies found by the police must, by law, be cremated."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2007 05:28PM by admin.

There is a powerful song about the Ghost dance religion of the American Indians which was violently crushed by genocide, ending with Wounded Knee massacre. My great-grandmother was involved in this struggle for human rights and survival, and this spiritual religion of singing praise and dancing for hope. They danced because they had visions of a beautiful world to come and they knew they could not die, only the body dies. So it's something very dear to me. The song is a voice of people who lost everything and brought to a point extinction because of hatred and racism of the government.

"You can kill my body. You condemn my soul,
for not believing in your God or some world down below.
But you don't stand a chance against my prayers.
You don't stand a chance against my love."


Anything beautiful in any religion or any teaching in the world I ever learned, always could be found in Gurbani. There is nothing this fake world can do to you. They can kill the body and condemn everything about who you are. But the Guru's Sikh has the power to win the world because nothing can stand a chance against our Guru, against our bani, against our piare. When we try our best to live rehit and wash our karams and the blindnesses in our minds and purify the panj dhoots with the Guru's gift of Naam, we have the power to renew ourselves and restore the whole world.

So Singhs and Singnis please don't ever lose heart when you see the evil winning. This is only the beginning of the end for the evil era. Guru has already won the whole war. They don't stand a chance against our prayers. They don't stand a chance against our love. Whatever happens, never stop singing the praise. And one day, when the evil people are ready, they will hear the praise too, and they will change. My heart and soul is with all the Sikh and Punjabi people in the eternal struggle for justice and peace. When I am singing kirtan, I am singing for all of you and for Khalsa Raj, and for the time when the world changes.


ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਨਾਮ ਜਪੰਤਿ ਮਿਲਿ ਸਾਧ ਸੰਗਹ ਨਾਨਕ ਸੇ ਪ੍ਰਾਣੀ ਸੁਖ ਬਾਸਨਹ ॥੨੮॥
Gobinḏ nām japanṯ mil sāḏẖ sangah Nānak sė parāṇī sukẖ bāsnah. ||28||
Those who join the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, and chant the Name of the Lord of the Universe - O Nanak, those mortals abide in peace. ||28||

ਸੈਨਾ ਸਾਧ ਸਮੂਹ ਸੂਰ ਅਜਿਤੰ ਸੰਨਾਹੰ ਤਨਿ ਨਿੰਮ੍ਰਤਾਹ ॥
Sainā sāḏẖ samūh sūr ajiṯaʼn saʼnnāhaʼn ṯan nimarṯāh.
The Holy people are an invincible army of spiritual warriors; their bodies are protected by the armor of humility.

ਆਵਧਹ ਗੁਣ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਰਮਣੰ ਓਟ ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦ ਕਰ ਚਰਮਣਹ ॥
Āvḏẖah guṇ gobinḏ ramṇaʼn ot gur sabaḏ kar cẖaramṇeh.
Their weapons are the Glorious Praises of the Lord which they chant; their Shelter and Shield is the Word of the Guru's Shabad.

ਆਰੂੜਤੇ ਅਸ੍ਵ ਰਥ ਨਾਗਹ ਬੁਝੰਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਮਾਰਗਹ ॥
Ārūṛ­ṯė asav rath nāgah bujẖanṯė parabẖ mārgah.
The horses, chariots and elephants they ride are their way to realize God's Path.

ਬਿਚਰਤੇ ਨਿਰਭਯੰ ਸਤ੍ਰੁ ਸੈਨਾ ਧਾਯੰਤੇ ਗਪਾਲ ਕੀਰਤਨਹ ॥
Bicẖarṯė nirabẖ­yaʼn saṯar sainā ḏẖā­yanṯė gopāl kīraṯneh.
They walk fearlessly through the armies of their enemies; they attack them with the Kirtan of God's Praises.

ਜਿਤਤੇ ਬਿਸ੍ਵ ਸੰਸਾਰਹ ਨਾਨਕ ਵਸ੍ਯ੍ਯੰ ਕਰੋਤਿ ਪੰਚ ਤਸਕਰਹ ॥੨੯॥
Jiṯṯė bisav sansārah Nānak vas­yaʼn karoṯ pancẖ ṯaskarahi. ||29||
They conquer the entire world, O Nanak, and overpower the five thieves. ||29||


You don't stand a chance against this gift of love.