K P - Gill Tells Who He Is

I came across this story through a Google Alert and just had to share it with you.

He implies that our kakkars are "lucky charms" and says point blank that they are "just a matter of personal belief"! And at the same time he seems to believe that he is a personal agent of "God." Spiritually, he seems to be a close cousin, or maybe even a clone of George W. Bush. By the way, I did not doctor the picture; I took it straight out of the TOI.

I suggest you read this on an empty stomach.

Printed from



I AM: KPS Gill
12 Oct 2008, 1030 hrs IST, TNN



I really don’t know if I’m spiritual, for I am not cast in a traditionally religious mould. As a Sikh I revere Guru Gobind Singh, but I don't observe “paath” or prayers as an everyday ritual.

I am rather a very action-oriented person and unless I can apply something in my life, I don’t consider myself qualified enough to talk on that subject. But yes, I do believe in God and the fact that all of us are His creation. I don’t pray very particularly or visit temples regularly, but do what I feel is right as per my conscience because I feel our soul has direct communication with God.

During the days of extremism in Punjab, where I was posted as the police chief, it would be no less than a personal bereavement for me to see people around me dying everyday. I have seen despair and disappointment from very close quarters; it was so disheartening to see men and women like you and me falling victims to bullets. But somewhere inside me, I had this conviction that God had sent me to a terror-affected place with a purpose and He will give me enough power to root it out someday.

I faced death everyday, but not once did it to scare me. In fact, there was a time when every move made by my team yielded positive results and it was then that my belief became stronger that the Supreme Being himself was guiding me at every step.

Even though we were later accused of committing excesses in the name of stamping out terrorism, it didn’t waver my faith in what I did, because it was He who made me do what He wanted me to. I believed, therefore I did. I have read the Guru Granth Sahib, the Bhagvada Gita, Quran and the Bible and realised that the basic tenets of every religion are the same. So it's really very difficult to understand how people can fight in the name of religion.

Whatever set of beliefs I have today have been a result of my upbringing - not just my parents, but also the places and circumstances I was brought up in. My father served at Paonta Sahib, the place that is associated with Guru Gobind Singh. In fact, it was because of an inherent desire to follow the Guru that I have kept a beard. I don't wear any lucky charms. The five Ks, as mentioned in the Sikh religion, had a purpose to serve at the time they were conceptualised; today, they are just a matter of personal belief. Right now, I am trying to help people around me through small but meaningful ways.

(As told to Divya A)

Alice in Wonderland - India-Style

There is a powerful man in India who is responsible for the death and destruction of the lives of tens of thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands - of Sikhs in Punjab. And he is about to be fired from his job, at long last!

The MPs are rising to oust him from his position of power.

But this is Alice In Salvador DaliLand, the Absolute Epitome of the Surreal. This is so bizarre, I would not have expected it even of India. He is not being fired for being a murderer or a torturer or a rapist. And he is certainly not going to prison. Murder, rape, torture. Those actions are all in a day's work for the Punjabi Police.

'So what crime did this [gentleman] commit?' You ask.

Horrors. HE LOST A HOCKEY GAME! INDIA WILL NOT BE PLAYING FIELD HOCKEY IN THE BEIJING OLYMPICS. (Of course, to me, being Canadian, hockey is played on ice and tends to be a violent bloody sport played in the WINTER Olympics. Violent? Bloody? KPS Gill?)

Here is the story, which I came across quite by accident (if there really are any accidents) from India eNews:

Aslam rallies MPs in bid to oust Gill

Former Olympian Aslam Sher Khan's campaign to remove hockey federation chief K.P.S. Gill has gathered momentum and the parliamentarian says that politicians cutting across party lines are supporting the move.

By Avishek Roy. Delhi, India, 17 Mar 2008 12:31 PM - (www.indiaenews.com)

Former Olympian Aslam Sher Khan's campaign to remove hockey federation chief K.P.S. Gill has gathered momentum and the parliamentarian says that politicians cutting across party lines are supporting the move.

Aslam, who has collected more than 100 signatures from fellow MPs in a memorandum to remove Gill, will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before the present session of parliament with a request to dissolve the Indian Hockey Federation.

'Hockey is almost dead after we failed to qualify for Olympics and the man at the helm is not budging. Gill has held the post for 14 years now and hockey has gone from bad to worse during his tenure. The government will have to step in and help the sport,' he said.

Aslam said the former players and Olympians will have to stand together in this hour of crisis and cannot allow Gill to continue.

'That alone can save Indian hockey. MPs are feeling very sad about the fate of hockey and, in fact, it was they who asked me to start the campaign to drive out Gill. They have assured me every support in this issue.'

'I am waiting to get the signatures of around 200 MPs and then I will hand over the memorandum to the prime minister before the end of this session of parliament,' said the former player who was a member of the Indian team that won gold in the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

Aslam said that Gill should have left the post in a dignified manner, taking responsibility for the defeat in Chile, but that has not happened.

'The crisis we are seeing today happened when Ashwini Kumar, who was also from the police force, was the hockey chief in 1975 and the government had to dissolve the body. It is high time that the same rule is applied for the incumbent.

'The government gives money for the training of the athletes and the federation says that their autonomy should be respected. The government is above all and it has every right to scrap this federation'

(© IANS)

Read more at: http://www.indiaenews.com/sports/20080317/104667.htm

Ensaaf and HRW Release Joint Report: Protecting the Killers

This came in my inbox. I think it is important enough to share it with you in its entirety. You can also check out the ENSAAF Website. and also the Human Rights Watch Website.

Here are some useful links:

Download:
Report (PDF, 834 kb)
Report with cover (PDF, 1.1 Mb)
Summary and Key Recommendations (English) (PDF, 325 kb)
Summary and Key Recommendations (Punjabi) (PDF, 225 kb)
Press Release (Punjabi) (PDF, 36 kb)

View:
Broadcast-quality video interviews of people featured in report
Photo Essay

Be sure to check out the photo essay.


From: Ensaaf <info@ensaaf.org>
Date: 18 Oct 2007 00:04
Subject: Ensaaf and HRW Release Joint Report: Protecting the Killers
To: simayanan@gmail.com

India: Time to Deliver Justice for Atrocities in Punjab

Investigate and Prosecute Perpetrators of 'Disappearances' and Killings

(Delhi, October 18, 2007) - The Indian government must take concrete steps to hold accountable members of its security forces who killed, "disappeared," and tortured thousands of Sikhs during its counterinsurgency campaign in Punjab, Human Rights Watch and Ensaaf said in a new report released today.

In order to end the institutional defects that foster impunity in Punjab and elsewhere in the country, the government should take new legal and practical steps, including the establishment of a commission of inquiry, a special prosecutor's office, and an extensive reparations program.

The 123-page report, "Protecting the Killers: A Policy of Impunity in Punjab, India," examines the challenges faced by victims and their relatives in pursuing legal avenues for accountability for the human rights abuses perpetrated during the government's counterinsurgency campaign. The report describes the impunity enjoyed by officials responsible for violations and the near total failure of India's judicial and state institutions, from the National Human Rights Commission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to provide justice for victims' families.

Beginning in the 1980s, Sikh separatists in Punjab committed serious human rights abuses, including the massacre of civilians, attacks upon Hindu minorities in the state, and indiscriminate bomb attacks in crowded places. In its counterinsurgency operations in Punjab from 1984 to 1995, Indian security forces committed serious human rights abuses against tens of thousands of Sikhs. None of the key architects of this counterinsurgency strategy who bear substantial responsibility for these atrocities have been brought to justice.

"Impunity in India has been rampant in Punjab, where security forces committed large-scale human rights violations without any accountability," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "No one disputes that the militants were guilty of numerous human rights abuses, but the government should have acted within the law instead of sanctioning the killing, 'disappearance,' and torture of individuals accused of supporting the militants."

A key case discussed in detail in the report is the Punjab "mass cremations case," in which the security services are implicated in thousands of killings and secret cremations throughout Punjab to hide the evidence of wrongdoing. The case is currently before the National Human Rights Commission, a body specially empowered by the Supreme Court to address this case. However, the commission has narrowed its efforts to merely establishing the identity of the individuals who were secretly cremated in three crematoria in just one district of Punjab. It has rejected cases from other districts and has ignored the intentional violations of human rights perpetrated by India's security forces. For more a decade, the commission has failed to independently investigate a single case and explicitly refuses to identify any responsible officials.

"The National Human Rights Commission has inexplicably failed in its duties to investigate and establish exactly what happened in Punjab," said Adams. "We still hold out hope that it will change course and bring justice to victims and their families."

The report discusses the case of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a leading human rights defender in Punjab who was abducted and then murdered in October 1995 by government officials after being held in illegal detention for almost two months. Despite credible eyewitness testimony that police chief KPS Gill was directly involved in interrogating Khalra in illegal detention just days prior to Khalra's murder, the Central Bureau of Investigation has thus far refused to investigate or prosecute Gill. In September 2006, Khalra's widow, Paramjit Kaur, filed a petition in the Punjab & Haryana High Court calling on the CBI to take action against Gill. More than a year later, she is still waiting for a hearing on the merits.

"Delivering justice in Punjab could set precedents throughout India for the redress of mass state crimes and superior responsibility," said Jaskaran Kaur, co-director of Ensaaf. "Indians and the rest of the world are watching to see if the current Indian government can muster the political will to do the right thing. It if fails, then the only conclusion that can be reached is that the state's institutions cannot or will not take on the security establishment. This has grave implications for Indian democracy."

Victims and their families seeking justice face severe challenges, including prolonged trials, biased prosecutors, an unresponsive judiciary, police intimidation and harassment of witnesses, and the failure to charge senior government officials despite evidence of their role in the abuses.

Tarlochan Singh described the hurdles he has faced in his now 18-year struggle before Indian courts for justice for the killing of his son, Kulwinder Singh:

"I used to receive threatening phone calls. The caller would say that they had killed thousands of boys and thrown them into canals, and they would also do that to Kulwinder Singh's wife, kid, or me and my wife...

"The trial has been proceeding ... with very little evidence being recorded at each hearing, and with two to three months between hearings. During this time, key witnesses have died."

After Mohinder Singh's son Jugraj Singh was killed in an alleged faked armed encounter between security forces and separatists in January 1995, he pursued numerous avenues of justice. He brought his case before the Punjab & Haryana High Court and the CBI Special Court, but no police officer was charged. A CBI investigation found that Jugraj Singh had been killed and cremated by the police. However, 11 years and a few inquiry reports later, the CBI court ended Mohinder Singh's pursuit for accountability by dismissing his case in 2006. Mohinder Singh described his interactions with the CBI:

"On one occasion when [the officer] from the CBI came to my house, he told me that I wasn't going to get anything out of this. Not justice and not even compensation. He further said that: 'I see you running around pursuing your case. But you shouldn't get into a confrontation with the police. You have to live here and they can pick you up at any time.' He was indirectly threatening me."

Human Rights Watch and Ensaaf expressed concern that the Indian government continues to cite the counterinsurgency operations in Punjab as a model for preserving national integrity.

"The government's illegal and inhuman policies in the name of security have allowed a culture of impunity to prevail that has brutalized its police and security forces," said Kaur.

The report suggests a comprehensive framework to address the institutionalized impunity that has prevented accountability in Punjab. The detailed recommendations include establishing a commission of inquiry, a special prosecutor's office, and an extensive reparations program.

"The Indian government needs to send a clear message to its security services, courts, prosecutors, and civil servants that it neither tolerates nor condones gross human rights violations under any circumstances," said Adams. "This requires a comprehensive and credible process of accountability that delivers truth, justice, and reparations to its victims, who demand nothing more than their rights guaranteed by India's constitution and international law."

View broadcast-quality video interviews of those featured in the report.
View a photo essay on the report.

The report page also includes links to an English summary, a Punjabi translation of the summary, and the Punjabi translation of the press release.

For more information, please contact:
In California, Jaskaran Kaur, Ensaaf (English, Punjabi): +1-857-205-3849 (mobile)
In Delhi, Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch (Bengali, English, Hindi): +91-98-200-36032 (mobile)
In Delhi, Charu Hogg, Human Rights Watch (English, Hindi): +91-98-105-64169 (mobile)
In Washington, DC, Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch (English, Mandarin): +1-917-721-7473 (mobile)
In Brussels, Reed Brody, Human Rights Watch (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish): +32-2-737-1489; or +32-498-625786 (mobile)

Ensaaf, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization, works to end impunity and achieve justice for mass state crimes in Punjab, India by documenting and exposing human rights violations, bringing perpetrators to justice, and organizing survivors to advocate for their rights.

---

Our postal address is
PO Box 594
Fremont, California 94537
United States

--
WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?

KPS Gill Interview

Before beginning this post, I feel the need to apologise for it. To me the subject is even more distasteful than the previous post about torture. However I do believe in the old saying to 'keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.' I believe that this [man] is one of our greatest enemies of recent years. Dare I call him a traitor to the Sikh people?

I refer, of course to 'Kill Punish Strangle' Gill.

'Encounters Should Happen, If Required'

"However, it is not okay to stage encounters. But even they do happen, and should not," says the former Punjab police chief.

Bhavna Vij-Aurora interviews K.P.S. Gill


The man largely credited with crushing militancy in Punjab, K.P.S. Gill is a strong advocate of a proactive role for the police in fighting terrorism and organised crime. During his tenure as the Punjab police chief, his officers and men were given a free hand in cracking down on Sikh militants. He talks to Bhavna Vij-Aurora about encounter killings.

Excerpts:

How does one explain encounters?

Police officers become totally cynical. There is a sense of disenchantment since
they get to know so much during the course of their professional work. When the
conduct of judges themselves is questionable, the police officers begin to
think, who will implement the laws, who will protect society....

So, they bump off a 'terrorist' because they think he will not be punished by the country's courts..

.No, I am not saying that.

"Mistakes can happen while fighting terror, organised crime. The officer's
motives must be assessed...."

But the criminal justice system has to be strong, quick and effective to deal
with the people arrested. The primary function of the judicial system is to
protect society, not so much to punish criminals. The latter is only one of the
instruments to achieve the former. Everything
boils down to governance,
which includes an effective justice system. All countries have special
legislations to deal with terrorism, mafia and organised crime. In India,
unfortunately, if you have TADA, it is opposed; if you have POTA, it is opposed.
In the West, terrorism cases are decided in months, or at the most in a year or
two. Here, it took the courts 14 years to start reading the prolonged judgement
of the 1993 Bombay bombings

. Can encounters be discouraged, do cops necessarily have to be trigger-happy?

In my experience in policing, I have not come across any police officer who
is trigger-happy, who will kill just for the sake of it. Encounters should
happen, if required. If a terrorist or a criminal fires at the police, one
cannot expect the police personnel not to respond. There are situations when the
police have to open fire in which people may get killed. However, it is not okay
to stage encounters. But even they do happen, and should not.

Why is it that some police officers come to be known as 'encounter specialists'? Do they get carried away by the hero-like status given to them?

It is only a few states that have seen encounter specialists. Mumbai
(Maharashtra),
Delhi and now Gujarat. I cannot really say why they have come up
only in
these places. Perhaps because of the prevalent situation and nature of
crime. About hero status, the press has a major role in building them up as
iconic figures. The police have to give a correct picture of the encounter,
and
the press should report it in a responsible manner.How should one deal
with
mistaken identity encounters where innocent people are killed by the
police?In
fighting militancy and organised crime, mistakes are bound to
happen. Take the
(May 1997) shootout case in Delhi's Connaught Place where two
businessmen were
mistakenly killed by the police; the cops are still facing
trial for it. A
similar thing happened in London after the 7/7 bombings,
when an innocent
Brazilian immigrant, Jean Charles de Menezes, was shot by the
police. Nobody
raised a hue and cry over that incident, and the officers
responsible have
subsequently received promotions and there is no stigma
attached to their
action. It's important that the intentions and motives of
the officers are
correctly assessed in such cases.

So how must the authorities act against police officers caught in fake encounters or those of mistaken identity?

The police must be given a free hand to enforce the laws as they stand on
the statute, and should be taken to task if any fake encounters occur. Mistaken
identity encounters are an entirely different matter, and there are laws to deal
with these.

It is important that everything does not get politicised. The police
chief—DG or CP, as the case may be—should be allowed to determine whether the
encounter was fake, staged or real. He should be able to stand by his men when
the action has been taken in good faith. It's only if glaring shortcomings are
found that the government should come into the picture and take the perpetrators to task.

From: Outlook India