Reduced to Ashes: the Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab First Published, May 2003
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SAFHR Publications SAFHR Paper Series is on contemporary issues of peace and human rights in South Asia. They are in the nature of long essays and dossiers. Till now seven papers have been published under the series. They are: 1. Girl Trafficking in Nepal 2. The Mahakali Integrated Development Treaty – An Evaluation of News Coverage 3. Refugees in South Asia – A Report 4. Those Accords – A Bunch of Document 5. Peace process in Nagaland and Chittagong Hill Tracts - Peace Audit Report 1 6. Protection of Refugees in South Asia - Need for a Legal Framework 7. Ten-Week War in Kargil - From the News File 8. Peace Process in Sri Lanka - Peace Audit Report 2 9. Reporting Conflict - A Radical Critique of the Mass Media by Indian and Pakistani Journalists 10. A Complex Denial: Disappearances, Secret Cremations & The Is- sue of Truth and Justice in Punjab 11. Militarized Hindu Nationalism and the Mass Media 12. Three Essays on Law, Responsibility and Justice 13. The Current History of Peace Politics SAFHR volumes are results of collaborative research and dialogues among partners across borders. The four volumes are: 1. States, Citizens and Outsiders - The Uprooted Peoples of South Asia 2. Living on the Edge – Essays on the Chittagong Hill Tracts. 3. Shrinking Space - Minority Rights in South Asia 4. Women, War and Peace in South Asia - Beyond Victimhood to Agency 5. Open Borders: Women Making Peace – A Report REFUGEE WATCH is a quarterly published by SAFHR on refugees and forced migrants in South Asia. Published from 1998 in collaboration with its partner in Calcutta, Calcutta Research group, REFUGEE WATCH covers news on forced population movements in the region, reflections on sys- tems and institutions of refugee care and protection of refugee rights, and carries voices from exile. South Asia Forum for Human Rights GPO Box 12855, Kathamndu, Nepal Tel: 977-1-541026 Fax: 977-1-527852 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.safhr.org COVER.p65 1 4/27/03, 10:07 PM Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab First published, May 2003 © Ram Narayan Kumar & Amrik Singh All rights reserved. Except for quotations in reviews, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the two au- thors and the publisher. For information, address South Asia Forum for Human Rights, GPO Box 12855, Kathamandu, Nepal. Cover design by Marlyn Tadros, Hendrik van der Berge & Chandra Khatiwada Layout by the printhouse, Kathmandu, Nepal. Printed by Jagadamba Press, Lalitpur, Nepal. Published by South Asia Forum for Human Rights GPO Box 12855 Kathmandu. Nepal Tel: 977-1-5541026 Fax: 977-1-5527852 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.safhr.org ISBN 99933-53-57-4 CONTENTS Contents PREFACE - By Peter Rosenblum I INTRODUCTION - By Tapan Bose II NHRC CHRONOLOGY IX JASWANT SINGH KHALRA: A MARTYR FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 1 Part One: Evidence of Mass Illegal Cremations 3 The Abduction of Jaswant Singh Khalra 6 Intervention by the Supreme Court of India 7 Part Two: Narrative History of Punjab and Human Rights Inspirations 11 The Gadhr Movement 11 Communal Movements and Kartar Singh 15 Partition of Punjab 19 Formative Years of Jaswant Singh Khalra 21 Khalra’s Early Political Activities 24 Indira Gandhi’s Emergency: Sideshows of a Democracy 27 Incongruous Alliances: the Akalis and Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale 28 Indira Gandhi Moves to Consolidate Power 32 Operation Blue Star: The Army Assault 35 Assassination of Indira Gandhi and Delhi Pogroms 41 Abortion of a Peace Accord 45 Election Hopes 48 Poll Boycott 50 Silencing of Human Rights Groups 52 Early Investigations by Jaswant Singh Khalra 53 Senior Officers Threaten Jaswant Singh Khalra 55 Vitriolic Public Exchanges 57 Assassination of the Chief Minister 60 Part Three: Khalra’s Abduction and the CBI’s Investigation 61 The Identification of the Police Officers 62 Campaign against Human Rights Groups 64 Reduced to Ashes Witnesses Face Police Pressure 65 CBI Caves in to Police Impunity 67 Elusive Goals of Justice and Truth 71 IMPUNITY BY ALL MEANS: RIGHTS AND THE DEAD-ENDS OF LAW 73 Part One: The Search for Truth 75 Election Manifesto 75 Recent Examples of Truth Commissions 76 Paradigmatic Examples: Argentina and Chile 77 Popular Co-Agency 82 Part Two: Legislative Apparatus of Counter-insurgency 83 Draconian Laws 83 Examination of Provisions of TADA 84 Point and Counterpoint: Supreme Court Upholds TADA 87 Subordination of Fundamental Rights to the Will of the State 98 Part Three: Punjab Police—Development and Reorganization 100 Origins of the Punjab Police 100 Savage Transformations: Allegations of Undercover Operations 102 Police Vigilante Outfits 104 Gurdev Singh Kaunke 107 Police Quotas for Murders: Interview with an SSP 107 Part Four: People’s Commission and NHRC 108 The People’s Commission and the Clamour for its Ban 108 Political and Legal Arguments For and Against the Ban 110 Origins of the NHRC 114 Four Phases of the Proceedings: Preliminary Questions 115 Conflicts on the Scope of Inquiry 116 Submissions on the Preliminary Issues 117 The Order on the Preliminary Issues 119 Our Suggestions on the Modalities of Further Proceedings 122 Second Phase: The Union Government Returns to the Supreme Court 123 Arguments in a Vicious Circle 124 Deconstruction of a Mandate 125 The Terms of Reference: New Interpretations 126 Limitations on the NHRC Inquiry 128 Our Understanding of the Mandate 129 The Commission Rejects our Review Application 130 Contents Third Phase: The Grounds for Moving the Supreme Court 131 The Light of Further Evidence 131 Empyrean Indifference 132 Third Phase: Withdrawal from Hearings 134 Attempts to Close the Matter 137 Fourth Phase: Restoration of the Restricted Mandate 139 Stalled Proceedings 144 METHODOLOGY 147 The Interview Process 150 A Case for Exclusion 151 Integrity in Fact-Finding 152 Interim Report 153 First Volume 157 ANALYSIS OF CASE SUMMARIES 159 The CBI’s Three Lists of Illegal Cremations 161 Police Powers 170 The use of TADA and the Notion of Criminality 187 Custodial Torture 182 The Indian Armed Forces 191 Victims’ Property 197 The Lower Judiciary and Its Role 199 Medical Note 202 SUMMARIES OF CASES OF ILLEGAL CREMATIONS INCLUDED IN THE CBI LISTS 205 The List of Identified Dead Bodies 207 Cremations in the Police District of Tarn Taran 207 Cremations in the Police District of Amritsar 368 Cremations in the Police District of Majitha 398 The List of Partially Identified Dead Bodies 485 Cremations in the Police District of Tarn Taran 485 Cremations in the Police District of Amritsar 512 Cremations in the Police District of Majitha 520 The List of Unidentified Dead Bodies 535 Reduced to Ashes ENDNOTE: REFLECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 601 APPENDICES i: Press Note on Mass Illegal Cremations 605 II: Incident Report Form 609 III: Maps of Punjab and India 613 IV: Organizational Structure of Punjab Police and 615 Abbreviations of Police Ranks 616 V: December 12, 1996 Supreme Court Order Referring the Matter of Illegal Cremations to the NHRC 617 VI: NHRC Proceeding of 18 August 2000 621 VII: Glossary 623 Sample Pages from the CBI Lists of Illegal Cremations by the Police 625 VIII: Acknowledgments 635 PREFACE his report on disappearances in Punjab is the first published piece in a massive Tand on-going undertaking by a small group of very committed scholars and activists. For more than two years, I have followed their work. At first, I wondered why they were returning to the seemingly settled events of the last decade when new and pressing conflicts threatened individual liberties and personal security in India and beyond. I was also skeptical about their ability to pierce through the thick veils of ideology, intrigue and "state security" that obscure our understanding of the campaign to pacify Punjab. My initial skepticism was appeased by the careful methodology of the research- ers. They systematically collected testimonies from across the region, transcribed them and invested hundreds of hours correlating these with public statements, docu- ments, and officials records. I also acquired a better understanding of the many motivations that animated them: they were not taking sides in a conflict; they did not expect to change history or right a history of wrongs with a single report. Rather, they sought to empower the families of disappeared to reclaim their dignity, to press the institutions of the state to perform their obligations, and to lay the ground work for an honest retelling of a tragic part of recent history. This would already be enough to legitimize the project. But current events in India and the world render the undertaking all the more relevant. When viewed in the light of police, court and crematoria records, the raw material of this report - the hundreds of testimonies - raise serious questions about the state's willingness to honestly address the problem of balancing justice and security. The testimonies tell a story of detainees cremated after their court ordered release, of "disappeared" policemen whose names are consistently forgotten, of high-level policemen who portray a simple story of good vs. evil. Even at a time when TADA reigned su- preme, the few judicial niceties still required appeared to be too much for the forces of law and order. Many of those who designed and implemented the policies in Punjab are still active today. They are treated as authorities on the subject of terrorism. At a time of renewed pressure on both courts and police to stop communal violence and pre- vent terrorism, this report should help enable a full discussion of the costs and benefits of previous action. There are many kinds of human rights reports: There are reports that shame, reports that shock, and reports that inform.