Who We Are

Ram Narayan Kumar is Convenor of the Committee for Coordination on Disappearances, Punjab. He is the author of two books on the Punjab conflict and producer of the documentary film, "Disappearances in Punjab." A long time human rights activist, Kumar worked with victims of the Bhopal Union Carbide disaster and with Indian coal miners before he turned his efforts to Punjab. He has been serving formally and informally in coordinating efforts of the human rights groups operating at grass-roots level in Punjab for the past fifteen years. Kumar is an Indian citizen with a secondary residence in Austria.

Cynthia Mahmood is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maine, U.S.A. A specialist on India, she is the author of a book on the Sikh separatist movement and many articles on religious and ethnic conflict. Mahmood is editor of a series of books on political violence and regularly works on asylum issues in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Tulane University. Mahmood is an American citizen and resident.

Neither of us has any personal stake in the Punjab conflict. Neither of us is Sikh, though we are both regarded as experts on Sikh affairs.

Our interest here is humanitarian only. We believe we have a moral obligation to speak out on an issue that has not received the international attention it warrants.