Probe our foreign funding, Punjab human rights groups tell govt

Human rights organisations in Punjab have asked the government to constitute a committee to probe their sources of foreign funding during the period 1984 to 1996.

The different groups submitted a memorandum to the government last week insisting that the judicial body set up should comprise more than five members to ensure fairness in the investigation.

The organisations have emphatically denied allegations of being funded by foreign agencies to record police atrocities in Punjab during the years of terrorism, as baseless and motivated.

"This is a basically the handiwork of the Punjab police to sabotage our activities in the state. They (the police) have on numerous occasions in the past accused us of being CIA or ISI agents," claims Baljeet Singh of Asian Human Rights Organisation, a Malaysia-based group which monitored civil liberties in the state after Operation Blue Star in 1984.

Following the recent suicide of Senior Superintendent of Police A S Sandhu, an officer who conducted numerous anti-terrorist operations between 1988 and 1993, the Punjab police has launched an awareness programme among the common people about terrorism and accused various human rights organisations as being "shelters" for the terrorists.

Currently, there are 24 human rights organisations operating in the state, most of which became active after 1988, when terrorism in the state peaked. About 30,000 people died in Punjab during the troubles, killed either by the police or by the terrorists.

The dispute between the police and human rights groups intensified after a prominent human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Kalra, was kidnapped in December 1995. Fellow activists hold the Punjab police -- including Sandhu -- responsible for the kidnapping.

The organisations have also asked the government to initiate an investigation into the properties accrued by Punjab police officers and the killings committed by the Punjab police in the name of combatting terrorism.

However, the home ministry has turned down the request, saying many cases are currently sub judice and various agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, are probing different aspects of police excesses during the years of terrorism.

Human rights organisations have questioned the need to protect police officers who fought the militants and thereby claim to have served the country. "Their statements should be verified before they are rewarded for their services," the memorandum said.

"The police declaration that they have crushed terrorism in Punjab is absolutely baseless. Terrorists lost their credibility because of a lack of support from the people and their entire movement faded away," says Baljeet Singh.

Meanwhile, the home ministry has already started scrutinising the sources of funding of human rights organisations under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. "We have asked them to produce a fresh copy of the utilisation of these funds and detailed particulars of their donors along with current residing address in foreign countries," a ministry source said.