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Human Rights & India: A Sad Saga
That a whole
lot of people's initiatives talk of Human Rights in India is a known
fact. That a whole lot of them came together and decided to forge a
joint front was what gives heart to those at the cutting edge of
many struggles. At a time when the Indian nation state is running
roughshod over those fighting for human rights, be it in Punjab,
Kashmir, Nagaland, Nandigram or Manipur, the Dal Khalsa backed
seminar on "Whither Human Rights In India? An Ethnic Peoples'
Perspective" saw crucial voices deciding to become a chorus. Among
these were top representatives of Dal Khalsa, Jammu and Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF), All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and
Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, besides men of impeccable
integrity and personal sacrifice like Prof. S.A.R. Geelani and
Activist Advocate H.S.Phoolka. We present below the collective and
overarching view of the gathering on the state of human rights in
India.
 Today is indeed a
historic moment, when we have all gathered here to commemorate the
World Human Rights Day. As representatives of struggling peoples and
nations, we have gathered here today to deliberate upon the human
rights conditions in respective areas and chart out common and
specific strategies for conflict resolution in respective homelands.
All the peoples and
nationalities gathered here are God-fearing and devout followers of
their respective faiths and religions.
It is a matter of
great pride that all peoples and nationalities represented here have
a legacy of sovereignty. The Kashmiris, the Nagas, the Manipuri
people and the Sikhs have had self-rule for many years and decades.
The nation states of these peoples had a chequered history about
which we are rightfully proud of.
It is a matter of
regret that all the nationalities assembled here have had their
sovereignty usurped by the Indian state, either by chicanery of
Indian imperialists or by default of their own leadership.
Since
our subjugation in the early fifties of the last century, we have
all experienced slavery, torture and abrogation of our civil,
economic, religious and political rights. At various points in
contemporary history, each one of us has undergone repression in one
form or the other. It has been a matter of degree not of kind. We
have been treated virtually as enemies.
During the last
sixty-seventy years, our political life has undergone a
metamorphosis. Substantial sections of our population and a
sizeable chunk of our leadership have been Indianised and they
participate in every political process of the country. Some of the
revolutionary organisations have also experimented in the past.
Existentialism seems to be the goal of a majority of our peoples.
The Kashmiris,
Manipuris, Nagas and Sikhs have faced the Indian bayonet throughout
the period of Indian independence. The police, the para-military and
the military have been extensively used against all of us at various
times. There is no doubt that independent India has killed more
people extra-judicially than were killed by the British. During the
ninety-eight year British rule, there was not a single custodial
death, whereas now people get killed by the dozen in police custody
without uproar, either from the executive or the judiciary.
Unlawful arrests, illegal detention, custodial deaths, extrajudicial
killings, biased trials and capital punishment have been showered
upon us without reprieve.
All of us have been
governed by a set of laws which cannot stand scrutiny under norms of
criminal jurisprudence, the provisions of the Indian constitution or
the standards set by the UN
 Protocol
on Civil and Political Rights. The impunity enjoyed by the
security forces in each of our respective homelands has emboldened
them beyond control.
From the Delhi of
1984 to the Gujarat of 2002, political parties like the Congress and
the Bharatiya Janta Party have reaped the benefits of political
bigotry and vandalism. We believe that like the leaders, the masses
too who quietly acquiesce to this role of the government are equally
responsible for the sad plight of the regional and religious
minorities and ethnic peoples and nationalities.
A 16-year-old
schoolgirl is disrobed in the middle of the road and made to run on
the streets for a full 45 minutes in the heart of Guwahati, the
capital of Assam. Chanu Sharmila – a frail but determined lady is on
fast for the last six years protesting the Armed Forces Special
Forces Act in Manipur and other parts of the northeast. Wailing
Kashmiri mothers mourn the acts of the Indian army almost every day
and the images are seen in the print media and in sections of the
satellite television. The leading prosecuting agency in the country,
the Central Bureau of Investigation, colludes with high-ranking
leaders and expresses inability to trace key witnesses in the
November 1984 anti-Sikh carnage cases. The agony of the Nagas finds
no mention in more than three-fourths of the country. Indian courts
continue to discriminate between one category of victims and
criminals as compared to the others.
All of us here have
been at the receiving end of the mainstream media, who has ignored
our agony and grief. Notwithstanding our fundamental beliefs,
commitments and facts, a big section of the print and satellite
media has always painted us in a bad light. This it has done either
at the behest of the powers that be or as demonstration of its own
inflated sense of patriotism and bias against minorities. We are
however thankful for small mercies which have given us some solace
from time to time.
Though we have heard
voices of sympathy and empathy from many a quarter, but in totality,
the international community has failed all of us. As a result of the
pressures of modern day politics where self-interest is paramount;
the pain, sufferings and rights of other peoples are not only
secondary but also subject to commercial interests of the country in
question.
Though we should
all take some blame for our inefficacy in lobbying, by and large,
all of us have been effectively ignored by various wings of the
United Nations. At every appropriate forum, the Indian state has
spitted lies after lies about the deteriorating human rights
situation in Kashmir, Punjab, Nagaland and Manipur and all of it has
been lapped up by the august body. The Universal Declaration
for Human Rights is a nice piece of paper which carries no weight
with brown imperialists cocooned in the
 corridors
of power in Delhi. We, however, continue to clutch on it as the last
straw.
Significantly,
though, we have been overtaken by events of history and, even as
some of our own people sometimes question the rationale of our
approach, all representatives of the organizations here are
convinced that the future of our peoples and nations lies in seeking
and obtaining the right to self-determination. Universally, this
right has rarely been exercised but wherever it been, it has reaped
results.
On this occasion,
let us all congratulate the people of Eritrea and East Timor who
have in the recent past gained freedom through a determined armed
struggle and the instrument of self-determination. It is
significant that in each of our cases, our moral, legal and
political lien over our sovereignty still stands.
I think that we
would be failing in our duty if we do not express solidarity with
all other ethnic peoples who are in the thick of formation of their
nation-states in South-Asia, particularly the people of Tamil Eelam.
We should condemn the flagrant violations of the fundamental rights
of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
Some laudable attempts were made in the past by some individuals and
organizations to forge unity among us all but rightly or wrongly,
wittingly or unwittingly, there have never been consistent and
coordinated attempts to wage a determined and joint struggle. To
begin with, let us start exchange and dissemination of information
of human rights violations and arrange for media exposure on a
regular basis. Let us set up a coordinating agency, manned by
representatives of all our organizations. In keeping with the times,
let us put to effective use
 latest
technologies, including the internet, to reinforce and focus on the
rights of all constituents present here today.
On this historic
day, let us all pledge to join hands. There is no doubt that each
struggle has its own peculiar features. Our perception about the
status of each struggle and the support bank that we enjoy differs.
Be that as it may, it is now time to look towards a bright future by
rendering moral, legal and logistic support to each other.
12 December, 2007
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