January 7, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The World Sikh Council – America Region (WSC-AR) condemns the illegal and arbitrary actions of the Indian police in abducting an elderly Sikh author, Mr. Ajmer Singh, on January 5, 2006 from Chandigarh, India.

The police initially refused to acknowledge the detention but when the matter was made public by Lawyers for Human Rights International (LHRI), the police was forced to acknowledge the detention and Mr. Ajmer Singh was produced before a magistrate. The magistrate found Mr. Ajmer Singh had been falsely arrested by the police and ordered his release on January 6, 2006.

Mr. Ajmer Singh, who is about 60 years old, has been working on a new book dealing with recent Sikh events in India since 1984, during which the Indian Government unleashed a genocidal era of state terrorism against Sikhs, especially formally initiated Sikhs, during the 1980s and 1990s.

Since June 2005, disturbing news reports have again emerged from the Sikh Homeland of Punjab in South Asia. A new wave of arrests and detentions of Sikhs has been unleashed by the Indian Government. This is in gross violation of civil liberties and political freedoms guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and by the International Covenants and Conventions on Human Rights.

WSC-AR calls for the responsible police officials to be charged in this case and brought to justice for their illegal and arbitrary actions. WSC-AR further appeals to the Government of India to:

• Investigate and make public an inquiry into the killings of Sikhs by police and security forces since the 1970s,

• Release all political prisoners, particularly Sikhs, and

• Provide full disclosure and remedial measures pertaining to enforced disappearances, custodial deaths, extra-judicial killings, and illegal cremations.

WSC-AR expresses its sincere gratitude and appreciation to Lawyers for Human Rights International for intervening in this case in India, and ENSAAF, a US-based organization fighting impunity in India, which submitted an urgent action appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (http://www.ensaaf.org/ASingh.pdf).

The Sikh nation continues to seek transparency and accountability. Thousands of Sikhs continue to languish in jails in India for decades without charge or trial. Thousands more have become the victims of enforced disappearances, custodial deaths, extra-judicial killings, and illegal cremations. This history makes the new wave of Sikh arrests all the more ominous.

The WSC-AR is a representative and elected body of Sikh Gurdwaras and institutions in the United States. Its members include 40 Gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) and other Sikh institutions across the nation.

World Sikh Council – America Region (WSC-AR)