Lest We Forget – 10 Years

(San Francisco, CA) Ten years ago on September 6, 1995, Indian security forces abducted human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra because of his courageous work exposing the “disappearances” and killings of thousands of Sikhs in the state of Punjab. Indian security forces subsequently tortured and murdered Mr. Khalra on October 24, 1995. A decade on, the Indian government has failed to bring his killers to justice and continues to thwart any investigation into the “disappearances” and killings that Mr. Khalra brought to light.

On September 6, 2005, ENSAAF, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law sent a joint letter and background packet to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus urging it hold hearings into these “disappearances” and killings and urge the Indian government to comply with its obligations under international law to provide justice and redress to the victims of human rights violations committed by its security forces.