World Sikh Members of Parliament expose India as a serial human rights violator

Ottawa: Apna Punjab Media: India’s desperate efforts to avoid scrutiny of its human rights record by top UN human rights experts came to a humiliating end in Geneva this week. After more than twenty years, the Human Rights Committee (HRC) finally managed to review India’s compliance with the provisions of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Members of the World Sikh Parliament delivered a powerful 24-page written presentation following face-to-face talks with HRC members in Geneva, hours after a high-level Indian delegation spoke to the HRC about India’s appalling record of systematic abuses. Questioned It is several years old, but is now widely recognized by the world as a growing threat driven by fascist majority rule. The Sikhs provided concrete evidence of India’s gross violations and how this defined the Indo-Sikh conflict in Punjab. He called for strong intervention by the United Nations to bring about peaceful conflict resolution and justice in a process based on international law. Highlighting the undeniable, systematic abuses of individual human rights that have led to countless deaths and suffering, the Sikhs stressed the need to hold India accountable for denying the Sikh community the right to self-determination. The right to self-determination (HRC) is enshrined in Article 1 of the ICCPR and the HRC sees it as the foundation on which all other human rights rest. Notably, India has lodged a formal reservation against it, absurdly claiming that it does not apply to a captive nation in Indian-occupied territory. During this week’s competition the HRC once again asked India to withdraw that reservation. Arindam Bagchi, India’s top diplomat to the UN in Geneva, rejected the request and ridiculed his 32-member delegation’s foreign effort to portray India as a champion of human rights.