On January 16, an international conference titled “Racism and Violence Against Sikhs and Other National Minorities in India: The Reality on the Ground,” dedicated to the Indian government's repressive policies against ethnic minorities, is being held in Azerbaijan for the first time, organized by the Baku Initiative Group, APA reports.
The event is attended by Ramesh Singh Arora, Minister for Human Rights and Minorities of India’s Punjab state, along with other officials. The conference will also be attended by prominent representatives of the Sikh community from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as heads of think tanks, scholars from foreign universities specializing in human rights and ethnic minority issues, and individuals who have been direct victims of what are described as the Indian government’s repressive, racist, and persecutory policies.
The event began with an exhibition of photographs depicting repressive measures and mass killings carried out by the Indian government against the Sikh people.
It was stated that during 1980–1990, thousands of members of the Sikh community in Punjab were killed, kidnapped or abducted, and were also executed without trial on fabricated charges. Currently, Sikh activists demanding their rights are being arrested on charges of “separatism” or “espionage,” while police raids in Punjab continue to increase. Terrorist acts have been carried out against Sikh activists living abroad, with official authorities in Canada and the United States accusing Indian intelligence services of being behind these attacks.
The conference will discuss the Indian government's systematic policy of racial discrimination, violence and repression against Sikhs and other ethnic minorities, and in this regard, the Indian government's gross violation of its obligations under the UN's "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights", "International Convention against Racism" and "Convention against Torture" in relation to ethnic minorities.
Discussions will be held on the possibility of keeping the real situation on the agenda of international organizations and adopting relevant decisions, in particular, the investigation of the violated rights of ethnic minorities in India by the UN Human Rights Committee, executions carried out without court decisions, and the documentation of human rights violations by UN special rapporteurs and international monitoring.
The role of international and local non-governmental organizations and academic circles in this process, the possibilities of the reports, legal opinions and recommendations they prepare for the impact on international decision-making mechanisms will be discussed.
Note that Sikhism originated in the 15th century and in its doctrine promotes complete equality among all people regardless of caste, gender and language, therefore it categorically rejects the traditional Hindu caste system. The total number of the Sikh community in India is approximately more than 25 million. Sikhs are mainly settled in the state of Punjab, which is considered the main agricultural region of India.
The Sikh community demands that the Government of India officially recognize the 1984 anti-Sikh massacres as genocide, establish a new independent investigation commission, and bring the organizers of the genocide to justice. They also call for clarification of the fate of thousands of individuals who were forcibly disappeared in Punjab during the 1980–1990 period, the punishment of those responsible, the release of unlawfully detained Sikh activists, and the granting of political prisoner status to them.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
