Tag Archives: Freedom

“My definition of freedom takes account of every right mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. I also include in this definition the freedom from sectarian blind faith. The rights and freedoms mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the physical aspect of freedom and the freedom from sectarian blind faith is its psychological and academic aspect. The goal of physical as well as psychological and academic freedom can be reached right the way through the mysticism, that is to say the mystical experience of Ultimate Reality or the God Almighty..” – Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’

The Malach Massacre

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

Before 1947, Sikhs were populated in many cities and villages of present Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Presently, Malach (ਮਲਾਛ) is a subdivision of Union Council of Nathia Gali (in present Abbottabad District). There were four big villages in Malach region, where Sikhs were settled in good numbers. These villages were Jasa, Bhata, Dhrarhi (ਧਰਾੜੀ) and Sehar. There was another big village of Bagan, where Sikhs were in less numbers. Majority of residents of Bagan were Muslims.

There were a few other small villages in the region, where a handful Sikhs lived. Pasala, Bhotal and Badsar were among these villages.

Though, Pakistan came into existence officially on August 14, 1947, killing of Sikhs and Hindus in Abbottabad started in December, 1946. Many Sikhs were killed by mobs in December 1946 in Mansehra Tehsil.

In December last, 1946, religious fanatics held a meeting in village Bagan. They were present there in number of thousands. With their hot speeches, speakers of the gathering instigated locals and others to attack and kill Sikhs in the region.

Sikhs in Malach region listened about massacres of Sikhs and Hindus in Mansehra and other regions. They knew they had no option but to leave their ancestral land and properties to settle down in India. Their motherland was now to be known as Pakistan, a Muslim country.

Local Sikh leaders, S. Jawahar Singh, S. Chet Singh, S. Gulab Singh and S. Pritam Singh etc sent messages to Sikhs living in far villages to gather in village Bhata or Jasa. Many Sikhs of those villages gathered in Jasa. To reach India safely was a dangerous task.

To defend themselves from any attack, Sikhs gathered in Jasa made safety posts on roofs of two adjoining houses of S. Raj Singh and S. Garib Singh. Sikh women and children stayed in other Sikh houses of the village.

Two Sikhs, S. Raja Singh and S. Kaka Singh were sent to Abbottabad to get Police help, so that Sikhs stuck in Jasa could be evacuated safely. Putting their lives in danger, Raja Singh and Kaka Singh reached Abbotabad. The police reached Jasa and thus Sikhs were evacuated.

Sikhs gathered in village Bhata were not so lucky.

On January 3, 1947, thousands of rioters first attacked Sikhs of village Badgar and killed them on the spot; then they proceeded towards Bhata raising slogans of ‘Naara –e-Tadbeer’ (ਨਾਅਰਾ-ਏ-ਤਦਬੀਰ) and ‘Ali Ali’ (ਅਲੀ ਅਲੀ).

When Muslims of Bhata saw that Sikhs of their village were in danger, they asked Sikhs to embrace Islam to avoid killings. Sikhs at once refused to abandon their faith in Guru.

Now, attackers asked Sikhs in loud voice to embrace Islam to avoid death. Local Sikh leaders, S. Pritam Singh and S. Garib Singh roaring like lions replied in loud voice that it was better to die a martyr than to be a Muslim.

As soon as the Sikh leaders refused to be Muslims, attackers opened fire. Sikhs had a very few guns and limited ammunition, but they responded with fire.

The firing lasted for short time. Many attackers were killed by Sikhs. When rioters saw their own men were being killed, they adopted another plan. They besieged the village to make sure no Sikh could escape and put houses of Sikhs on fire.

Sikh women and children took refuge in those houses. When S. Pritam Singh saw those houses in fire, to help those women and children he came out of his safe position. As he reached in ‘Veranda’ of the house, he was shot with seven bullets. The brave Sardar tasted the martyrdom.

On the one hand, Sikh women and children were caught in fire; on the other hand, Sikhs were firing on attackers. S. Dharam Singh (115 years old), S. Garib Singh and S. Asa Singh fought very bravely with their limited ammunition and at last drank the cup of martyrdom.

Sikh women, elders and children were burnt alive in those houses.

Five Sikhs (S. Mahan Singh, S. Hari Singh, S. Nirmal Singh, S. Prakash Singh and S. Sangat Singh) were shot dead in village’s streets.

In village ‘Bhata’ total 124 Sikhs were martyred. In Sehra 12, in Badgar 5, in Jasa 7 and in Kala Pani 1 Sikhs were martyred by fanatics.

Source: ‘Brahman Sikh Itihas’ (Punjabi) by Jaswant Singh ‘Sudan’ and Prem Singh ‘Sasan’.

Freedom

“I am here to share the idea of freedom. My definition of freedom takes account of every right mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. I also include in this definition the freedom from sectarian blind faith. The rights and freedoms mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the physical aspect of freedom and the freedom from sectarian blind faith is its psychological and academic aspect. The goal of physical as well as psychological and academic freedom can be reached right the way through the mysticism, that is to say the mystical experience of Ultimate Reality or the God Almighty..” – Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’ in ‘I Am Not A Propagandist‘

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Massacres

Terrorism

Society

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Adopted

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR was the first international recognition that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms and it continues to be a living and relevant document today.

Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’ and AmritWorld.com make an appeal to all supporters and visitors of AmritWorld.com to publicize the text of the Declaration. The text of the Declaration should be spread, displayed, read and explained first and foremost in schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions.

On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 2008), AmritWorld.com under the guidance of Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’ adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

AmritWorld.com pledges to take responsibility for upholding the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We will do our best to speak out to protect the freedom and rights of others. We will spread the message of the Declaration on our website and during our meetings, classes, research tours and educational tours.

We affirm the following principle:

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

We believe that Every Human Has Rights.

December 10, 2008

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

They Were Innocent…

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

At last, the Andhra Pradesh government has admitted that 21 Muslim youth were wrongly detained and tortured for the blast investigates at Mecca Masjid, Gokul Chat shop and Lumbini Park in Hyderabad in May and August 2007.

The government admitted this only after the State Minorities Commission released a report in this regard

As per news papers, on 18 May, 2007, 14 persons were killed and over 50 others injured in a bomb explosion in the historic Mecca Masjid and in the subsequent police firings in the nearby areas in Hyderabad. Nine persons lost their lives in the bomb blast and other five were killed in Police firing. (Related News {Opens in a new window})

On August 25, 2007, 42 persons were killed and about 50 injured in two powerful near-simultaneous blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat shop in Hyderabad. (Related News {Opens in a new window})

The Police acted in its well-known style and took many Muslims into custody.

Ms. Nirmala Deshpande, Member of Parliament, and Ms. Nandita Rao, advocate in New Delhi had made complaints in this regard to the National Commission for Minorities. They submitted detailed reports filed by the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee and by a fact-finding commission set up the AP State Minorities Commission (Read a report by indianMuslims.info {Opens in a new window}) after which the Commission sent its four-member team to Hyderabad on 4-5 February, 2008.

Many allegations were made against the Police. For example: –

– disregarding established procedures, the police fired indiscriminately into the crowd fleeing the Mecca Masjid after the blasts which resulted in the death of at least six persons

– after the twin blasts on August 25, 2007, the police picked up Muslim youth randomly as suspects. In one instance, a group of young men was apprehended in a grave-yard watching CDs of Jehadi propaganda on a television set with a proper electricity connection!

– the suspects were not allowed to inform relatives of their arrest

– the suspects were bundled into cars without number-plates, blindfolded and illegally detained in farm houses and private lodges for several days where they were subjected to physical and mental torture. They were stripped naked, severely beaten, administered electric shocks on various parts of their body, including the genitals, and deprived of food and water. The police used abusive language about their women folk and their faith and forced them to hail Hindu deities.

– No lawyer was present during interrogation of the suspects.

– Detainees were not produced before a magistrate for remand within 24 hours of their detention. Instead, the time of arrest was shown as later than it actually took place merely to comply with the requirement of remand within 24 hours of arrest.

– The suspects were produced before a magistrate after court hours at his residence. The magistrates never asked them if they had been tortured despite tell-tale marks of recent injuries.

– Some of the suspects had to undergo narco tests whose results have little evidentiary value but which resulted in physical and psychological damage to them. Incidentally, the AP High Court has banned narco tests.

According to the report of National Commission for Minorities’ team: –

First, the police have yet to identify the perpetrators of the three bomb blasts in Hyderabad in 2007. Second, the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad City, has himself admitted in a letter addressed to the AP State Minorities Commission that during the process of the examination of suspects, the police were unable to gather evidence establishing their complicity in the blasts. The Commissioner did add that the suspects were found to be involved in certain criminal acts and that they were also part of a Jehadi network in Hyderabad.

However, even in this latter comment the Police Commissioner had made no mention of the ISI. On further questioning the police officials agreed to delete this reference. A similar undertaking was given by the Charlapalli jail authorities and Minister Md. Ali Shabbir.

The report recommends:

In view of the seriousness of the allegations against the police, and the less-than satisfactory responses given by them, the NCM team urges the union government to direct the CBI to enquire into all the three incidents of bomb blasts in the city in 2007. As of now, only the Mecca Masjid blast case is being investigated by the CBI.

Now, when those, who were arrested by the Police, are proved innocent, the Andra Pradesh government has announced a compensation worth of Rs 30,000 to each of those youth. This compensation will be paid in the form of an auto-rickshaw.

These Muslims are victimized by the Police, a government department. These Muslim youth along with their families underwent a great physical as well as mental torture. A compensation of Rs 30,000 (and that too will not be given in cash) for all this pain they suffered is but a joke. The government must publicly apologize to these Muslims and immediately give at least Rs 10, 00,000 in cash as compensation. This is the least this government can do for all those who have suffered in the hands of the police. Giving back their lost dignity is another point which needs our attention.

And, this will not be enough. Police officers responsible for these misdeeds should be prosecuted for religious discrimination and physical as well as mental torture.

Only an accountable and independent police force can fight against terror. Otherwise, the police force in present shape is incapable. Under pressure to produce results, it arrests and tortures innocent citizens. This is absolutely unacceptable in a democratic country.

Honesty and trustworthiness of the Police has taken a severe beating. Everything done by police will be suspected by an average citizen and it will open up scope for even real terrorists to get benefit of doubt.