Columnists
The Anatomy of A War Crime:
The Indian Army in Amritsar
SARBPREET SINGH
This is the THIRD in a new series on sikhchic.com by the author to mark the 30th anniversary of the Indian Army’s desecration of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
These beautiful words are from the pen of Rabindranath Tagore, poet extraordinaire, humanist and nationalist, who advocated for Indian independence and dreamed of India as a proud, free and enlightened nation that would be driven by reason and compassion.
As we approach Tagore’s birth anniversary, more than a hundred years after his famous poem, Chitto Jetha Bhayashunyo, which appears above in translation, was first published, it is difficult to reconcile his soaring idealism with what the ‘largest democracy in the world’ has become.
Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention defines war crimes as:
Wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including ... wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial, ... taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.
Civilians or non-combatants in any conflict clearly and unequivocally fall in the category of protected persons.
In modern times, the Hague Tribunal, an ad hoc court that functions under the aegis of the UN, has played a key role in prosecuting war crimes. The statutes of The Hague tribunal that focused on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia provide examples of violations of the laws of war that it was empowered to prosecute:
• Wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity
• Attack, or bombardment, by whatever means, of undefended towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings
• Seizure of, destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts and sciences, historic monuments and works of art and science
• Plunder of public or private property.
The tribunal also defined crimes against humanity committed in armed conflict but directed against a civilian population. Article 5 of its statutes provides examples of such crimes:
• Murder
• Extermination
• Enslavement
• Deportation
• Imprisonment
• Torture
• Rape
• Persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds.
On September 16, 1985, Steven Weisman of the New York Times filed the following report:
New Delhi, India -- September 15, 1985: The Indian Government has banned a report on violence in Punjab state and
arrested two people involved in putting out the report.
The report, published by a group called Citizens for Democracy, charges that the Government has been the major cause of bloodshed in the state, which has been the focus of an often violent agitation by Sikhs for greater autonomy.
Government officials said the report was banned and copies were seized and destroyed last week because of the sensitive situation in the state, where an election is to be held September 25.
But leaders of the opposition to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi charged that the Government was trying to suppress political dissent. Chandra Shekhar, president of the Janata Party, said Mr. Gandhi was engaged in ''sustained attempts to suppress the civil rights of the people.''
The two people arrested were B. D. Pancholi, a co-author, and O. M. Prakash Gupta, an owner of the press where the 144-page report was printed. A police report charged that four other co-authors, as well as a respected judge who wrote the forward, were also guilty of sedition, but they were not arrested …
The new report, titled 'Oppression in Punjab,' contains a foreword by Judge V. M. Tarkunde, which accuses the Government of ''inhuman barbarities'' against the people of Punjab.
It asserts that 'clearly innocent' people have been arrested and that the police in the state had carried out 'sadistic torture, ruthless killings, fake encounters, calculated ill treatment of women and children, and corruption and graft on a large scale.'
The report, published by the Indian civil rights organization, Citizens for Democracy, is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about human rights and oppression by the State.
Thirty years after Operation Blue Star, it is particularly important for young Sikhs, who have no memory of those turbulent times, to become intimately familiar with the report; not just because it documents a dark episode in modern Sikh history, but because of an important lesson it contains.
When Guru Nanak, five hundred years ago, thundered against the atrocities committed by the Central Asian invader Babar, he laid the foundation of an important tradition in Sikhism: unequivocal opposition to oppression and standing up for the rights of the oppressed.
The Gurus that followed strengthened the tradition; the Ninth Master confronted the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and sacrificed his life agitating for the religious freedom of oppressed Hindus and Guru Gobind Singh institutionalized the principle by bestowing upon his followers, the Kirpan, the Sword of Mercy and Justice, which was eternally dedicated to the fight against oppression.
The fight against oppression was universal.
It was profoundly more than an attempt at self-preservation. The identity of the victims did not matter.
The report, Oppression In Punjab, is particularly valuable because it epitomizes this fundamental Sikh value – a concern for others.
The authors were Amiya Rao, Arubindo Ghose, Sunil Bhattacharya, Tejinder Ahuja and N.D.Pancholi: mostly non-Sikhs, who put their lives and liberty in great peril by fearlessly reporting what had actually happened to the Sikhs in Operation Blue Star and exposing the lies of the Indian Government.
Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh would have been proud of these men! They understood the ethos of the Kirpan better than most Sikhs do today!
Thirty years after Operation Blue Star, as we reflect upon the events that shook us to the core, it is tremendously important for all Sikhs to reflect upon the courage of these men. But for their actions, and those of a handful of other fearless reporters, the war crimes committed in Amritsar in June 1984 would have been smothered by the Goebbelsian propaganda machine of the Indian Government, which hastily published its infamous ‘White Paper’ in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star in a shameless attempt to whitewash the tragedy that it was.
Painful as it is, with the benefit of thirty years of hindsight, it is abundantly clear, from the Citizens For Democracy report, which was exclusively based on eyewitness interviews conducted immediately after the events of June, that war crimes were committed.
Some of the most harrowing testimony is from a young woman identified only as a ‘girl student’ in the report to protect her identity; in this excerpt, the young woman recounts what happened in the aftermath of the attack:
On June 6 [1984] at o'clock in the evening, they announced a relaxation in the curfew for one hour. Meanwhile, we went through some devious lanes and managed to take shelter in a house which was some distance from the Golden Temple. The Army people announced that everyone should come out. So we came out.
There were about 27-28 persons with us, 5 of them ladies, some elderly men, the rest young boys. The Army made all of us stand in queue. There were 13 boys out of which three I claimed to be my brothers. I did not know them from before. I merely wanted to save them.
I don't know why, perhaps because they thought the three boys were part of our family but the Army released these three boys. They went away.
Out of the remaining male youths, they picked out four and took off their turbans with which they tied their hands behind their backs. Then the Army men beat these four Sikh boys with the butts of their rifles till they fell on the ground and started bleeding. They kept telling the boys all along, "you are terrorists. You were coming from inside. You were taking part in the action. You will be shot."
These boys were shot dead right in front of me. Their age was between 18 and 20 years. I did not know who they were -- circumstances had brought us together by chance. Whenever I recollect that scene, I seem to lose my bearings.
Then they (the Army people) surrounded me and started questioning me. I told my grandmother not to speak a word to them as they were speaking only with bullets. I asked them whether they had come to protect us or to finish us. I said my grandfather was a colonel in the Army ... The Army man ... in charge then asked his colleagues to leave me and my family members. He told me to go away quickly. And so we were saved.
This is only one of numerous reports about unarmed civilians being shot by the Indian Army. The document provides instance after instance of such abuse, based on eyewitness interviews.
Other credible sources have corroborated these stories, making it abundantly clear that war crimes, as defined by the Geneva Convention and the Hague Tribunal, were clearly committed.
The report clearly documents the destruction of the Sikh Reference Library which contained irreplaceable ancient manuscripts and artifacts, well after the operation as over.
There are reports of rampant looting of property by Indian Army soldiers, a fact angrily denied by General K.S.Brar, who directed the operation in a recent television interview.
The reality of Operation Bluestar is out there; it is not hidden; it is readily accessible to anyone who has the courage to seek it out.
The time has come for India, ‘the largest democracy in the world’, a proud nation that aspires to be one of the future leaders of the world, to confront this shameful chapter in her history and bring those responsible for war crimes to account while some of the perpetrators are still alive.
This alone can in some measure revive the lofty vision that Rabindranath Tagore set forth for his then yet to be born nation.
https://twitter.com/sarbpreetsingh
May 12, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Kaala Singh (Punjab), May 12, 2014, 12:42 PM.
The Indian State is guilty of serious crimes against not just its Sikh minority but other minorities as well. The massive human rights violations carried out by the Indian State against the Sikhs call for serious world attention. This is a state that masquerades as a "democracy" and on the basis of that demands a permanent seat in the UN Security council and special treatment from the world powers, such as vis-a-vis the nuclear deal and access to sensitive dual-use high technology that it is incapable of developing on its own. India is still the major beneficiary of international aid and high technology trade that has helped it develop nuclear, space and defence capabilities. A state incapable of providing security to its own people and in its own capital city who are massacred in their thousands does not deserve a seat in the UN security council and does not deserve special treatment from the world. India is signatory to the Anti-Genocide Treaty, a treaty that requires its members to stop any genocide taking place on their territory and if its happens, to pursue the culprits vigorously and punish them to the maximum extent of the law, like Germany did after the Jewish Holocaust. Contrary to this, India has not only carried out massive state-sponsored genocides but also protects the culprits to this day. This is a serious violation of the international law. A country that does not respect the rights of its minorities, does not respect the international law and violates every aspect of civilized behaviour needs to be held accountable by the international community.
2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), May 12, 2014, 3:37 PM.
We are aware of Operation Blue Star, the pogrom in Dehli and the massacre of Sikh youth for an entire decade. Many however are not aware of the killings of innocent Sikhs which took place immediately after the Harmandar Sahib was destroyed. More needs to be done to highlight the fact that the Indian army murdered and tortured Sikh men long after they had occupied the Harmandar Sahib.
3: Hardev Singh (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada), May 13, 2014, 1:04 AM.
There are a number of countries in Africa, Latin America and a few in Asia and Europe which established some form of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. Their purpose was to come to terms with past wrong-doing, express sorrow and remorse and seek forgiveness from the victims in order to bring to a closure the sordid chapters of their history. South Africa and Rwanda under their wise leadership are notable ones. On the other hand India, despite its ancient civilization, religiosity and other pious self-proclamations, stands out in stark contrast to others. It is guilty and stands accused not only in perpetrating horrendous crimes on its disadvantaged classes, peasantry and minorities but also in its adamant refusal to acknowledge wrong-doing let alone provide any justice or a sense of closure. The sham commissions of inquiry only exonerated the guilty and in fact helped promote them to higher positions. Blood stains do not wash easily. Unless expiated, guilt like a sore wound will fester and grow with its unbearable weight on the conscience. Sleep gives in to nightmares as the hellish demons keep dancing around the perpetrators. Thirty years and the voices against injustice have passed on to the next generation, only to grow larger and louder. There is no place to hide.
4: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), May 13, 2014, 2:25 PM.
In South America and South Africa, the regimes which perpetrated the horrendous crimes against the citizens of these nations were toppled or replaced with a new regime. This did not happen in India. The butchers of Sikhs in the streets of Delhi gave the Congress party a new lease with a resounding majority vote by the Hindus. In South America and South Africa there was a collective experience that the entire population was able to draw on to help the truth and reconciliation inquiries. In India, the entire country's envy and hatred was directed towards a single minority group, one which was different from the majority in every way imaginable. There was and continues to be no sympathy for the innocent Sikhs who were murdered.
5: M. C. (Ithaca, New York, USA), May 13, 2014, 3:52 PM.
Remembering the 1984 massacre is extremely important for the next generation of Indians, who are already beginning to forget the lessons of that dreadful year. I still don't know why those among the Congress leadership who had direct links to the atrocities are walking free today. I'm a Muslim, but this concerns us all, because less than twenty years later, something very similar happened in Gujarat. May God protect the minorities of India, whether they're Sikh, Muslim, or Christian.
6: Kaala Singh (Punjab), May 13, 2014, 7:48 PM.
The incidents of 1984 should teach Sikhs that they are on their own. That nobody will come to help when the Sikhs are attacked and murdered, though it is expected that oppressed groups find support from the civil society and the international community when such horrendous crimes against humanity are committed. Nothing can be expected from the Indian "civil society". It is interesting to recall a recent incident when a young woman was violated and the demonstrations, candlelight vigils and protests that took place. In 1984, thousands of Sikh women were violated and tortured and there was no reaction from the Indian civil society. Nobody was ever brought to justice. These are not the ways of a truly democratic or civilized society. This is a society that is completely communalized and is pleased when minorities are massacred. Internationally, the foreign policies of countries are guided by trade and business, human rights issues are conveniently forgotten when deals worth billions are signed. Sikhs should look at ways to strengthen and defend themselves, bearing in mind that nobody else will come to help, they will continue to be sitting ducks if 1984 was to repeat itself. A lot of people still wonder how the Sikh leaders in 1947 merged with India without any negotiations and an agreement to safeguard their interests and completely sacrificed their ability to defend themselves, considering the fiendish history of this sub-continent.
7: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), May 14, 2014, 12:52 AM.
@6 Kaala Singh: The Sikhs did to some extent negotiate and try to get safeguards. We were promised a place in India where Sikhs would be given a place where they would be given special consideration. We didn't get it. Even if the Sikh leaders had Nehru sign on paper on national television he still would have reneged. It is amazing that Kashmir got the status that the Sikhs were entitled too.
8: Kaala Singh (Punjab), May 14, 2014, 3:33 AM.
@7 Sunny: This shows the political sophistication of the Kashmir leadership who negotiated and secured a Constitutional guarantee in the form of Article 370, while it was under attack from Pakistani forces. This is the legal basis of their merger with the Indian Union and they have threatened several times to go to the UN and international courts if the conditions of this agreement are not met. So, they have a strong case, whereas in the case of Sikhs there is nothing. Take the case of Texas, which negotiated with the US and secured an agreement where they can become independent at any time. Or take the case of Quebec. With us, we have a whole nation of 30 million people who surrendered and there is no written agreement! This shows the incompetence of the Sikh leadership of those times who could negotiate from a position of strength and could secure a better agreement as they had the option to join Pakistan or become independent.
9: M K S (New York City, USA), May 14, 2014, 2:21 PM.
We've lost each time because of our numbers. Even with the mistakes made by our leadership, if we had a larger population we'd be in a much better position than now. This is especially true in a democracy where the majority can suppress the minority without any guilt because of one-man, one-vote theory. And especially true in pseudo-democracies like India, which have no built-in safe guards for minorities. I can't emphasize enough how we need to add to our numbers through higher birth rate and Sikhi parchaar and voluntary conversions into the fold. Unfortunately most Sikhs think it shows sophistication to have small families and confuse parchaar with 'forced conversions'. Or argue 'we need Quality, not Quantity' to which my response is 'Quality comes from Quantity'. The law of averages is a simple mathematical fact.
10: Darshan Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), May 15, 2014, 9:02 AM.
I have read all the comments above. I do agree with #8 and #9. My children can empathize with what what happened to India's Sikhs in 1984 and that is it. I met youth from Punjab working here, especially the Sikhs (in their 20s) to discuss the same issue but they are not interested. They felt the issue sometimes is sensitive because within their family they have a hindu bhabi or their uncle is a hindu, etc. So if the majority of the Punjabis are not interested to change for better what shall we do, or better still, what shall Punjabi Sikhs do to start a Raj again in Punjab? Nothing has happened during the last 30 years that has brought thundering results to shake the government of the day. In fact it is the opposite. I am of the opinion that to make Sikhs and Punjab great we need to create a new "maharaja" in Punjab. How? Let's find a true Sikh who can lead the Sikhs in Punjab in the next state election. This role shall be played by the international Sikh groups together with the local Punjabis who want to save Punjab. Choose, train and make him/her in whatever way to be an excellent leader, educate him/her the way of western democracies but with the local culture. Let's create a new party with humanity, justice, progressive, anti-corruption, etc., as the manifesto. Let's all provide funds and make it grow big and popular before the next state election. Promote him/her and the new party. The purpose? If elected this leader will make changes as he/she has been educated and he/she shall be able to negotiate with the central government for the rights of the Sikhs in Punjab. If he/she is bold he/she can hold certain powers, including asking Sikh youth to stay away from joining the army, etc.