Mar
31
Punjab State Human Rights Commission Goes Online
March 31, 2004 | 1 Comment
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has officially gone online. The address of their website is http://www.pshrc.net. The website of PSHRC contains information including the functions of the Commission, how to make an enquiry, and procedures and regulations. The PSHRC was formed under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and has severe […]
Mar
31
Perpetrators of Sikh Pogroms still Possible Candidates for Upcoming Elections
March 31, 2004 | Comments Off on Perpetrators of Sikh Pogroms still Possible Candidates for Upcoming Elections
The Congress Party’s central election committee is having trouble naming candidates for seven seats in Delhi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The committee continues to be ruled by Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, despite their role in the 1984 pogroms against Sikhs. According to Business Standard: [T]he once-powerful Congress leaders of Delhi, like Jagdish […]
Mar
31
Passing Away of Justice Tarkunde
March 31, 2004 | Comments Off on Passing Away of Justice Tarkunde
On March 21, 2004, civil libertarian Justice V.M. Tarkunde passed away. Justice Tarkunde was the founder of the leading organization People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). According to Outlook India, among other issues, Justice Tarkunde worked to fight the pogroms of the Sikhs in November 1984: When the anti-Sikh riots shook the country after Mrs […]
Mar
31
Use of British Charities for Funding Hindutva
March 31, 2004 | Comments Off on Use of British Charities for Funding Hindutva
In early March, AWAAZ: South Asia Watch Limited (ASAW) presented a report on the funding of Sangh organizations by British charities. The 80-page report In Bad Faith? British Charity and Hindu Extremism documented the use of millions of British pounds, collected from the public allegedly for disaster relief after the Gujarat earthquake and Orissa cyclone, […]
Mar
8
“Wounds of ’84 riots still fresh for them”
March 8, 2004 | Comments Off on “Wounds of ’84 riots still fresh for them”
This November 01, 2003 article in the Times of India describes the state of some of the victims of the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms in Delhi and elsewhere. About 300 of these 1984 victims live in Mohali in housing that was provided to them by the Punjab government. Some quotes from Preetam Singh and his […]
Mar
8
Muslims leaders & the BJP in Gujarat
March 8, 2004 | Comments Off on Muslims leaders & the BJP in Gujarat
The Telegraph (India) reports that “The BJP is working on a propaganda coup by trying to rope in a section of Muslim leaders from Gujarat.” Some of the prominent Muslims in Gujarat are trying to come to some kind of arrangements with the BJP for various reasons, and the BJP is exploiting the situation to […]
Mar
4
US State Dept. Annual Human Rights Country Report on India
March 4, 2004 | Comments Off on US State Dept. Annual Human Rights Country Report on India
The U.S. Department of State has recently issued the 2003 Human Rights Reports (aka the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices”). The section on India takes note of the pending issues of unaddressed cases of wide scale disappearances in the early 1990s. The report mentions the CCDP report documenting hundreds of enforced disappearances, Reduced to […]
Mar
1
Amnesty Int’l Press Release on Gujarat
March 1, 2004 | Comments Off on Amnesty Int’l Press Release on Gujarat
Amnesty International has issued a press release on the second anniversary of the Gujarat pogroms against Muslims: “Two years after the massacres took place, most of the victims are still demanding justice, but they are not being heard,” Amnesty International said. “Despite the efforts of the human rights community and the scrutiny of the Supreme […]