Article: 1491 of alt.india.progressive From: BISMIL@delphi.com Newsgroups: alt.india.progressive Date: 12 Sep 1995 19:25:10 GMT STATE TERRORISM AND THE ASSASSINATION OF BEANT SINGH Statement of the Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups, New York, September 3, 1995. In the wake of the assassination of the Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, various "anti-terrorist" measures have been announced both by the government of Narasimha Rao in New Delhi, and by the new government of H.S. Brar in Punjab. Under the pretext of a "renewed militant threat" and of arresting the perpetrators of this crime, the latest "anti-terrorist" measures give the police yet more arbitrary powers of the kind that had become the hallmark of the Beant Singh administration. It is now also being openly admitted in India that the onus of the blame for the assassination of Beant Singh falls on the Punjab police! Over the past fifteen years, the issue in Punjab has always been that of the political and economic demands of the people. The installation of Beant Singh as Chief Minister in 1992, with only a tiny fraction of the total electorate voting for the Congress (I) party did not alter this reality. For that matter, the problems have not become any different after his assassination. What the asassination of Beant Singh has shattered is the blatant lie and deception spread by the government of Narasimha Rao and the media inside and outside India that "peace" had been restored in Punjab by Beant Singh. These forces even go so far as to say openly that "Singh took a series of measures to bring Punjab back to normality, but adopted suppressive measures to weed out militancy". The government of Narasimha Rao has refused to address economic and political issues, and has continued to treat the problems in Punjab as a "law and order" problem. It gave full support to Beant Singh and K.P.S. Gill's police raj in Punjab to crush the struggles of the people. Since 1992, indiscriminate arrests, incarcerations, torture and killings in police custody, and in "encounters" have multiplied and had been extended to include many lawyers, journalists, and even jurists and human rights activists. It is worth noting that as of this day, not a single one out of the thousands of people who have been arrested, detained, tortured and killed in this period and before has been charged, tried openly and found guilty in a court of law! On the contrary, countless times, the courts in Chandigarh and New Delhi have forced Beant Singh's government to back down from its lawlessness. But it is not as if these facts are not well known. The praise being heaped on Beant Singh by Narasimha Rao and others in India for bringing "peace" to Punjab has the aim of whitewashing the real history of the past three years, and to stop people from drawing the conclusion that it is the policy of the government of India to use state terrorism to perpetuate the economic and political status-quo. Within the acute crisis that India is passing through, politics is being conducted through violence - through black laws, assassinations, bombs and massacres. It may be said that Beant Singh's assassination is a perpetuation of this politics and it is not difficult to see how this has become the greatest obstacle to the solution of the serious political and economic problems facing India. All democratic and justice-loving people inside and outside India must condemn the government of Narasimha Rao for its policy of state terrorism against the Indian people and for its support of Beant Singh's police raj. As a starting point, the Indian state must withdraw all "anti-terrorist" measures and immediately release all victims of state terrorism from jails. Everyone, including Beant Singh, even though he is dead, who has been a party to this state terror must be brought to justice, so that the people of India can see and judge the horrible crimes committed by the Indian state and its henchmen. It is also high time that people oppose all the deception and disinformation about state terrorism that is carried out by officials and media inside and outside India. It is through a collective opposition to the use of state terrorism in India that a beginning will be made to address to the solution of India's economic, political and social problems. Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups, Earl Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. email: ipsg@maestro.com., Telephone/Fax: 201-384-7331.