Reduced to Ashes (book)

Infobox Book
name = Reduced To Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab
title_orig =


image_caption = Cover page.
author = Ram Narayan Kumar with Amrik Singh, Ashok Agrwaal and Jaskaran Kaur
cover_artist = Marlyn Tadros, Hendrik van der Berge & Chandra Khatiwada
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = research
publisher = flagicon|Nepal South Asia Forum for Human Rights
release_date = May 2003
english_release_date =
media_type = Print Paperback
pages = 634
isbn = 99933-53-57-4
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Reduced To Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab" is the report of the Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP), authored by Ram Narayan Kumar, Amrik Singh, Ashok Agrwaal and Jaskaran Kaur. The report focuses on human rights violations committed by the Punjab Police during its operations to suppress the Punjab insurgency in India, from 1984 to 1994. The author Ram Narayan Kumar claims that the issue of Khalistan was used by the State to divert attention from real issues of democracy, constitutional safeguard and citizens' rights.cite web
url = http://www.countercurrents.org/hr-kumar290603.htm
title = Human Wrongs
author = Ram Narayan Kumar And Tanu Thomas K
publisher = The Times Of India
date = 29 June 2003
accessdate = 2009-12-20]

Content

The book is organized into 7 chapters, each containing further subsections and finishing in 634 pages with the authors giving their conclusion and suggestions. The book starts by giving a chronology of events and a detailed information into Jaswant Singh Khalra case. The following chapters look into details of missing Sikhs and discrepancies of law and its deliberate misuse. It also presents the organizational structure of Punjab police. The book contains contains over 500 testimonies by the families of the victims, and describes 672 cases of alleged illegal executions by the police in the Amritsar district.

:Contents
:Preface
:Introduction
:NHRC Chronology
:Chapter 1: Jaswant Singh Khalra: A Martyr for Human Rights
:Chapter 2: Impunity by All Means
:Chapter 3: Rights and the Dead Ends of Law
:Chapter 4: Methodology
:Chapter 5: Analysis of Case Summaries
:Chapter 6: Summaries of Cases of Illegal Cremations included in CBI Lists
:Chapter 7: Endnote: Reflections and Recommendations
:Appendices

Reviews

Khushwant Singh, a well known English columnist in leading National Newspapers in India, is said of have gone volte-face on his views after reading this research workcite news | last = Singh |first = Khushwant | title = K. P. S. Gill you have questions to answer| work =| pages =| language = English| publisher = The Hindustan Times| date = 2003-06-20| url =| accessdate = ] Citation | last1 = Singh | first1 = Baldev | title = Changing Interpretation of Khushwant Singh| newspaper = Sikh Spectrum Quarterly| issue=15| date = February, 2004| year =2004| url = http://www.sikhspectrum.com/052004/khushwant_7.htm ] , in his own words out of his review of the book he remarks "It is spine-chilling.... Well, Mr Gill, it is not rubbish; you and the Punjab police have quite a few awkward questions to answer".

A. J. Philip, Senior Associate Editor of The Tribune, accused CBI of not doing their jobs honestly and praised the authors of the book for taking the responsibility and doing what CBI failed to doCite news | last = Philip | first = A. J. | title = They did what CBI did not|language=English| publisher = The Tribune| date = 2003-06-01 | url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030601/spectrum/book1.htm ] . He wrote, "The CBI did such a shoddy job investigating the illegal cremations that truth remained hidden under mounds of illegible paperwork. It is against this backdrop that the painstaking effort of four intrepid researchers Ram Narayan Kumar, Amrik Singh, Ashok Agrwaal and Jaskaran Kaur of the Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab should be seen and commended.".

Columbia Law School Professor Peter Rosenblum wrote for preface "The careful analysis by the authors allows the reader to "pierce through the thick veils of ideology, intrigue and ‘state security’ that obscure our understanding of the campaign to pacify Punjab."cite book | last =Kumar | first =Ram |coauthors=Singh,Amrik; Agrwaal, Ashok & Kaur, Jaskaran | title =Reduced To Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab| publisher =South Asia Forum for Human Rights| year =2003 |place=Kathamandu (Nepal)| isbn=99933-53-57-4]

Criticism

The Punjab Police chief K. P. S. Gill, one of the accused in the book, dismissed the book by calling it "rubbish" in his comment to Khuswant Singh's query. However, later several police officials were found guilty and charged with murdercite web|publisher=Amnesty International|title=A mockery of justice: The case concerning the "disappearance" of human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra severely undermined|url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA200071998?open&of=ENG-IND|date=July 20, 1999] [cite web|url=http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/09/27/india11792.htm|title=Other Screams of Terror|publisher=Human Rights Watch|author=Meenakshi Ganguly] cite web|url=http://www.ensaaf.org/news/pr2005-11-18.php|title=Punjab Cops Convicted of 1995 Murder of Activist Khalra|publisher=Ensaaf]

References

External links

* [http://www.ensaaf.org/docs/reducedtoashes.php Download the book in PDF format]