Prologue: Atrocities In Punjab

The state of Punjab in the north western corner of India has been the site of massive human rights violations over the past twenty years. Punjab is the historic home of India's Sikh population, a religious minority forming approximately 2% of the nation's population. From the late 1970's to the mid 1990's, Punjab faced a violent insurgency launched by separatists as well as a brutal government crackdown that left tens of thousands dead.

Although major international human rights organizations have protested the abuses experienced by the people of Punjab, much of the world remains oblivious to the scale of atrocities committed there. The threat of militant secessionists provided the excuse for draconian security efforts that targeted the entire Sikh minority. People were abducted from their homes in the dead of night, to be taken into custody, charged with crimes they did not commit, often tortured or raped, and sometimes killed outright. "Disappearances" - that infamous terror tactic used extensively in Latin America - became common as the counterinsurgency progressed. Although the separatist militants alienated many people through their own acts of violence, the alienation from the Indian government was also strong. People could not forget that it had launched a full military attack on the Sikhs' holiest shrine at Amritsar in 1984, nor that it had encouraged anti-Sikh pogroms in the fall of that year in which thousands were slaughtered on the streets.

The stereotype of Sikhs as terrorists and the myth of India as a pacifist nation have combined to make the international community as a whole blind to the atrocities suffered by the people of Punjab. Today, an effort toward full exposure of these atrocities is underway, and we write this report in support of those who are bringing to light what has happened in the interests of truth and justice and in the spirit of healing.