People's Commission Summons 124 Policemen To The November 28 Meeting
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, November 10, 1998 - According to a PTI (Press Trust of India) report published in the Indian media yesterday (November 9) "detractors" have warned that "they would disturb the proceedings of the Punjab People's Commission" which is planning to meet in Amritsar, on November 28, 1998, to hear the version of those Punjab Police officials against whom complains of human rights violations have been filed by the public with that newly constituted impartial non-governmental body. An earlier sitting of the People's Commission, headed by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice D.S. Tewatia, took place in Chandigarh in August 1998.The People's Commission Convenor, Mr. Ram Narayan Kumar announced that the commission had issued summons to 524 (yes 524) persons, including police personnel in 124 cases. Among those policemen who figure in the list of 124 officers summoned are:- DIG's (Deputy Inspector General's) Rajan Gupta and Suresh Arora; SSPs, A.P. Pandey, Dinkar Gupta, Harinder Singh Chahal, Mohammed Mustafa, Mohd. Izhar Alam, Raj Kishen Bedi, Sumedh Saini, Sumant Kumar Goel, Sita Ram and Swaran Singh. Briefing the media in Jalandhar yesterday Mr. Kumar said that the Director General of Punjab Police, Mr P.C. Dogra has asked the commission for more information on cases being investigated. Speaking on the constitution of the People's Commission Mr. Kumar said that; "it was legally valid under Article 19, which gave the People's Commission the right to get the truth of mass cremations by the Punjab Police".
It may be recalled by our readers that the People's Commission is investigating state terrorism during the decade long militancy in Indian Occupied Punjab. The mass cremations of thousands of Sikhs that took place, and for which Human Rights activist Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra was murdered by the Punjab Police, are being considered as police excesses. Even the Indian Supreme Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter on the basis of two writ petitions. A writ petition by the Committee for information and initiative on Pun jab sought comprehensive remedial measures for the (cremation) outrage and a hebeaus corpus petition was also moved by the wife of Mr. Jaswant Singh Khalra whose husband had moved the original petition. As a result Mr. Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted by the Punjab Police in September 1995 and remains untraced although every one believes that he was murdered. Mr. Khalra had unearthed clinching evidence about the extra judicial killings by the police and the disposal of those who were killed through the "unclaimed" cremations procedure.
Pursuant to the Supreme Court's order the reports filed by the CBI to that Apex Court; disclosed; "a flagrant violation of human rights on a mass scale". The Supreme Court passed an order, on December 12, 1996 referring the whole matter to the National Human Rights Commission calling it "the appropriate body for the purpose" and also directing the CBI "to continue investigations with a view to prosecute the guilty officials". Two years have passed and nothing happened nor any significant change took place in the government's stand despite a change in Indian occupied Punjab from a Congress to an Akali government led by a "Sikh", Parkash Singh Badal.
The People's Commission was formed as a consequence. The Commission alleges, and rightly so, that; "the state's intransigence in the face of convincing proof of its violations is proof of its compulsive need to defend the misdeeds of its agents (read Punjab Police) and a singular lack of will to protect its subjects from abuse and indignity has now hardened into a principle of governance." The Convenor of the People's Commission, Mr. Ram Narayan Kumar has said many a time that; "any bonafide government would wish for a proper inquiry into such extraordinary events. Either way, whether the government is concerned or its violations established, such an inquiry should be vital to the health of the polity." To educate the public the People's Commission is organizing a seminar in Jalandhar on Sunday, November 15, 1998, which according to Kumar will; "create awareness, understanding and comprehension on issues in which truth , justice and possibilities of reforms do not get sacrificed on the alter of prejudice, sectarianism and a totalitarian view of the state in which rights of the people do not count."
Instead of condemning the "detractors" threat, mentioned in paragraph 1 above, who plan to terrorize the November 28 Amritsar meeting of the People's Commission (see report in THE TRIBUNE Chandigarh headlined; "PEOPLE'S COMMISSION SUMMONS 124 COPS") the Quisling Chief Minister of Indian Occupied Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, (after twiddling his thumb for two years and ignoring the emotional issue which concerns every Sikh) told PTI (Press Trust of India news agency) yesterday - November 9, 1998 - that; "The government was ready to empower the State Human Rights Commission to listen to old complaints of rights violations and there was no need for independent initiatives like the "People's Commission". The state government was ready to empower the State Human Rights Commission to listen to old complaints of rights violations and there was no need for independent initiatives like "People's Commission". The state government was ready to amend the Punjab state Human Rights Commission Act which , in its current form does not take cognizance of more than one-year old rights violation complaints." The PTI quotes Badal as having boasted that; "notwithstanding the activities of fora such as `People's Commission', the moral of the security forces in the state was very high". Perhaps some friend of Badal will repeat to him a line from Jonathan Swift's, Thoughts on various subjects, "I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to seem them not ashamed".