May
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Use Lessons of Punjab for Iraq?
May 2, 2004 | 4 Comments
In his Times of India article, Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar unabashedly advocates the torture and extrajudicial executions of Iraqis in order to quell any rebellion against the American occupation. He urges Americans to draw lessons from India’s counterinsurgency operations in Punjab:
The final lesson from Punjab is that armed forces cannot quell terrorism. The task requires skilled, ruthless police who will not stop at torture and extra-judicial killings.
The only way to achieve this in Iraq is to hand over the task to local thugs in uniform. The US has done precisely this in Falluja, ceding control to a new security force of former Iraqi soldiers headed by General Salih. Those once dismissed as thugs are now back in charge.
Gill could violate civil liberties and yet become a hero. US forces cannot: they will be excoriated at home and in Iraq. But Gen Salih might get away with it.
This will tarnish US claims that it is bringing civilised values to Iraq. Yet, it looks a far superior strategy to military pacification.
Besides showing a total disregard for human rights, Aiyar also demonstrates a lack of historical understanding. In his discussion of the June 1984 army attack on the Golden Temple complex, Aiyar doesn’t mention that: (1) the attack occurred on a holy day in the Sikh calendar; (2) 41 other Sikh gurudwaras were simultaneously attacked; (3) thousands of innocent pilgrims had come to the complex; (4) independent witnesses such as BBC reporters estimate that 3000 to 8000 civilians were killed; (5) army officers shot Sikhs at point blank range, after tying their hands being their back; and (6) the government confiscated Sikh artifacts which it has recently admitted to having in its possession, among other things.
Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab contains extensive documentation and analysis of 672 cases of forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of victims by the security forces in Punjab from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. It also includes an extensive legal analysis of attempts to obtain redress for victims through the procedures of law. Reduced to Ashes demonstrates the extent of impunity for perpetrators of systematic human rights violations in Punjab.
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