India: 1. Information on the murder of Sant Harchand Singh Longowal; 2. Are Rupinder Kaur Bhullar and Amar Singh Bhullar reporters for a newspaper Kaumi Den published in Sherpur, and are they authors of pro-Sikh articles? 3. Are Indian Police known to torture and kill people who refuse to testify in criminal cases that are politically motivated? 4. Are fundamentalist Sikhs known to threaten or kill witnesses who testify against them for the state?

1. Sant Harchand Singh Longowal was the leader of one faction of the Akali Dal party in the early 1980s. The Akali Dal is the main Sikh political party in Punjab. Beginning in late 1981, Sikh agitation for an autonomous state in the Punjab led to a series of clashes between Sikh demonstrators and the police. Control of the movement passed from Longowal to more militant Sikh leaders as the number of violent confrontations between Indian police and Sikh extremists escalated. On 24 July 1985, Sant Longowal signed an agreement with R. Gandhi for a settlement of the Punjab problem. Shortly thereafter, he was assassinated by four Sikh youths in a Punjab village, Sherpur, on 20 August 1985. [ Henry Degenhardt, ed, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, (Essex: Longman, 1988), p. 159; Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXI, November 1985, p. 33988. (attached)]. Please refer to the attached article, "India Arrests Suspect in Longowal Killing" (The Globe and Mail, 25 August 1986), which refers to the capture of a prime suspect, one Gurmail Singh, near the town of Bhatinda one year after the murder of Sant Longowal. No further information concerning the case is among the sources currently available to the IRBDC.

2.             Information on Rupinder Kaur Bhullar or Amar Singh Bhullar is not currently available to the IRBDC. The IRBDC does not have access to the Kaumi Den published in Sherpur.

3.             A number of the attached articles highlighting police actions in the Punjab in 1986 demonstrate an escalation in the level of violence following the declaration of the Sikh independent state of Khalistan. References to "encounters" between Sikh extremists and police [Brian McAndrew, "Police in Punjab Routinely Murder Sikh Extremists, Hearing is Told", The Toronto Star, 17 September 1986] as well as to the "hit lists" (most-wanted and secondary) prepared under Director General Julio Ribeiro ["Murders Drop in Punjab", The Globe and Mail, 17 September 1986] indicate a strong stance by police attempting to curb Sikh extremist operations. For example, shortly after his appointment Ribeiro stated that "Death is an occupational hazard for a Punjab policeman. But if you die at least four lives should be taken in return" ["New Chief in Punjab Vows to Take 4 Lives for each Slain Officer", The Globe and Mail, 10 April 1986]. Amnesty International also received reports that Sikh activists have been killed in "fake encounters staged by the police or paramilitary forces" including extrajudicial killings of Sikh militants by Border Security Forces. [Amnesty International, Report 1987, p. 231].

The following information details some of the major developments in the relations between the authorities and the Sikh population in the Punjab between 1987 and 1989.

On 11 May 1987, the central government imposed President's (Direct) Rule in the Punjab, dismissing the state government (Sikh-dominated) and appointing Siddharta Shankar Ray as state governor [Shankar was appointed governor 1 April 1987] (President's Rule had previously been in effect in the Punjab from October 1983 to September 1985) [Keesing's, July 1987, p. 335247]. The government brought approximately 70,000 paramilitary personnel into Punjab for the massive security operation, and by 13 May, the government had arrested at least 450 suspected Sikh militants ["Indian Government holds hundreds of suspects in Punjab crackdown", Globe and Mail, 15 May 1987, p. A10]. According to official figures, there were 1246 deaths - including the death of 97 policemen - linked to the Sikh secessionist movement in the Punjab in 1987 [Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXIV, February 1988, p. 35718].

Until March 1989, the National Security Act allowed police in the Punjab to detain people without charge or trial for a period of two years. When the Indian army attacked the Golden Temple in June 1984, they detained up to 1500 people, and at the end of 1987, 366 Sikhs were still held without charge in Jodhpur Jail [Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1987, (London:Amnesty International Publications, 1987), p. 230]. Sixty of the 366 detainees had allegedly been tortured while held in Ladha Kothi jail prior to transfer to Jodhpur in 1984.

[Ibid.]. On 6 March 1989, the Indian government released the last 188 of the 366 Sikhs jailed in 1984, but 84 were "immediately rearrested for things they are alleged to have done before the assault on the Golden Temple" ["If it were 1986," The Economist, 11 March 1989, p. 38].

It is significant that in March 1989, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a number of changes to limit police and Army powers in the Punjab, including restricting the use of the Punjab Disturbed Areas Act, and withdrawing the special amendment to the National Security Act which permitted detention of prisoners in the Punjab for up to two years without review ["Punjab: Encouraging Signals", India Today, 31 March 1989, pp. 28-9]. One report in March 1989 stated that an average of 11 people were "being gunned down" every day in the Punjab. ["Punjab: Encouraging Signals", India Today, 31 March 1989, p. 29]. By June 1989, it was estimated that more than 3147 people had died caught between the violence of terrorist groups and government enforcement agencies in the battle for Khalistan. ["Red Badges of Courage", India Today, 30 June 1989, p. 62]. Amnesty International has received a number of reports of torture by police in Punjab as well as in other states in India. For example, please refer to Amnesty International, Report 1988 (which is available to you in the Vancouver Documentation Centre). On page 160 of this report it is stated that, "Dozens of people throughout India were reported to have died in custody as a result of torture. Most were criminal suspects but in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Assam the victims included people who had been politically active. In several cases, official investigations found police officers responsible for torturing suspects to death, and a few were prosecuted ... however, criminal prosecutions were few, and no police officers were known to have been convicted of causing deaths in custody" [Amnesty International, Report 1988, (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1988), p. 160]. The Amnesty International Report 1989 contains similar allegations of torture by police (pages 175-178).

4.             Specific information concerning threats by Sikh extremists against witnesses for the state is not among the sources currently available to the IRBDC. However, as indicated in part 3 (above), Sikh extremists have killed a large number of innocent people in the Punjab, from both the Hindu and moderate Sikh communities. They have also gone to considerable lengths to rescue some of their members before they have gone to trial, as evidenced in the article, "6 Policemen Slain in Punjab as Gunmen Free 3 Sikh Prisoners", (The New York Times, 6 April 1986).

Attachments:

-               Brian McAndrew, "Police in Punjab Routinely Murder Sikh Extremists, Hearing is Told," The Toronto Star, 17 September 1986;

-               Michael Hamlyn, "First Peace Signs in Punjab Begin with Police Reform", Times of London, 18 April 1986;

-               "Sikh Temple Stormed, 150 Reported Arrested", The Globe and Mail, 1 May 1986;

-               "New Chief in Punjab Vows to Take 4 Lives for each Slain Officer", New York Times and The Globe and Mail, 10 April 1986;

-               "Sikh Leader Shot Dead by Police", The Globe and Mail, 23 June 1986;

-               "Murders Drop in Punjab", The Globe and Mail, 17 September 1986;

-               "Police Intercept Rampaging Sikh Gang", The Globe and Mail, 5 July 1986;

-               "6 Policemen Slain in Punjab as Gunmen Free 3 Sikh Prisoners", The New York Times, 6 April 1986;

-               "Sikhs Dressed as Police Kill 9 Hindus in Punjab", The Globe and Mail, 29 March 1986.