Haresh Singh’s family is still waiting for Justice. Despite protests by the Singh family the Government doesn’t seem interested in solving this crime; this is a pattern. The PPP had no problem bringing in foreign investigators for the Henry boys. This is direct racism against Indians and the government must be held responsible under the laws of the Constitution and under International laws which Guyana has signed.
After the March elections and leading up to Ali’s installation as President hundreds of Indians were beaten, robbed, chopped; many of them committed within the plain sight of police and army personnel. Millions dollars of assets were stolen or vandalized. After the 1992 elections, the same thing happened as no one was held responsible. Again, after the 1997 elections terror against Indians intensified to a level not seen since the 1960s, and after the 2001 election, anti-Indian violence repeated itself.
Guyana is a member of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, the OAS, and the Commonwealth. Each one of these institutions has rules regarding human rights and protections of individual rights. So what’s the problem? Well, our overeducated Indian intellectuals are busy trying to lecture the opposition how to behave while Indian elected leaders are busy accommodating these racists criminals, thus violating the Constitution they swore to uphold. Look at how the PPP behaved after the election: running to the CCJ, demanding that OAS and the ABC countries sanction members of the opposition. They wanted their rights to be protected then turned around and denied Indians their constitutional rights. How ironic! What hypocrisy!
We have seen how powerful international human rights laws are. Zimbabwe was kicked out of the Commonwealth after Mugabe’s government refused to honor its Supreme Court ruling that land seizures are illegal; the former dictator of South Korea was sentenced to death, former President of Guatemala was sentenced to 80 years in prison. Pinochet, the Chilean dictator, was tried in England under “Universal jurisdiction”, which the UN upheld. Indian PM, Narendra Modi, was denied a U.S visa for instigating ethnic violence. What about Guyana and Guyanese who suffered until an illegal and racist regime? The PPP not only failed to uphold the rights of these victims, something which they have sworn to do but committed an additional crime when they aid and abet criminals by providing additional pension and security.
Britain committed war crimes against Indians and crimes against humanity during the Wismar Massacre and other incidents. Furthermore, they conspired with other nations to destabilized their own territory/citizens and then tried to cover it up (another crime under the Geneva convention that they signed). U.S Secretary of State, David Rusk, asked his Attorney General for a legal opinion on U.S activities in the 1960s. This engendered other crimes under international law (you knew its illegal but continued anyway). There is no statute of limitation for war crimes. Western nations are quick to seek compensation for their citizens. For example, the families of the Lockerbie Airline terror incident became millionaires as Libya paid billions in compensation. American families are going after Iranian assets frozen in the U.S for terror incidents allegedly sponsored by Iran. What are our Indian activists doing for Indian victims in Guyana?.
The ICC made it clear that Governments of member states could be held liable for “failure to act.” This is a very powerful tool, our Indian activists and intellectuals never seem willing to use it. The Geneva Convention also labeled “failure to act” as a prosecutable offense. If the PPP had the intelligence or were warned that Opposition members were committing war crimes they can be held responsible, powerful stuff indeed. If the PPP made secret deals prior to Oct 05, 1992, then they conspired with criminals to deny victims their legal rights and an additional charge, aiding and abetting criminals. (Note: The PPP was not sworn in prior Oct 05, 1992, thus any “secret deal” means additional crimes may have been committed)
Indian activists were in a powerful, powerful, powerful position after 1992. They could have approached human rights organizations seeking help for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but, they blew it. Instead, they set out to do what educated Indian intellectuals/activists always do, proposing grandiose solutions for criminal behavior, except of course law enforcement. Criminals must be lectured to, not punished. The problem we have today directly stems from appeasement, something rarely discussed in Guyana. With the PPP margin of a victory rapidly eroding and the Indian population decimated via terror, it’s time for Indians to make a last stand and hold these racists for past and future crimes by using the courts and setting precedent for the future (anti-Indian) governments. I stand ready to help.
Mr. Manny Budhu can be reached at Guyana1838@gmail.com