Khalistan Calling newsletter dated April 02, 2003

The three million strong diaspora Sikhs, unlike their 21 million compatriots captive in India, are free and prosperous and they are determined - as they believe it is their destiny and pray for it every day; Raj Karayga Khalsa; Sikhs will rule - to create a sovereign, democratic, egalitarian Sikh buffer state of KHALISTAN in South Asia, stretching from the Jumna river on the East, to the Pakistan border on the West, China on the Northeast and Kashmir on the North, playing its God-given role of a granary for countries of Central Asia and acting as a 'bridge of prosperity' between Central and South Asia.

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along with the Christian, Muslim, Dalit and other minorities?

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Washington DC: April 02, 2003: The US State Department in its annual Country Report on Human Right Practices for the year 2002, released here yesterday, has warned, (Sikhs please note) that, "Attacks on religious minorities occurred in several states (in India) which brought into question the government's ability to prevent sectarian and religious violence", which, we believe, will lead that country into (to repeat Mr. Winston Churchill's presciently words) a "ferocious ethnic war and reduce India to the deepest depths of Oriental tyranny and despotism." Please also see Khalistan Calling dated April 03, 2002, headlined, "Wake up Call for Sikhs in India", by clicking on the following link: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc04032002.htm <

The US State department report for the year 2002, covering almost 200 countries, said respect for human rights was generally good in Latin America, but it listed six countries where rights conditions were considered "poor" - Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Venezuela. The State Department annual report, deeply resented by some foreign governments, assesses the performance of every country in the world except the United States on protecting rights such as freedom of religion, speech and political _expression.

About INDIA the State Department's Country report on Human Rights Practices - 2002 (> http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18311pf.htm <) said that significant human rights abuses included, and we quote verbatim, "Significant human rights abuses included: Extrajudicial killings, including faked encounter killings, deaths of suspects in police custody throughout the country, and excessive use of force by security forces combating active insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and several northeastern states; torture and rape by police and other agents of the Government; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast; continued detention throughout the country of thousands arrested under special security legislation; lengthy pretrial detention without charge; prolonged detention while undergoing trial; occasional limits on freedom of the press and freedom of movement; harassment and arrest of human rights monitors; extensive societal violence against women; legal and societal discrimination against women; forced prostitution; child prostitution and female infanticide; discrimination against persons with disabilities; serious discrimination and violence against indigenous people and scheduled castes and tribes; widespread intercaste and communal violence; religiously motivated violence against Muslims and Christians; widespread exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labor; and trafficking in women and children." End Quote.

The State Departrment report also charged that, "Attacks on religious minorities occurred in several states (in India) which brought into question the government's ability to prevent sectarian and religious violence. The worst religious violence during the year was directed against the Muslim minority by the Hindu majority in Gujarat. It was alleged widely that the police and the state government in Gujarat did little to stop the violence promptly and at times even encouraged or assisted Hindu fundamentalists in perpetrating violent acts." Please see Khalistan Calling dated March 20, 2002, headlined, "Sikhs empathize with the victims of state-terrorism in Gujarat state," by clicking at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc03202002.htm < and > Khalistan Calling dated May 01, 2002, headlined, "Human Rights Watch Report indicts Indian Official for Gujarat genocide," at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc05012002.htm <

The US State Department report made mention (on page 07) of the pattern of disappearances in the Punjab in early 1990's and dedicated a few lines to the murder of Human Rights activist Sirdar Jaswant Singh Khalra but ignored the judicial farce played by the Indian government and judiciary to release all the accused who organized and took part in the November 1984 mass murder of Sikhs in Delhi (in which state-sponsored pogrom over ten thousand innocent Sikh men, women and children were murdered nay butchered) and all the guilty have been exhonerated. Read Khalistan Calling dated December 18, 2002, headlined, "Delhi court exhonerates the major-domo of the November 1984, anti-Sikh pogrom, Congress party leader Sajjan Kumar, in which thousands of Sikhs were murdered by Hindu mobs.": > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc12252002.htm <

The report said Israel's human rights record in the occupied territories remained poor, and worsened in several areas as it continued to commit "numerous, serious human rights abuses. "The State Department criticized Israeli and Palestinian authorities yesterday for widespread abuses in their conflict, and denounced China for what it said was a long list of rights violations. On Israel, the report said the country's overall human rights record in the occupied territories remained poor, and worsened in several areas as it continued to commit "numerous, serious human rights abuses." "Security forces killed at least 990 Palestinians and two foreign nationals and injured 4,382 Palestinians and other persons during the year, including innocent bystanders," the report said. It said Israeli security forces targeted and killed at least 37 Palestinian terror suspects.

In Pakistan, a key ally in the war on terrorism, the report said the government's rights record remained poor. "In general police continued to commit serious abuses with impunity," it said. On China, the report said abuses included "instances of extrajudicial killings, torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, lengthy incommunicado detention and denial of due process." The administration normally tries to censure China on human rights grounds at the annual meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva currently presided over by the Libyan representative. The meeting is in its third week, and the administration has yet to disclose its plans there on China.

``The question we have not yet figured out is what is the future? Is that (progress in) 2002 the future or is the last couple of months the future,'' said Lorne Craner, the assistant secretary of state responsible for the report. ``The purpose of a resolution is to elicit progress ... and that is what we are wrestling with.''

Despite Mr. Lorne Craner's above comment the State Department report was silent about the future. About the rise of the Neo-Nazi fundamentalist-Hindutva 'Frankenstein' riding 'Rathyatras" in India which is leading that country into (to repeat Mr. Winston Churchill's presciently words) a "ferocious ethnic war". Comments that great man made to Lord Lytton in 1930 when he warned that, "handing over power to the Hindus (whom he described as, 'a foul race protected by their polution from the doom that is their due') would reduce India to the deepest depths of Oriental tyranny and despotism." Quotes from the 1995 book, "Churchill - The Unruly Giant", by Norman Rose, published by Free Press New York - ISBN 0-02-874009-2.

We respectfully suggest that US Assistant Secretary of State, Lorne Craner, who did a fairly good job with the State Department's 2002 Human Rights Report should read what Mr. Winston Churchill has predicted and pay particular attention in the year 2003 to the rise of Neo-Nazi Hindutva Fundamentalism in India which 'is as much a country' - to use Mr. Winston Churchill's famous words - 'as the Equator'.

Khalistan Calling weekly newsletter can be viewed on the South Asia Tribune site at: > http://www.satribune.com >

by clicking on the 'SIKH CORNER" on the Front Page. It can also be seen at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc04022003.htm <. The above newsletter has been published in the leading Punjabi-English newspaper of the Sikh diaspora, Surrey Canada-based CHARHDI KALA, Issue of April 02 - 08, 2003 :: Vol. 19 : No. 14. Last week's Khalistan Calling is available on the Khalistan Affairs Centre website at: ( > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc03262003.htm <) The Khalistan Calling newsletter was also published in the first week of April 2003, in the Vancouver-based PUNJAB GUARDIAN, and Akal Guardian, Toronto-based SANJH SAVERA, Calgary-based SIKH VIRSA and numerous other Punjabi/English weekly and monthly publications which cater to the three million strong Sikh diaspora in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia.

> www.khalistan-affairs.org <

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