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{{Use Indian English|date=March 2018}}

From 1984 to 1994, the state of [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]] in northern [[India]] was engaged in a power struggle between the militant secessionist [[Khalistan movement]] and Indian security forces.<ref name="ENSAAF1">{{cite book|title=Punjab in Crisis: Human Rights in India|publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=1990|url=http://www.ensaaf.org/pdf/reports/HRW-PunjabinCrisis.pdf}}</ref> The Indian government responded to the escalating [[Punjab insurgency]] by launching [[Operation Blue Star]] in 1984, storming the [[Harmandir Sahib]], or Golden Temple complex in [[Amritsar]]—the center of Sikh religious and spiritual life, where some militant groups had retreated. The Operation was controversial and resulted in death of hundreds of civilians, militants and soldiers. After [[Sikh]] bodyguards assassinated Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]], further violence ensued.<ref name="ENSAAF2">{{cite book|last=Kaur|first=Jaskaran|title=Twenty Years of Impunity: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India|publisher=Ensaaf|year=2004|url=http://www.ensaaf.org/docs/20years.php|access-date=27 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221181307/http://www.ensaaf.org/docs/20years.php|archive-date=21 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The aftermath of these events were felt for more than a decade.<ref name="SBS">{{cite news|url=http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=transcript&dte=2002-04-03&headlineid=427|title=India - Who Killed the Sikhs|date=2002-04-03|publisher=Dateline|accessdate=2009-04-27 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912235435/http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=transcript&dte=2002-04-03&headlineid=427 |archivedate=2007-09-12}}</ref> According to a [[Human Rights Watch]] report, state security forces adopted "increasingly brutal methods to stem the insurgency, including arbitrary arrests, torture, prolonged detention without trial, [[forced disappearance|disappearances]] and summary killings of civilians and suspected militants".<ref name="ENSAAF1" /> Militant organizations responded with increased violence aimed at civilians, state security forces, and Sikh political leaders deemed to be negotiating with the government.<ref name="ENSAAF1" />

==Encounters==
The Human Rights Watch report on Punjab concluded that security forces in Punjab "systematically violated [[international human rights law]] as well as the [[laws of war]] governing internal armed conflict." It further stated that "members of the Punjab police, the federal paramilitary troops of the [[Central Reserve Police Force]] and the [[Border Security Force]] and, to a lesser extent, the [[Indian Army]]...engaged in widespread [[summary execution]]s of civilians and suspected militants"<ref name="ENSAAF1" />

The Human Rights Watch delegation concluded that "based on the frequency with which these killings were reported to take place and the consistency of the eyewitness testimony," such executions were not aberrations but in fact "the product of a deliberate policy known to high-ranking security personnel and members of the civil administrations in Punjab and New Delhi." Members of the delegation believed that there was "credible evidence to indicate that, in some cases, the police...actually recruited and trained extrajudicial forces to carry out many of these killings," and that further, "security legislation...increased the likelihood of such abuses by authorizing the security forces to shoot to kill and by protecting them from prosecution for human rights violations".<ref name="ENSAAF1" />
During the counter-insurgency campaign the Indian central government gave its security forces wide leeway in their attempt to quell the insurgency, and refused to exert the control necessary to stop widespread abuse of human rights.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Punjab Mass Cremations Case: India Burning the Rule of Law|publisher=Ensaaf|date=January 2007|url=http://www.ensaaf.org/pdf/reports/cremations.pdf}}</ref> The Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (formerly Asia Watch) sent a delegation to Punjab for two months in 1990, and during that limited time "documented 29 [[extrajudicial executions]] in which the security forces falsely claimed that the victims were killed in ‘encounters’", along with 12 disappearances and 32 cases of [[torture]] by security forces.

''US state department'' says that Over 41,000 cash bounties were paid to police in Punjab for extrajudicial killings of Sikhs between 1991 and 1993 alone<ref name="c-spanarchives1">{{cite web |url=http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=7017302 |title=View Appearance | C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle, Created by Cable. Offered as a Public Service |publisher=C-spanarchives.org |date=1987-10-07 |accessdate=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217001428/http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node%2F77531&id=7017302 |archivedate=2012-02-17 }}</ref> and India has not allowed Amnesty International to conduct an independent human-rights investigation in Punjab since 1978.<ref name="c-spanarchives1"/>

==National Security Act and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act==
In 1980, India’s National Security Act was passed, which allowed security officials to detain a suspect without charge or trial for one year. In 1984, the NSA was amended so that suspected militants in Punjab could be detained for up to two years. After the 1984 amendments, security officials could detain a suspect for over four months before notifying an Advisory Board of the grounds for detention, and the Board did not have to issue a judgment to the government on those grounds for five more months.<ref>{{cite book|title=The National Security Act, 1980|publisher=[[The Gazette of India]]|date=2009-12-27|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/National_Security_Act1980.pdf|access-date=4 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410110908/http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/National_Security_Act1980.pdf|archive-date=10 April 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Detainees were not informed of any of these decisions, and therefore had no opportunity to file a [[habeas corpus]] petition. Similarly, the [[Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act]], or TADA, criminalized any action deemed to be part of a "disruptive activity" and gave the police more time to detain suspects without transfer to judicial custody.<ref name="ENSAAF1" /> Investigations have shown that many of those detained under such laws at various times since their enactment have been innocent of any connection with militant activity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab-Final Report|publisher=Ensaaf|year=2003|volume=1|url=http://www.ensaaf.org/docs/reducedtoashes.php}}</ref> Despite the fact that the Indian government allowed the TADA to lapse in 1995, human rights organizations have claimed that many suspects remained in custody, without charge, awaiting prosecution under TADA.<ref>{{cite book|title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India|publisher=U.S. State Department|year=2004|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41740.htm}}</ref>

==Armed Forces Special Powers Act==
The Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh)Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was passed in 1983. It allows either the governor of a region or the Central Government to declare any part of the state a "disturbed" area, allowing security forces to kill any person carrying something deemed capable of being a weapon, and arrest any person based on a "reasonable suspicion" that they intend to commit an offense. It also empowers security forces to kill any person who is engaged in an action deemed to be a threat to public order, and instructs courts not to take cognizance of any offense committed by such security forces unless specifically instructed to do so by the Central Government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/resources/armed_forces.htm|title=Armed Forces Special Powers Act|publisher=South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center|accessdate=2009-05-04}}</ref>

==Militants Human Right violations==

According to the US State Department,<ref name="KCFconvict">{{cite web|url=http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/pr122106b.html|title=U.S. Court Convicts Khalid Awan for Supporting Khalistan Commando Force|date=20 December 2006|publisher=Embassy of the United States in New Delhi, India|accessdate=2009-05-30 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103025817/http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/pr122106b.html |archivedate=2007-01-03}}</ref> and the Assistant Inspector General of the Punjab Police Intelligence Division,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol2/html/101353.htm|title=Law Enforcement Cases: International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs|date=March 2008|publisher=US Department of State|accessdate=2009-06-08}}</ref> the KCF was responsible for the 1995 assassination of [[Beant Singh (chief minister)|Chief Minister Beant Singh]].<ref name="KCFconvict" />

==See also==

*[[1984 Anti-Sikh riots]]
*[[Human rights in India]]
*[[Operation Blue Star]]
*[[Police encounter]]
*[[Punjab insurgency]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://ensaaf.org/ Official website of Ensaaf, a human rights documentation organization focused specifically on Punjab, India]
*[https://www.hrw.org/en/asia/india/ The official Human Rights Watch page for India]
*[https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/india/ Amnesty International website for India]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Human Rights In Punjab, India}}
[[Category:Human rights abuses in India]]
[[Category:Khalistan movement]]

Human rights abuses in Punjab, India - Revision history

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