Posted on 10/07/2005 1:23:08 PM PDT by TBP
ENSAAF today released its report, Punjab Police: Fabricating Terrorism through Illegal Detention and Torture (June 2005 to August 2005) (http://www.ensaaf.org/ft-report.html). This report details human rights violations committed by Indian security forces in recent militancy-related arrests. From June 2005 to August 2005, Indian police claim to have arrested several dozen individuals intent on reviving or supporting militancy in Punjab. These arrests center around the apprehension of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the main accused in the 1995 assassination of Punjab’s chief minister.
In August and September 2005, ENSAAF documented 28 cases of detention of Punjabis accused of militancy-related activities. Its study reveals that, in contravention of international and domestic laws, Indian security forces routinely resorted to illegal and incommunicado detention. Further, the Punjab police frequently tortured the detainees. Torture methods included electric shocks, tearing the legs apart at the waist and causing pelvic and muscle injury, and pulling out the hair and beard of the detainees, among other techniques. The police also threatened and detained immediate family members of the targeted individual.
“The majority of detainees whose experiences are discussed in this report remain in the custody of Indian security forces and continue to be at risk of illegal detention and torture, among other custodial abuses,” said ENSAAF Executive Director, Jaskaran Kaur. “Government officials have not publicly acknowledged, investigated, or redressed the violations,” she said.
The Indian police have constructed and presented elaborate stories of thwarted militant crimes, recovered weapons, captured human bombs, and the discovery of an international network to revive militancy in Punjab. These stories have concealed the escalation in human rights abuses committed in the name of national security and indicate that police fabricated evidence to support criminal charges. Because of conflicting reports between the government and families of detainees regarding dates and circumstances of arrest and detention, these cases should be investigated immediately by an impartial body.
ENSAAF (http://www.ensaaf.org) is a 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that fights impunity in India. We work to bring perpetrators to justice, investigate and expose human rights violations, and organize survivors to engage in advocacy. ENSAAF has four programs: Community Organizing, Documentation & Education, Legal Advocacy, and United Nations. ENSAAF, which means justice in many South Asian languages, acts to implement the international rights to knowledge, justice, and reparation.
Watch out for the Indian Nationalists on this website going after you....
Not to mention that they're also one of the highest female infanticide country after China and they don't have a one child policy, so you can only blame the culture:
"According to a recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India' s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. In most countries in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males. In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship. However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop."
http://www.indianchild.com/abortion_infanticide_foeticide_india.htm
This is similar to the liberal complaints about the USA and Gitmo.
No need.....your agenda is transparent for allcto see. You use a liberal/leftist organization's findings to smear India. You must also agree with Ted Kennedy's analysis of Gitmo.
No need.....your agenda is transparent for all to see. You use a liberal/leftist organization's findings to smear India. You must also agree with Ted Kennedy's analysis of Gitmo.
Did you check out who is on their board> Khalistani terrorists and ACLU members. Great credentials for an article on FR.....well done.
Thanks for the heads-up, pganini. I've tangled with that crowd before and they always lose. They never use facts, merely invective. You'd think they'd learn after a while, wouldn't you?
In your mind, is it possible to be a Khalistani and not a terrorist?
To answer one question, I believe that it is possible to be Khalistani and not be a terrorist exaclty as it is possible to be a member of ACLU and possess integrity, an illegal immigrant in the US and a honest person, a member of DU and a decent human being.
So what's that got to do with the price of tea in China?
Gotta go now. Maybe Monday.
Manish
Then why do you smear the posters there as being uniformly "Khalistani terrorists"?
Do you believe that teh Sikhs who were arrested for making pro-Khalistani speeches and raising the Khalistani flag, both on Republic Day in January and at the Golden Temple in June, are terrorists? Do you believe that their protest is legitimate?
The Indian government routinely smears anyone who seeks independence from India as a "terrorist," yet here is another case of the Inidian government's own terrorist activity and no one seems to want to do anything but smear the organization that put it out.
I didn't smear anyone. Please check my posts before making that charge
I do not give the protesters much credence because I do not believe they represent the views of even a small fraction of the Sikh population in India. I do care that they have the right to free speech and the right to express their opinions and I do not like to see them arrested for doing that.
You and I both know that Khalistan is a non-starter. I do not defend the role of the Indian government in what happened in the 80s and 90s, nor do I condone what the Khalistanis did. But the fact that the movement died down so completely indicates to me that (a) It had no sustainable mass support, (b)The Sikhs are/were content to be with India, (c)The Khalistani 'leaders' of today are not representative of any mass movement.
You said all the posters there were ACLU types or "Khalistani terrorists." Your words. Then you say that you don't agree with the Inidian governmetn's characterization that whoever supports Khalistan is a terrorist. So on what basis do you describe all the posters as "terrorists" and why do you maintain it is NOT a smear?
I do not give the protesters much credence because I do not believe they represent the views of even a small fraction of the Sikh population in India.
Then why won't the Indian government, whcih says it's democratic, hold a simple vote on the question? If India is a democracy and if there is little or no support for Khalistan, why not simply prove the point the democratic way, by voting?
I do care that they have the right to free speech and the right to express their opinions and I do not like to see them arrested for doing that.
Good. We're in agreement there. It does tend to do damage to India's democrtic image, doesn't it? Why do things like this keep happening, years after the government claims that it has suppressed the Kahlistan movement?
You and I both know that Khalistan is a non-starter.
Is that why former Member of Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann has shifted back to supporting Khalsitan? Seems like an odd thing for a politician to do. Is that why over 30,000 marched with Dal Khalsa through the streets demanding Khalistan? Is that why former Member of Parliament Atinder Pal Singh's seminar on Khalsitan was well-attended? There has been a rising of open Khalistan sentiment in Punjab lately. Perhaps that is what those arrests were for, to keep the Khalsitani sentiment that has been bubbling up suppressed.
Unless you show me exactly where I said this, there is no point in this debate. Please do not attribute to me comments that I have not made.
Ok, error there. The remark was from indcons, in post 7. It was not yours.
Ok, error there. The remark was from indcons, in post 7. It was not yours.
Ok, error there. The remark was from indcons, in post 7. It was not yours. He was the one I was asking if all the Khalistanis are terrorists.
Sorry for the multiple posts. The screen didn't give me any indication that it was actually posting the comment.
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