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Time for Action: The Case of Prof. Devinderpal Singh Bhullar
by GURMEET KAUR
While Devinderpal Singh Bhullar spent 10 out of 16 years of incarceration in his dark solitary confinement cell, the Sikh panth was (and is) fighting its own struggles both at home in Punjab and throughout the diaspora. From drugs to apostasy to indifference; from desertification to cancers to farmer suicides, from mass emigration to media assassination and hate crimes … these are indeed one of the toughest times in the annals of modern Sikh history.
But what has transpired in the last two weeks is nothing short of phenomenal. All major Sikh organizations, big and small, at home or far, have come together to voice the injustice being meted out to Devinderpal Singh Bhullar. Be it the DGMC or the SGPC or even Amrinder Singh who leads the Congress Party of Punjab. Be it the Sikhs in Canada, the EU or the republic of Facebook … they stand united on this issue ... something that we haven't seen in a long time.
I am reminded of the lyrics from the ‘Song of the Khalsa’, that is sung by our children at many a gurdwara: “…When things are down and darkest - That’s when we stand tallest …”
Could Devinderpal Singh be that ray of light in our dark period, that will make us come together and stand tall?
Even though he is pretty much in a vegetative state of mind - rendered emotionally stoic by the long years of torture - Sikhs all over the world are determined to see him set free.
Many efforts have commenced full force to bring to light the wrongdoings against this man by the corrupt judicial system of India.
Please join the momentum. Do not leave it to the others - Do not let it go.
Just remember what happened to the Human Rights Activist Jaswant Singh Khalra in the 1990s. When he was picked up by the police, Sikhs all over the world started to speak up against his arrest. Then the enthusiasm fizzled out and then, one day, Khalra was made to ‘disappear’ while in the police custody.
This weekend, please pick an action or two or all of the following and join the movement. Please don’t let Devinderpal Singh disappear silently.
1 Amnesty International
Amnesty International launched an Urgent Action Appeal on June 3, 2011 to write to the Prime Minister, the President and the Minister of Home Affairs, of India. The appeal is available on their website in English and French at:
a Please send the above appeal to the Indian decision-makers with a copy to your local government officials.
b Please write to Amnesty International to thank them for making this appeal and to ask them to make this case high profile. Right now it is hidden in their document archives so unless masses take action, it is going get buried even further. It is up to you to spread this campaign through emails and social media. It is up to you to pressure them to give it due visibility.
To contact your local Amnesty International Chapter please go to http://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are and choose your country on the drop down menu.
2 EU, Germany
The European Union High Representative, Catherine Ashton, and the German Ambassador, Thomas Matussek, have appealed to India not to execute Devinderpal Singh ... followed by the opposition coalition of Germany asking its government to take steps to ensure that the death sentence is not carried out.
"It would be a violation of German laws and human rights. We are in the forefront of advocating abolition of death penalty and any aberration will not send a correct signal," said Christoph Strasser, the coordinator of the working group on human rights for the opposition alliance in the German parliament.
Germany’s pressure on India is important since there was an official court ruling by the administrative court of Frankfurt on October 6, 1997 that the deportation order of Devinderpal Singh in 1995 was unlawful, because he was indeed facing the threat of torture and death penalty in India.
a Join the protest - On June 20, 2011, from 2 pm to 4 pm, Sikhs from around the EU are gathering to protest in front of the Indian Embassy in Berlin located at Tiergarten Street 17. Please contact Surinder Singh at phone no. (0176) 61284310 for more information.
b Write to the German Ambassador Thomas Matussek in India to thank him for pressing the issue at : https://new-delhi.diplo.de/Vertretung/newdelhi/en/Kontakt.html
c Write to the European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton Contact: COMM-SPP-HRVP-ASHTON@ec.europa.eu or Fax : +32 (0) 295 19 15
3 United Kingdom
Two Early Day Motions (EDMs) have been tabled members of the UK Parliament. EDM 1867 is a general motion opposing the death penalty in India.
EDM 1930 tabled by Fabian Hamilton, MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for UK Sikhs (APPG), specifically calls for the Indian authorities to immediately lift the death sentence on Devinderpal Singh and also urges the UK Government to demand his immediate release.
a Sikhs living in the UK should contact their local government officials and MPs and urge them to publicly demonstrate their support by signing the above two EDMs. http://www.writetothem.com/
b Sikh Organization for Prisoner Welfare is also engaged in a UK wide effort for the release of Devinderpal Singh. You can also help them help several other Sikh prisoners in India. Please visit them at http://www.prisonerwelfare.com/prisoner-case-studies/davinderpal-singh-bhullar/
4 Canada
Canada's main opposition, the New Democratic Party (NDP), has now joined the issue by asking the Prime Minister to intervene to save Devinderpal Singh. In a letter to Prime Minister Harper, NDP leader Jack Layton has called Devinderpal Singh’s trial “questionable” and his conviction “doubtful”.
Questioning the trial, Layton said, “The evidence used against Bhullar was reportedly obtained through torture while he was in custody in 2001.” The politician said since Bhullar's wife, Navneet Kaur, is a Canadian citizen, 'she deservedly expects that the government of Canada would pay attention to the situation regarding her husband and his custody abroad.''
For the copy of letter visit http://www.sikhsangat.org/2011/06/jack-layton-writes-a-letter-urging-canadian-pm-to-save-bhullar/
a Write to your MPs and tell them to join Jack Layton on the issue. You can find your MPs here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/compilations/houseofcommons/MemberByPosta
b Write to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at <Baird.J@parl.gc.ca>, Liberal leader Bob Rae at <Rae.B@parl.gc.ca, and ask them to support Layton.
c) Thank the NDP leader Jack Layton for taking up the issue at <Layton.J@parl.gc.ca>
d) Visit http://worldsikh.ca/blog/wso-editor/help-save-prof-bhullar to join World Sikh Organization (Canada)’s efforts.
5 USA and elsewhere
Write to the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States of America, Klaus Scharioth. Tell him that, as an American citizen, you appreciate that Germany has
made it clear to India that it is against the execution of Devinderpal
Singh Bhullar who was deported in a procedural error by Germany to India
and that you’d expect that Germany would continue putting pressure on India for the humane treatment of Devinderpal Singh.
https://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/Kontakt.html
Online Petitions
There are at least 5 different online petitions initiated by various organizations and directed to different governments. Some are:
a) The Voices For Freedom Petition to Govt. of Germany http://www.petitiononline.com/Sikh5/petition.html
b) The Lawyers for Human Rights International Petition to the Govt. of India http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bhullar/
c) The Petition by Devinderpal Singh’s family to the Govt. of India http://www.petitiononline.com/shrg01/petition.html
In all your letters and appeals, please do not ask for clemency. Please ask for Justice. Please use the following facts while communicating:
a) There was zero evidence against Devinderpal Singh; None of the 133 eye witnesses brought by the prosecution could not connect him to the crime.
b) Devinderpal Singh has served more than a life’s imprisonment term in the torturous cells, most of it in solitary confinement, for a crime that was not proven.
c) Devinderpal Singh is suffering from severe physical and mental illness because of those tortures.
d) The presiding Judge in the Supreme Court bench had acquitted Devinderpal Singh.
e) It is the first time in the history of India that someone will be executed on a split verdict from the Supreme Court bench.
f) Devinderpal Singh was deported from Germany after he asked for asylum upon fearing for his life in India (Indian Police had already tortured and killed his father, maternal uncle and a friend). The German court later ruled the deportation as a mistake asking India to safeguard his life per the EU charter and UN conventions.
For further details on the case please visit: http://www.sikhchic.com/article-detail.php?id=2488&cat=12
Please share other global, regional and personal efforts or plans here. Please tell us what you will be doing for this cause this month.
June 19, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: H.S. Vachoa (U.S.A.), June 19, 2011, 12:27 PM.
So, if there is no evidence against him, he is just being hanged because he is a Sikh activist?
2: N. Singh (Canada), June 19, 2011, 1:15 PM.
I have already written to Jack Layton (Canada) as well as John Baird and Bob Rae. I even received an email back from Jack Layton's office that he had written to Stephen Harper (I will definitely be voting for Jack Layton going forward)! I have phoned Amnesty and will write letters (they advised that if you are nervous about giving personal information to the Indian government, you can write using a pseudonym but it is still important to write and they have managed to get several people free). I have also signed on the on-line petition. I will pass on this email to friends and colleagues and urge them to do the same.
3: G.C. Singh (U.S.A.), June 20, 2011, 1:00 AM.
While it is to be commended that most Sikh organizations have come together to highlight the grave injustice being done to Prof. Devinderpal Singh, the politicians of all hues and colors are making noises only because of upcoming elections in Punjab. The hypocrite and double faced Parkash Singh Badal whose own administration called Devinderpal a terrorist and opposed his transfer to a Punjab jail is now shedding crocodile tears and jumping on the save-Devinderpal-Singh-bandwagon. The murderer of Devinderpal's father and other relatives, police officer Sumedh Saini is being fully protected by Badal at the instructions of his coalition partner, the Indian Government and its kangaroo courts. While all these efforts to save an innocent person are noble, why is our intelligentsia not outraged at the constant denial of justice to innocent Sikhs in India while well known and well recognized mass murderers and genocidal maniacs are roaming freely? Why is there no introspection amongst the Sikh intellectuals regarding the state of the Sikh nation and the impending catastrophe it faces because of the events of the last three decades? Why can we not be truthful and say in one united voice that our fate on the Indian sub-continent is not in our own hands and that concrete steps need to be taken to live in freedom, justice, dignity and honor?
4: Amarjit Singh Sidhu (Chandigarh, Punjab), June 20, 2011, 3:31 AM.
Is the Government of India imposing the death penalty only on Sikh activists? I think India has forgotten the sacrifices made by the Sikh community in liberating and building India.
5: N. Singh (Canada), June 20, 2011, 10:34 AM.
As we all fight to save Prof. Devinderpal Singh from the Indian government and its injustices, just across the border in Pakistan, another Sikh awaits the death penalty on falsified charges of spying for the Indian government. Yet, still no Khalistan?
6: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), June 20, 2011, 3:10 PM.
G.C. Singh ji: In the last two weeks, while following this case, I discovered some mind-blowing dirty political games being played over the life of this man. One just has to look at the two lawyers fighting his case and pursuing the Clemency Petition and at the other cases they have been/are representing - it will be enough to make one throw up. I could write many interesting stories to reveal these 'games' but I chose not to focus on the negatives. It distracts us from our efforts to save the life of Devinderpal Singh. In my previous article, I have mentioned how his life and death have become iconic of our capability to be united and do something about fighting injustice to our people. Given the current state of affairs of the Sikh Panth, even this semblance of unity (e.g., crocodile tears of Badal) is a good baby step. We know that several people are politicizing the case of Devinderpal Singh but we must look at it as a great opportunity to organize, unite and start a movement - of seeking justice for our political prisoners unjustly held in Indian jails. It is up to us, we can get to work or discuss Khalistan. I don't know of any intelligentsia you talk about. N. Singh: thank you for your activism in Canada. Perhaps you can bring to light the story of the Sikh in the Pakistani prison to our readers. Perhaps we can start a similar campaign.
7: Amrit Singh Khalsa (Innisfail, Australia), June 20, 2011, 11:08 PM.
This situation should not stand. The release of Prof. Devinderpal Singh should be immediate, and there should be prosecution of those involved in this miscarriage of justice.