From: ag3l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Arun K. Gupta)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: V: Conflict: Role of the Police etc.
Date: 16 Apr 92 18:23:01 GMT
Organization: Physics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


Continuation of:

Hindu-Muslim Conflict in India: Causes and Remedies
by Iqbal Ansari (Dept. of English, Aligarh Muslim University)

The role of the police and state security forces, especially U.P.'s
Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) deserves special attention, as it
is a class by itself. It has not only committed excesses, which for
once were conceded on the floor of the Parliament by Shri Morarji
Desai, Prime Minister in 1978, on the occasion of the Aligarh riots.
The PAC has butchered Muslims in Aligarh, 1978, Moradabad, 1980, Meerut
1982, Barabanki 1986 and again in Meerut 1987.

Mr. Saxena's report on the Meerut riots of 1982 says that the PAC
entered the Feroze building, a double-storeyed housing complex of
Muslims, without the slightest provocation and fired at the residents.
The whole logistics of the building and the bullet marks convinced him
that the PAC under direction from the district administration was out
to teach the Muslims a lesson. The same story has been narrated by many
other independent investigators of riots.

During the recent Meerut riots (1987) U.P.'s PAC surpassed all its
previous records of brutal killings of Muslims. In Moradabad 1980 and
Barabanki 1986, the PAC fired to kill Muslims who were gathered at a
place -- in Idgah for Id prayer in one case and to court arrest on the
Babri Masjid issue in the other case -- but in Hashimpura Mohalla of
Meerut it picked up young Muslim boys from their houses, packed them in
jeeps and buses, took them outside the city, gunned them down and threw
the dead bodies into the nearby canal/river. The nature of this
operation has been rightly called pogrom and objective genocide.


But the saddest part of the story is that the govt. enquiry has not
taken speedy steps towards bringing the culprits to justice. It has
taken shelter under the cover that the enquiry is still in progress.  A
section of the nation's conscience was shocked, but it was not strong
enough to make UP's police force involved in the barbarity pay for its
crimes.

Excerpts from Amnesty International's Report on "Allegations of
Extra-Judicial Killings by the Provincial Armed Constabulary in and
around Meerut, 22-23 May 1987" are given below:

"(evidence) included in this paper have led A.I. to conclude that there
is strong evidence to suggest that members of the PAC have been
responsible for dozens of extra-judicial killings and disappearances in
Meerut area on 22 and 23 May." (page 2)

"The PAC is mainly a Hindu paramilitary police force employed by the UP
Govt. of whom only about 2% are Muslims" (page 3) [my comment: UP was
15.4 % Muslim in 1981]

"The structure of PAC is based on the military police which was
established by the British administration before independence to assist
the police during civil disturbances" (page 11)

"Since 1972, serious charges of alleged misconduct have been made
against the PAC, and it has been particularly criticized for its role
in the Aligarh rioting in late 1978 when it allegedly shot seven young
men without provocation. The Minorities Commission in a report to the
then Prime Minister blamed the PAC for involvement in the rioting.

There were allegations that the PAC instigated communal rioting in
Moradabad in August 1980 in which reportedly more than 130 people were
killed. The PAC was also accused of participating in looting and
burning shops and killing civilians.

There were similar allegations against the PAC during rioting in Meerut
in late 1982 when they reportedly killed 30 civilians hiding in a
building. In Feb. 1983, the late P.M. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, after
visiting victims of the 1982 riots in Meerut, stated that the govt. had
condemned wrong actions taken by the PAC and that if any members of the
force were found guilty, action would be taken against them. A retired
High Court judge was entrusted with a judicial inquiry into the
incidents, but the inquiry's findings are yet to be published, as is
the report of a judicial inquiry set up to investigate the role played
by the PAC in the Moradabad riots. According to the Indian press,
inquiries into allegations against the PAC have either been prematurely
stopped or reports have not been made public. No convictions of PAC
personnel are known to have resulted from any of these investigations."
(p 11).

In its extra-cautious style, holding the PAC responsible for
extrajudicial killings and `disappearances' the Amnesty report says:

"Bringing to justice of those responsible for such human rights
violations are important to demonstrate the govt.'s determination that
such abuses will not be tolerated and that the guilty will be
punished.  These measures could prevent in future such human rights
abuses."


"Previous experience shows that while some form of investigation may be
held, its reports usually remain unpublished and prosecution of
officials responsible is extremely rare." (p. 14)

In its recommendations, the A.I. report repeatedly observes that those
held responsible for these killings in Hashimpura and Maliana in and
near Meerut must be brought to justice and the relatives of those
killed must be given adequate compensation.

Earlier on page 11 of the report the A.I., having referred to the
colonial British model on which the PAC is based (quoted above), makes
the following recommendations about its organization and training.

".... there is a need to review the training of the PAC, particularly
in the use of firearms during a riot. Particular emphasis should be
placed on the protection of the right to life."

Quoting from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the A.I. report says:
" The govt. could consider incorporating in the training of the PAC
strict instructions to use firearms only as a last resort and when
strictly necessary. The use of force should never result in human
rights violations such as torture, extra-judicial killings or
`disappearances'. Law enforcement officers should be clearly instructed
to refuse to obey orders which would result in such human rights
abuses." (p. 15).

To have a proper perspective, however, on the problem of the nature of
the PACs' organization, operation and attitudes vis-a-vis Muslims, it
is better to have a look at how it deals with other disadvantaged
groups and sections of the people: workers, peasants, scheduled castes
and other backward castes and women:

The following is a random sample:

December, 1977  -       Kanpur, Swadeshi Cotton Mills
April,    1978  -       Pantnagar, Agricultural University
August,   1977  -       Madras, Harijan Students Hostel over demand for
                        better facilities
May,      1978  -       Agra, against the backward community of Jatavas
June,     1977  -       Firing on Dilli Rajbara (M.P.) mine-workers.
August,   1977  -       Dhanbad and Bokaro
April,    1986  -       Arawal, Bihar

In all these incidents, state security forces like U.P.'s PAC have
fired at workers, peasants, members of scheduled castes and backward
classes killing from 6-8 to more than 100 people at a time.

The inference is obvious. Sections of people, especially minorities and
other dis-advantaged groups within the majority community, are treated
as subject people who are constantly terrorised into submission and
passive acceptance of their lot. This is one face of the ruling
caste-class, the other being populist slogans and sops that it offers
them well-timed to suit the election calculations.

In the process of use of the police and PAC by the ruling cliques for
their consolidation against minorities and other disadvantaged groups,
the whole police organization has been so brutalized that it can act
Frankenstein-like against any group of people, even caste-Hindus,
independently of political-administrative direction.

***
[to be continued]
***

[The above is taken from "The Muslim Situation in India",
edited by Iqbal Ansari,  which is a publication of a seminar
held by the Institute of Objective Studies in New Delhi, July 4-5,
1987.

On May 22-23, 1987, there were riots in and around Meerut.
These cast a long and gloomy shadow on the deliberations reported
here.]

***
arun gupta
ag3L@andrew.cmu.edu