On Human Rights Day, the Sikh community has much to offer from a historical perspective, offering many examples of resistance to oppression and championing of rights for the voiceless- all in a fairly short history of 500 years. The Sikh concept of Sant-Sipahi (Saint-Soldier) further cemented with the creation of the Khalsa (initiated Sikhs) led to Sikhs being physically unique with their turbans as a sign of sovereignty and dedication to the rights of all people- regardless of their race, religion, creed, caste, sexual orientation, etc.
The state of Punjab in Northern India is majority home to the Sikh faith. While home to other faiths as well, it is the only state in the Indian union with a Sikh majority. Prior to the British imposed partition in 1947 and subsequent creation of India and Pakistan, Punjab was an autonomous nation ruled by the Sikhs- and has been a well-defined geographical region known for the five rivers within which it spans. Hence the name, Punj (Five) and Ab (Bodies of water/Rivers.)
Without divulging into too many details, the facts remain that upon the creation of India, the Sikh community overwhelmingly chose to stay within the Indian union upon promises of autonomy, equal representation, and more. Sikhs played a vital role in the advancement of the country, but it came at the expense of religious freedom- as nationalism became a quick driving force for the developing nation. The state of Punjab was then split multiple times on linguistic lines, in which Sikhs chose Punjabi as their mother tongue and Hindu Punjabis choosing Hindi. This lead to the creation of the states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Sikhs began to protest their loss of water rights, land access, language equity, job opportunities, and much more. The community became convinced that their relative success was short lived, and they were now being seen as second-class citizens.
The call for equality lead to protests and arrests. Then Prime Minister called for Presidents Rule, essentially enforcing a dictatorship to keep control of her power. Seeing her grip on Punjab loosening, she ordered the attack on The Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar, which houses the world-renowned “Golden Temple.” The attack left thousands dead, religious tension high, and an overall feeling of alienation amongst the Sikh community. Today, on Human Rights Day, I want to discuss the events that transpired afterwards at the hands of the Punjab Police and it’s leadership.
On May 26, 2017, Indian actress Priyanka Chopra tweeted “RIP #KPSGill's contribution in fighting terrorism and restoring peace to Punjab will never be forgotten. My condolences to the family.”
This post garnered thousands of likes and re-tweets, many of whom probably had no idea who KPS Gill was. It also led me to truly fear how celebrity messengers can play a detrimental role in the legitimacy of human rights.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s the Sikh community resisted the oppressive Indian leadership and corrupt police that was ruling the historic Sikh homeland of Punjab. During this time the Sikh community made a call for independence from India, and the Indian security forces were tasked with counterinsurgency. The militants had strong support from the community, so the security forces lead by KPS Gill arbitrarily detained, tortured, executed, and “disappeared” tens of thousands of Sikhs in these counterinsurgency operations. Killing innocent lives to deter
Eye-witness accounts show KPS Gill being involved in using electrocution of the genitals, water boarding of detainees, using leg rollers on detainees, raping women, and other sexual violence to coerce confessions and or “deter terrorism” by killing Sikh youth.
In October 2007, Human Rights Watch and Ensaaf produced “Protecting the Killers: A Policy of Impunity in Punjab, India.” Unlike social media, the book has citations and evidence of facts, facts that show that in the early 1990s, Director General of Police (DGP) KPS Gill expanded upon a system of rewards and incentives for police to capture and kill militants, leading to an increase in “disappearances” and extrajudicial executions of civilians and militants alike. The United States government described the Punjab police practice of faked encounter killings in 1993:
"In the typical scenario, police take into custody a suspected militant or militant supporter without filing an arrest report. If the detainee dies during interrogation or is executed, officials deny he was ever in custody and claim he died during an armed encounter with police or security forces. Alternatively, police may claim to have been ambushed by militants while escorting a suspect. Although the detainee invariably dies in “crossfire,” police casualties in these “incidents” are rare."
The policies of KPS Gill lead to hard handed police methods by all those employed underneath him. The most glaring example is that of human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra- who through government records, demonstrated that security forces abducted, murdered, and secretly cremated an estimated 25,000 Sikhs in Punjab from 1984 to 1995. In early 1995, Mr. Khalra warned at a press conference that the Punjab government “was highly mistaken in thinking that by eliminating him the matter relating to 25,000 unclaimed bodies” in Punjab “[could] be put to an end.” He further stated that he was prepared to die for the cause of justice, and appealed to the people to “hold the police chief KPS Gill” accountable for his murder and the mass cremations in Punjab. Punjab police abducted Mr. Khalra on September 6, 1995, tortured him in detention, and killed him in late October 1995.
Only recently, the Punjab court convicted six Punjab police officials in the 1995 abduction and murder case of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. The court sentenced Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jaspal Singh and Amarjit Singh to life imprisonment for murder, seven years imprisonment for abduction with intent to murder, two years for destruction of evidence, and five years for criminal conspiracy. The court sentenced officers Satnam Singh, Surinderpal Singh, Pritpal Singh, and Jasbir Singh to seven years imprisonment for abduction with intent to murder and five years imprisonment for criminal conspiracy. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajit Singh Sandhu, the primary accused, and DSP Ashok Kumar died during the trial of the case. While many accounts showed KPS Gill being completely involved in these orders, carrying out the actual torture and murder- he was never charged. Unfortunately, this is just one example of the thousands who died.
This begs to ask the question, why would Priyanka Chopra memorialize a mass murderer? She recently apologized for showing Indians as "terrorists" on her TV Show “Quantico” somehow breaking under pressure from Indian nationalists online- claiming that Indian organizations cannot be terrorists, but the evidence stated by countless former cops, eyewitness accounts, and well-known human rights organizations state the contrary. Yet, she has never apologized for the non-fictional history of India.
Priyanka Chopra is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, stating that she values the lives of refugee children, yet she supported a police chief responsible for creating thousands of orphans across the land of Punjab. She also supports numerous human rights organizations and social justice organizations- but somehow her strong connection to Indian nationalism has turned a blind eye to the abuses faced by Sikhs in Punjab. We simply cannot live in a world where we pick and choose whose human rights are more important, and where we have ambassadors in the community who support and memorialize human rights abusers- as this merely dilutes the power of the message, pitting the power of philanthropy fundraising against the actual services provided by the organizations. I call on her to clarify why she made this statement, whether she truly understands the human rights abuses committed, and if she wants to learn more, she can click the link below to read the entire report by Ensaaf and Human Rights Watch.
