A farce of a probe

PRAVEEN SWAMI

A MONTH after the People's Commission on human rights violations in Punjab held its first hearing, it has become evident that more than anything else, the commission's raison d'etre is politics. Set up by the Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP), a human rights body, to investigate the alleged mass murder of Sikhs by the state through the course of the Khalistan insurgency, the commission held its first hearing in Chandigarh on August 8. The varied agendas of Sikh fundamentalists, who have found a platform in the commission, and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Hindu right, which is opposed to its existence, are certain to place critical strains on Punjab's fragile communal peace.

On the face of it, it would appear that there is little reason to oppose a commission that seeks to investigate systematic violations of civil rights. Similar commissions have played a valuable role in unmasking the forces that worked behind the communal violence in Mumbai and the events that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Indeed, retired High Court Judges D.S. Tewatia and Hospet Suresh, who along with Jaspal Singh are the members of the commission, have for long been associated with civil rights activism. Lawyer Indira Jaising, who opened the commission's hearings, also has been at the heart of many progressive initiatives.

So why has this People's Commission attracted near-unanimous media condemnation and severe attacks from Punjab's largest Left grouping, the Communist Party of India (CPI)?

Unlike past People's Commissions, this one has been indisputably authored by the Sikh far-right. Former Supreme Court Judge and now World Sikh Council (WSC) president, Kuldip Singh, has played a key role in its establishment. The shades of his politics have been left in little doubt since he shared a platform with top Khalistan ideologue Sohan Singh last year. More recently, at a press conference on July 10 called by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Kuldip Singh put forward a thesis on the supremacy of religious faith over temporal law to justify his opposition to court orders that Sikh women riding two-wheelers must wear helmets.

These assertions, coupled with what Kuldip Singh presides over in the WSC, are reasons for disquiet. Many legal observers have been stunned by the fact that he has associated himself with such an inquisition in the first place. As a Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Kuldip Singh had ordered inquiries by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into some of the disappearances the People's Commission is now investigating. Judges harbouring strong personal views on cases they hear are expected to excuse themselves from the matter. Police officers who are the subjects of the CBI investigation and court trial have been issued parallel notices by the commission, although these notices have little legal value. "This verges on contempt of court," says legal columnist Anupam Gupta.

Justice Kuldip Singh.

Nor is it cause for comfort that the commission has chosen consciously to distance itself from coming to terms with the real and complex history of terrorism and state repression in Punjab. Its terms of reference seek only to discover whether "from 1979 to 1997, the agencies of the state carried out and tolerated, directly or indirectly" atrocities ranging from custodial torture to summary executions. There is no reference in the terms of reference to atrocities carried out by terrorists, who claimed over 18,000 innocent lives, mostly of Sikhs, through that period. Although Ram Narayan Kumar, a leading figure in the CCDP, insists that victims of terrorist violence are free to appear before the commission, the terms of reference make it clear that doing so would serve no purpose. Kumar's remarks on this subject are somewhat peculiar, for in an interview to The Asian Age newspaper he had himself criticised the exclusion of terrorist violence from the commission's terms of reference.

That the rise of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the role of politicians of the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) and the Congress(I) will go unexamined illustrates the absurdity of this investigation of Punjab's years of carnage. Left critics of the People's Commission point to the very real damage such a commission will do. "It is an opportunistic move by Kuldip Singh," says the CPI's Joginder Dayal, "designed to strengthen the position of hardliners and terrorists." Other senior CPI leaders, including the veteran, Satpal Dang, have also taken exception to the commission. "I would love an official investigation into causes of violence in Punjab, and why the state had eventually to eliminate terrorists," Satpal Dang says, "but what is going on is a farce, designed to cover up the misdeeds of terrorists."

Moderates in the SAD have so far sat on the sidelines of the commission, hoping to ride out the gathering storm. It is unlikely that they will be able to sit still much longer. The BJP, seeking to contain the erosion of its credibility among the Hindus of Punjab, has chosen to take on the commission. On September 2 senior State Minister Balram Das Tandon demanded that the SAD-led coalition terminate the People's Commission. But Sikh chauvinists will gain legitimacy for their cause by the transformation of opposition to the People's Commission to a Hindu cause.

Sadly, the Congress(I), the largest mainstream secular platform in Punjab, seems divided on the issue. While some factions of the party have been carrying on a sustained programme of agitation, much of the party's top leadership has maintained a studied silence. In the absence of a unified secular platform opposing the People's Commission, the authors of this enterprise might well succeed in bringing about the communal fissure that they desire.

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