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We shall not rest
UN feedback suggests World Sikh lobby making significant impact
WSN Network
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The false cases against Professor
Davinderpal Singh Bhullar, Balbir Singh Bains and Paramjit Singh
Dhaddi were discussed in the context of counter-terrorism along
with the extensive use of police cats by the Indian authorities
to kill innocents and discredit the Sikh freedom movement |
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 Sikh
representatives that organised the annual World Sikh Lobby Day on April
10 pledged that they were determined to make the recently
established links with independent human rights experts at the
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in
Geneva work to
expose India’s human rights violations.
The statement
came after a meeting in
Geneva with
those representing the Special Rapporteur on human rights while
countering terrorism. The meeting took place just before
India’s
human rights record came under its first-ever Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) with the UNHRC.
On 10 April a
meeting took place in
Geneva with the
assistant to the Special Rapporteur on human rights while countering
terrorism. Sikh representatives were informed that the World Sikh
Lobby in Geneva on 14 March had proved very productive and led to
the entire team working for the Special Rapporteurs to meet and
assess how the information provided by Sikhs from across the globe
could be put to best use in the context of India.
Sikh
representatives at the meeting included Kuldip Singh Chaheru, Balbir
Singh, Dabinderjit Singh, Master Karan Singh and Harminder Singh
Khalsa. The meeting commenced with Sikh representatives reiterating
that
India was the only country that did not support the resolution at
the UN General Assembly regarding the protection of human rights
while countering terrorism. This highlighted a fundamental weakness
in India's
respect for and approach to human rights.
In the meeting
that lasted over an hour the Sikh delegation discussed
India’s
continued widespread use of draconian anti-terror legislation
against Sikhs. It was mentioned the Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities Act (TADA), which expired in 1995 and which Nigel Rodley,
the UN Rapporteur condemned as "disturbing and completely
unacceptable” continues to be used to hold political prisoners.
The 3-hour UPR
was webcast live against India’s wishes and by being made publicly
available has exposed the new system of universal periodic review
that commenced at the start of the week is flawed, as it grants
excessive control over the outcome to the state under review.
In theory
holding debates on countries was supposed to help activists to shine
an international spotlight on human rights violations, and to
challenge government responses that are inadequate or false.
However, today’s three-hour session on
India offered
little in the way of proper scrutiny. The most significant criticism
of the proceeding was the session ignored the detailed NGO
submissions, such as from Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch regarding subjects such as torture and extrajudicial killings.
The most
important outcome was that the exceptions to this were Peter
Gooderham, the UK Government representative, Terry Cormier, the
Canadian Government representative, Mrs. Anna Chambers, the US
Government representative and Ms. Nathalie Kohli, the Swiss
Government represemntative and a number of other Western democracies
who posed difficult questions. All four challenged Swashpawan Singh,
Permanent Representative of
India to the
United Nations and many concluded that the responses to the points
raised were inadequate.
It will not be
lost on those that watch the 3-hour session that is available
worldwide on Channel 5 on www.un.org/webcast that it was countries
where Sikhs have been lobbying the most – UK, Canada, USA and
Switzerland that are taking the lead in challenging India. However,
other countries are slowly picking up on some of the key issues e g.
use of torture by the police and armed forces.
India will be
concerned by these latest developments by those lobbying both
nationally and through the UN.
It is clear from
the webcast that
India is trying
to counter the Sikh lobby by using Sikh faces to either defend
India’s position or by having a few 'friendly' Sikhs sit in silence
and simply observe the proceedings. They could quite easily have
done this sitting at home.
In the last 4
weeks Sikhs from the
UK, Canada, USA,
Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands that took part
in the World Sikh Lobby in
Geneva
on 14 March have as promised continued dialogue with around ten UN
Special Rapporteurs and Independent experts. Apart from the
successful meetings that took place that day there have been many
written exchanges and talks.
The most
significant exchanges have taken place with the Special Rapporteur
for Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance and the Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of
Indigenous People. The Special Rapporteur for Torture and Special
Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary executions have
also asked for meetings in
New York.
The Prevention
of Terrorism Act (POTA), enacted in March 2002, which replaced the
Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) in 2001 was also referred
to. POTA allows for the detention without charge for 3 months, and 3
more months if allowed by a special judge, deems not disclosing
information to the authorities about terrorist activities an
offence, and provides extensive new powers to ban organisations and
seize their assets. It was pointed out the act is similar to TADA in
its provisions for detentions, summary trials, and the use of
testimony obtained under duress. In addition, POTA provides for
special courts to try offences, places the burden of proof at the
bail stage on the accused, allows confessions made to a police
officer admissible as evidence, extends the period of remand from 15
to 60 days, and sets mandatory sentences for terrorism-related
offences.
The false cases
against Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar, Balbir Singh Bains and
Paramjit Singh Dhaddi were discussed in the context of
counter-terrorism along with the extensive use of police cats by the
Indian authorities to kill innocents and discredit the Sikh freedom
movement. The practices of successive Director Generals of Police in
Punjab,
such as, the bullet for bullet policy were mentioned. UN officials
requested details of specific cases that the Rapporteur could use to
have a dialogue with the Indian authorities that could then be used
to request a special investigation.
16
April 2008
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