T O P I C
Those Who 'Disappeared' in Punjab Now Have a Voice

May 31, 2003: New Delhi

A new report which documents disappearances, extrajudicial executions and massive illegal cremations by Punjab police was released by The Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP). The CCDP has been investigating and documenting the systematic and large-scale abuse of basic human rights by police in Punjab since its formation in November 1997.

The first volume of its Final Report, titled "Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab" is a 634-page volume of extensive documentation and analysis of hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killing of victims by the security forces in Punjab during the political unrest of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Authored by R.N. Kumar with Amrik Singh, Ashok Agrwaal and Jaskaran Kaur, the report documents more than 500 testimonies by the families of the victims, describing 672 cases of extrajudicial executions by the police in the district of Amritsar alone.

The Final Report builds upon the work of the late Mr. Jaswant Singh, a lawyer and human rights activist who was himself abducted and 'disappeared' at the hands of the Punjab Police in September 1995. Before he 'disappeared,' Singh had discovered, from the records of three cremation grounds in Amritsar district, cases of mass illegal cremations by police over many years.

Peter Rosenblum of the Harvard Law School notes in his introduction to this volume: "There are many kinds of human rights reports: There are reports that shame,
reports that shock, and reports that inform. Some leave the reader stunned, some
angry, and some simply confused or nonplussed. Can you trust the author? Is the
information objective? Are biases exposed and discussed? In this case, the reader needn't trust the good faith of the authors or agree with their stated or unstated opinions. The report presents massive evidence gathered from families and officials who participated and suffered in the struggles in Punjab. [The careful analysis by the authors allows the reader to] pierce through the thick veils of ideology, intrigue and 'state security' that obscure our understanding of the campaign to pacify Punjab. The very presentation is a rebuke to the National Human Rights Commission that has advanced so little in the course of its investigation."

According to Mr Tapan K. Bose, Secretary General of the SAFHR (South Asian Forum for Human Rights), the book is inspired by a view of accountability that perceives remedies for past human rights abuses.

More than a hundred people attended the release event in New Delhi on May 23, 2003. The first volume of the Final Report was released by author Patwant Singh. High-ranking government officials from previous governments were present at the release and spoke favorably of the report. "I'm not sure how current government officials have responded," stated Jaskaran Kaur.

The CCDP intends to make this report known internationally. In conjunction with Amnesty International (London), CCDP submitted over 100 cases of disappearances to the UN Special Rapporteurs on disappearances and the one on torture. CCDP also works very closely with the India team of Amnesty International in London. According to Kaur, Ram Narayan Kumar has also spoken to reporters at BBC, LA Times and Village Voice, but a story is yet to be published.

A companion website, www.punjabjustice.org, has also been released. It contains an electronic version of the report, related essays and articles, and video excerpts from interviews with families of victims, doctors, police officials and human rights activists.

Rosenblum comments, "A good report is a call to action. They [the authors] will have succeeded if we, the readers, answer this call."

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