New York, New York (KP) - The Indian government was caught in another embarrassing situation when the prestigious organization Human Rights Watch took to task its decision of installing the notorious KPS Gill as a special advisor to the state of Chattisgarh for crushing a Maoist rebellion. KPS Gill ran an organized campaign of genocide in the Northern Sikh state of Punjab during the 1990’s and is responsible for the mass murder of thousands of innocent Sikh youths.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed particular concern about the appointment of Gill, who led Punjab’s police force in the 1990s, when it was implicated in widespread human rights violations during the Sikh freedom struggle. HRW stated, “…during Gill’s tenure, the Punjab police were responsible for numerous extrajudicial executions, ‘disappearances’ and cremations intended to destroy evidence of those executed. The Central Bureau of Investigation found that at least 2,097 such cremations occurred in just one district.”
Human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who first exposed the cremations, was murdered by members of the Punjab police in 1995. During a trial for Khalra’s murder, in which six policemen were convicted in 2005, evidence was presented linking Gill to Khalra’s death.
According to HRW, Gill has often criticized human rights defenders, saying in an article last year, that only a small number of human rights organizations “are actually and innocently concerned about anybody’s rights,” and that the rest, together with “terrorists,” had established a modus operandi “for the manipulation of the media and the systematic abuse of the processes of law to constantly denigrate the police and to protect criminals and terrorists.”
“Appointing K.P.S. Gill is a sure way to undermine public confidence in the security services,” said Adams. “Given his record, the government will not be able to claim ignorance if and when Gill uses abusive methods.”
“The adoption of a draconian law by the Chattisgarh state government to address the Naxalite armed movement and its appointment of a known human rights abuser as security advisor are likely to lead to serious abuses”, Human Rights Watch stated in a press statement issued on April 27th in New York.
The statement further stated that “… the government should repeal the new Special Public Protection Act, or amend it to conform to international human rights law, and remove the special advisor, K.P.S. Gill, who led the Punjab police at a time of widespread rights violations.”
“Chattisgarh has a duty to keep its citizens safe, but it should not resort to draconian laws or abusive officials,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The state and central governments must use lawful methods to counter Naxalite violence.”
According to HRW, the Indian government is planning to deploy 11 battalions of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in states affected by Naxalite action, increasing fears of spiraling armed confrontations that would place ordinary civilians at grave risk. The CRPF has been implicated in serious abuses in other parts of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir state.
Similar to the draconian TADA laws used in Punjab, the HRW stated that the newly created “Special Public Protection Act”, which came into force in March, is a vague and overly broad law that allows detention of up to three years for “unlawful activities.” The term is so loosely defined in the law that it threatens fundamental freedoms set out by the Indian constitution and international human rights law, and could severely restrict the peaceful activities of individuals and civil society organizations.
Thus, persons whom the rebels force to provide assistance are subject to detention under the ordinance. “People can now be put in jail for three years for peaceful protests, or for giving food to the Naxalites at the point of a gun,” said Adams. “This is a mistake. Scrupulous respect for rights is the best answer to the Naxalites.”
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