New York, United States (June 24, 2014): According to a press release (dt. June 21, 2014) by Sikhs For Justice (SJF), [d]uring the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the US based human rights NGO’s presented a report and statement about the June 1984 military invasion of and massacre at Golden Temple. The report was tabled during Council’s session on “Interactive Dialogue On International Solidarity”.
US based NGOs “International Educational Development” (IED) and “Association of Humanitarian Lawyers” (AHL) joined rights groups “Sikhs for Justice” (SFJ) in presenting the report and statement on Operation Blue Star and Sikhs right to self determination before Human Rights Council. IED is a Los Angele based NGO which works on projects related to International humanitarian law and AHL is a San Francisco based group committed to protect and promote human rights.
The Council’s 26th Session was attended by representatives of 52 member countries including India, United States, European Union, Australia, Israel, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Iran and China. Several international human rights NGOs were also invited to address the Council members.
June 1984 Army Attack and Operation Blue Star and Violations:
The Report by US based human rights NGOs issued by UNHRC under its seal states that “June 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of Indian Army’s attack on the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Code named “Operation Blue Star, the attack resulted in the killing of several thousand unarmed and innocent pilgrims. This attack clearly violated the basic humanitarian law provisions for the protection of the civilian populations and for the protection of cultural objects and places of worship as set out, inter alia, in Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocols Additional I and II to the Geneva Conventions. In our view, this attack also constituted an act of aggression according to the General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974 due to the status of the state of Punjab under the terms of the right to self-determination”.
Sikhs Right To Self-Determination:
NGO report to UNHRC further states that “In spite of its strong claim for self-determination, when the British left India in 1947 the Sikh Nation was denied restoration of its pre-colonial independent status. Then in 1950 India promulgated its Constitution that in its Article 25(b)(2) abolished a separate identity of the Sikhs and classifies Sikhs as Hindu. The Sikh leadership was opposed to this and neither signed, ratified or endorsed this document.”
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council during 26th Session of the UNHRC, Jatinder Singh Grewal, Director International Policy, SFJ, stated that member States are under an affirmative duty to support “peoples” right to self determination under UN Charter and Covenants. Regrettably, most states dismiss claims to right to self determination without considering the merits of the claim. We consider the Sikh claim to self- determination in the Punjab especially strong and that the international community should support the claim. Yet this claim is ignored or, even worse, the Sikhs are considered terrorist or treasonous, stated Grewal.
Continuous Human Rights Violations:
“Participants in the 1984 events have been promoted to key positions in the Sikh areas, notably Sumedh Saini who was promoted to the post of Director General of Police in Punjab in 2012. Sikh leaders, organizations and publications are monitored, and the people threatened with the “terrorist” label if they publicly promote any form of autonomy.”