TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i FREQUENTLY USED TERMS ii Acronyms .............................................................................................................. ii Glossary................................................................................................................. ii I. INTRODUCTION 1 Summary of Conclusions 4 II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 11 III. LINES OF AUTHORITY AND THE APPLICABLE LAW 27 The Applicable Law 32 IV. VIOLATIONS BY GOVERNMENT FORCES 35 Extrajudicial Executions 37 Encounter Killing in Mohali 43 Encounter Killings in Kotla Ajner 47 Other Incidents of Encounter Killings 53 Disappearances 89 Torture110 Arbitrary Arrest and Detention without Trial148 The National Security Act152 The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act153 The Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act157 Freedom of the Press167 V. VIOLATIONS BY MILITANTS170 Executions of Civilians177 Massacre in Islamabad, Amritsar178 Killings in Bhikiwind179 Other Killings and Threats to Hindu Punjabis181 Attacks on Journalists189 Indiscriminate Attacks on Civilians....................................................... 194 Assassinations of Political and Religious Leaders197 Kidnapping203 VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS205 APPENDIX209 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was written by Patricia Gossman, research associate for Asia Watch, on the basis of research undertaken during a fact-finding mission to Punjab and New Delhi, India, by Gossman and James A. Goldston, an attorney, in November and December 1990. It was edited by April Bernard, Aryeh Neier, executive director of Human Rights Watch, and Goldston. Mary McCoy assisted with the production of this manuscript. We are grateful to those in Punjab and New Delhi, who assisted us in our work, particularly the residents of Punjab who overcame fear and terror to provide us with information. We are especially grateful to our colleagues in the human rights community in India, without whose advice and assistance this report would not have been possible. The conclusions we have drawn are the responsibility of Asia Watch alone. i FREQUENTLY USED TERMS Acronyms AISSF - All India Sikh Students Federation ASI - Assistant Subinspector BJP - Bharatiya Janata Party BSF - Border Security Force CIA - Central Interrogation Agency CPI - Communist Party of India CRPF - Central Reserve Police Force DGP - Director General of Police DIG - Deputy Inspector General FIR - First Information Report MP - Member of Parliament NSA - National Security Act PHRO - Punjab Human Rights Organisation SGPC - Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee SI - Subinspector SHO - Station House Officer SP - Superintendent of Police SSP - Senior Superintendent of Police TADA - Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act Glossary Akali Dal - Sikh political party bhog - Sikh memorial service Dalit - literally "the oppressed;" refers to "untouchables" or other low-caste or tribal groups gurdwara - Sikh temple Harijan - literally "children of God," "untouchables," those at the bottom of the Hindu caste system kach - breeches worn under outer clothes, one of the five identifying marks of a Sikh. kangha - comb, one of one of the five identifying marks of a Sikh. ii kara - silver bracelet, one of the five identifying marks of a Sikh. kesh - uncut hair and beard, one of the five identifying marks of a Sikh. kirpan - dagger, one of the five identifying marks of Sikh. panchayat - village council panth - Sikh community of believers sarpanch - village headman iii I. INTRODUCTION For more than a decade the state of Punjab in northern India has been in the grip of one of the bloodiest conflicts in India's post-independence history. The origins of the conflict lie in a power struggle between political leaders who represent the state's majority Sikh1 population and central government politicians eager to maintain control over the resources of one of the country's most prosperous states. In the early 1980s, a movement by Sikh leaders for greater autonomy turned violent when some militant Sikhs embarked on a campaign of terror, murdering elected officials, civil servants, and Hindu and Sikh civilians. Nineteen- eighty-four marked a turning point in the conflict. In June of that year, the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikhs' holiest shrine, which had been turned into an armed fortress by the militants. Thousands were killed, most of them civilians. Outraged by the assault, some separatist Sikhs demanded an independent state of Khalistan.2 On October 31, 1984, Sikh bodyguards assassinated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and in the aftermath of her death, mobs slaughtered thousands of Sikhs in New Delhi and other cities across northern India. The connivance of local officials in the massacres and the failure of the authorities to prosecute the killers alienated many ordinary Sikhs who had not previously supported the separatist cause. Since then, the security forces have adopted increasingly brutal methods to stem the insurgency, including arbitrary arrests, torture, prolonged detention without 1 Sikhs represent a small but significant religious minority in India, comprising about 2 percent of the country's 844 million people. In Punjab, they make up approximately 60 percent of the population. See James Clad, "Terrorism's Toll," Far Eastern Economic Review, October 11, 1990, p. 34. They are not a homogeneous community, however, and divisions among them have contributed to the conflict. For more on the origins of Sikhism, see chapter 2. 2 Khalistan means "land of the pure." 1 trial, disappearances and summary killings of civilians and suspected militants. Government troops have also violated the laws of war which prohibit attacks on civilians. At the same time, violence by militant organizations has escalated. Nine major organizations and perhaps a dozen or more smaller groups, acting independently of and sometimes at cross-purposes with one another, have targeted civil servants, journalists and Hindu and Sikh civilians. While the major groups are organized into guerrilla forces with an identifiable command structure, others operate as criminal gangs who find in the political crisis a lucrative business in extortion and arms smuggling. Some of the militants have also flagrantly violated the laws of war prohibiting violence against civilians, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Efforts by Sikh political leaders and central government officials to negotiate a political settlement have had little success. The stalemate has been due in part to the central government's failure to follow through with promised reforms and measures to meet Sikh demands. Moreover, since 1984 the security forces have been granted increased powers to crush the militants, and officials have turned a blind eye to reports of abuse. As a result, while the original demands of Sikh politicians centered on issues of regional autonomy, these concerns have grown in response to the government's repressive policy and now include demands for the release of persons detained without charge, investigations into institutionalized human rights abuses and prosecutions of those responsible for the killings of Sikhs in 1984. For its part, the Sikh political leadership, torn by internal rivalries, has been unwilling to distance itself publicly from the militants. The reasons for this reluctance are clear: Sikh leaders who have negotiated with the government have either lost political power or have been assassinated. By taking up genuine grievances that Sikh politicians had failed to address, and enforcing their will through terror, the militants have all but eliminated any moderate political rivals for power. Violence in the state by all parties reached unprecedented levels in late 1990. By year's end some 4,000 persons were reported to have been killed, and at least half were civilians.3 An Asia Watch delegation visited Punjab and New Delhi 3 There are no consistent figures for the number of persons killed, nor is there any way to determine how many of those killed were civilians. In an article published in India Today, journalist Shekhar Gupta cites government figures of 2 in November and December 1990. The team traveled throughout large parts of the state -- including the particularly violent border districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur -- interviewing lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, farmers, traders and other Punjabis. Asia Watch also interviewed many Hindu families who had fled to relief camps in New Delhi. Subsequently, Asia Watch asked the government of India to respond to a number of questions concerning human rights conditions in Punjab. By the time this report went to print, no response had been received. The findings of the Asia Watch mission are contained in this report, along with recommendations to the government of India and the militant groups operating in Punjab. In this report, Asia Watch has documented 29 extrajudicial executions in which the security forces falsely claimed that the victims were killed in "encounters." In addition, in this report Asia Watch has documented 12 disappearances committed by the security forces, 32 cases of torture by the security forces, and the deaths of seven persons in indiscriminate killings by the security forces. Asia Watch has also identified 45 police officers and other security personnel whom eyewitnesses have named as participating or supervising torture or who were responsible for the detention of persons who were subsequently killed in "encounters" or disappeared. A list