Human societies are considered civilized to the extent that they respect the human rights and freedoms of their citizens. No country or culture is perfect but the better ones allow at least a discussion and retain a sense of where they are headed. As long as the Nehru-Gandhi nexus prevailed in India the movement for human rights was as yet an "unquickened embryo." Now with the publication of reports like this, there is hope that India's future will be better than the slippery peel of a "banana republic."

Jaijee's grim story starts in the late 1940's. The Second World War had just ended. The British were ready to leave the Indian subcontinent after cleaving their empire into several independent countries including India and Pakistan. As with most tragedies it is a tale of broken promises. Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru promised autonomy to the Sikhs so as to entice them to join India and not seek their fortunes independently or cast their lot with Pakistan. They never had any intention of keeping their word. Thus were sown the seeds of Sikh disaffection with India.
In many ways, free India owes its prosperity and indeed its unity and integrity as one nation to the enterprising Sikhs. They are less than two percent of the country's population but made the heaviest sacrifices in the struggle for independence from the British. They fought most valiantly for India in its three wars with Pakistan and one with China. Their farming skills transformed an India that had famines every year into a nation which could afford to export food.

But they were too independent in spirit and they were a very small minority in a Hindu-dominated India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi needed to solidify her political base among the Hindu voters where nascent Hinduism found her commitment questionable. Whipping political hysteria against the Sikh minority, she felt, would kill two birds with one stone - assure her of Hindu loyalty at election time and break the independent spirit of the Sikhs. A decidedly political decision and also diabolical. It did not destroy the Sikhs but it cost Indira Gandhi her life and brought the nation to the brink of fragmentation.

Indira Gandhi launched her war against the Sikhs in 1982. She tried to bomb them into oblivion by attacking the Golden temple and 40 other gurdwaras across Punjab in 1984. She made their homeland - Punjab - into a virtual prison. She made new laws that allowed Sikhs to be shot at sight, tortured, arrested and held for years without trial. Her policies emptied Punjabi villages of young Sikh men. For Sikhs in independent India all Constitutional guarantees were suspended.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 and was succeeded by her son Rajiv who followed and improved upon his mother's policies. Her death was followed by three days of darkness when no Sikh was safe on the streets of India's capital, Delhi, and any other city across India where her political party held power.
Imagine a country where a ration card and several hours of waiting in lines are needed to buy kerosene. One cannot go to the local U-Haul and rent a truck, for there is no such outlet. All guns are registered and licensed; you cannot buy one when you wish. That country is India.

Now imagine that within hours of the killing of Indira Gandhi truckloads of thousands of rioters appear out of nowhere. They are armed with guns and kerosene. They have lists of Sikh homes and businesses. They systematically loot, burn, rape, kill Sikhs primarily in the capital of the country - Delhi - but also in many cities across India at the same time. One must marvel at such coordination, organization and efficiency.

This goes on for three days. The army is not called to maintain order. The police either look away or slink away. Then, miraculously, peace returns all over India. After months of stonewalling the new Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi promises an inquiry. That was 1985. It is now 2001 and no justice has been done. Then Rajiv Gandhi was killed and Narasimha Rao, the man who was Home Minister when the carnage occurred, succeeded him. The government's bureaucracy that can run a nation of better than 700 million cannot find a killer, rapist or looter for over ten years.

Imagine that for ten years (1984-94), in the Punjab there is an absolute reign of terror. The police have the right to shoot people at sight. No so-called terrorist is ever arrested and tried in court. Government sponsored hit squads roam the countryside killing and raping, looting and torturing. No international human rights organizations are allowed to enter Punjab; any Indians who raise their voices are jailed, tortured, threatened or killed, but silenced. All this happens in the name of national security and for preserving India's integrity as a nation, which, of course, is sacrosanct.

It is a sad commentary that human life is not sacred but an abstraction like national interest is. It reminds me of an incident when American forces absolutely destroyed a Vietnamese village killing everyone, the field officer responsible for the massacre justified it by claiming that it was necessary to save the villagers from Communism.
The reader may become jaded of hearing this but the story in this book, as with many recent ones, is rooted in the unbridled political ambition of the mother-son duo that assumed almost dictatorial powers in India. Of particularly concern to us is the way the two marginalized the Sikhs who are a very small minority in India and attempted to virtually annihilate them.

As pointed out in the Foreword by J.P.S. Uberoi, Indira Gandhi was not the first to charge the Sikhs with "waging war against the State." The Mughal rulers of seventeenth century India so accused the Sikh Gurus. A similar charge was made by the British against Sikhs who agitated for gurdwara reforms. History has taught the Sikhs to wear such accusations as a badge of honor.

During the long, autocratic misrule of Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv, human rights organizations like Amnesty International were not allowed to enter India and investigate alleged violations. Their only recourse was to issue critical reports that were summarily ignored by the Indian government. The departure of Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv from India's political scene has been like a breath of fresh air. Documents, books and reports are now appearing on their long era of malfeasance, which should ensure that the verdict of history for at least these two will be thumbs down.

Jaijee's book is the latest on government sponsored atrocities in Punjab and is a logical sequel in the tradition of Who are the Guilty (1984), Voices from a Scarred City (1985), Punjab Crisis and Human Rights (1985), The Turning Point (1985), Oppression in Punjab (1986), I Swear and An Indian Torture Chamber (both published 1990), India Kills the Sikhs (1991), Amnesty International Report (1991, 1992). Some of these are not as detailed as Jaijee's, many were published outside India.

Jaijee cites some thought-provoking statistics. For instance the Police published a list of 2119 militants killed in 1992; it was claimed that 134 of these had killed 23,646 victims or 176 victims per man. Don't forget that at the time of the attack on the Golden Temple, the total number of terrorists according to the Government was only 49; an estimate revised a year later to around 300 by Police Chief Ribiero.
Jaijee has chronicled the story of a bloody decade (1984-94) and the plight of Punjab. Methodically and ably he chronicles how the judiciary in India was tamed, how the army was used for domestic political purposes, how the police was criminalized and the bureaucracy rendered supine.

I wonder if the Indian political leaders recognize the long-term dangers of undermining the country's institutions. Such establishments are easily destroyed, not so easily built or reconstructed; just look at the many Latin American, Asian and African nations struggling with the trappings of democracy without the traditions to support it effectively. Railing against the criminalization of politics is necessary even though it seems to be as pointless as objecting to the summer heat in India. No matter what you do it comes around every year.

An index would have helped, as would have a good proofreader to tame the printer's devil who tends to runs amok.

First person accounts and oral history tend to get lost with time but are pivotal for historical reconstruction or those seeking redress. This book adds to the growing literature on the tragedy of Punjab and Sikhs. It is a readably told tale but not a pleasant one. It's not a book that lifts one's spirits but it is a compelling story and a much needed one.

Dr. Inder Jit Singh is Professor & Co-ordinator in Anatomy, New York University. Among other publications, he is the author of two books: 'Sikhs and Sikhism: A View With a Bias' and 'The Sikhs Way: A Pilgrims Progress'.

I.J. Singh is on the editorial advisory board of 'The Sikh Review', Calcutta and 'The Encyclopedia of Sikhism', Punjabi University, Patiala.

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