FREE PAL SINGH

How would you feel if someone you knew to be a dedicated humanitarian who left a wealthy, comfortable life to work among the poor was framed as a terrorist, arrested and tortured?  Please add to that the fact that he is 60 years old and in frail health.  What would you do?

This is the case with Pal Singh of France.  I wrote this post primarily for Sikh readers.  I am condensing it considerably.  For the rest of the story, please go to Free Pal Singh. 

Bhai Pal Singh Ji

The illustrious Punjab police are at it again. Once again an innocent Sikh has been framed, arrested and tortured by the protectors of the law in East Punjab.  This time it was Bhai Pal Singh, 60, a French citizen, Sikh preacher and humantarian worker, especially among the poor farmers of Punjab.

Although the cops say that they dug up weapons, ammunition and explosives, the neighbours say that nothing was dug at all.  Is it possible that the Punjab police, not noted for their good intelligence (pun intended), have mistaken "Tat Khalsa," a religious movement with "Babbar Khalsa," a proKhalistan group, believed to be terroristic by some.  Here is one instance of what seems to be such confusion:   Tat Khalsa supporting activities of Sikh terrorists, claims Punjab police.

Don't be fooled by the turbans;  these are not friends of the Sikhs!

There is so much I would like to say, but words fail me.  We all know about the excesses of the Punjab Police.  They would not hesitate to torture even to death an innocent Sikh man who has done nothing but good.  France has done nothing, although he is a French citizen.   It falls on the shoulders of the worldwide Sikh Sangat and other people of good will to champion this dear brother and make his case known to the world.  Is this not one more argument that we need our own country to respond to such things? 

One of the men arrested with him has been severely tortured and is near death. Pal Singh's health is very frail and it is mostly likely he could not survive torture at the gentle hands of the Punjab police.  Harminder Kaur, in the Facebook page, Free Pal Singh, reports that "a familly friend has visited Pal Singh and said he was very weak."
 
So what can any of us do, other than sit and wring our hands?  The first thing to do is to be informed.  Here is some help to get you started.

Information is not easy to come by.  This in itself is suspicious to me.  I am relying primarily on two Facebook pages, Free Pal Singh and Voices For Freedom.   I ask you to go there and join these two pages.  Facebook is sometimes silly and frivolous, true;  it is also very powerful. 

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Who is Pal Singh?   This article tells a bit about who he is and what he's about.
 

What is the official story of his arrest?  This is a lot of nonsense, but it is useful to know the official story.

Click on picture to see larger, readable page.

A photo from Times of India of their story.  


Here is a list of human rights organisations that we would like to mobilise to help Bhai Pal Singh ji.  Please visit each of them asking for help for Bhai Pal Singh.

Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/

Avocats Sans Frontières
http://www.avocatssansfrontieres-france.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=173&Itemid=129&lang=en

The Advocates for Human Rights
http://www.mnadvocates.org/

Giste
http://www.gisti.org/

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/


International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances
http://www.icaed.org/the-coalition/


UN Watch
http://www.unwatch.org/site/c.bdKKISNqEmG/b.1277549/k.D7FE/UN_Watch__Monitoring_the_UN_Promoting_Human_Rights.htm

World Organisation Against Torture
http://www.omct.org/


Asian Human Rights Commission (Asia)
http://www.ahrchk.net/

Asian Centre for Human Rights (Asia)
http://www.achrweb.org/countries/india.htm

All pictures are from the Free Pal Singh Facebook page except that of the Punjab Police, which is from in.com.