February 8, 2006
Citizens Declaration on
“A Riot & Terror Free
India”
Citizens Declaration on Protection of
Civilians During Violent Conflicts
For “A Riot & Terror Free India”
Common Minimum Agenda of Religious and Humanist Leaders in the
Subcontinent
Saturday, 10th Feb. 2007
10:00 A.M. To 2:00 P.M
[Followed by lunch]
Venue: Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New
Delhi-110002 [Near ITO Crossing]
Shri Rabi Ray Mr. Saiyid Hamid Justice V R Krishna Iyer
Justice M N Venkateshchalia Prof. Amrik Singh Miss Nirmala
Deshpande Maulana Rabey Nadvi Maulana Kalb-e-Sadiq Maulana
Anzar Shah Kashmiri Maulana Akhlaq Hussain Qasmi Fr. Vincent
Concessao Swami Agnivesh Prof. Dr. Tahir Mahmood Mr. Balraj
Puri Mr. Harsh Mander Mrs. Teesta Seetalvad Dr. John Dayal
Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty Prof. Anand
Kumar Prof. V K Tripathi Fr. T.K. John Dr. James Massey Shri
Surendra Mohan Dr. Abdul Haq Ansari Maulana Fuzailur Rahman
Hilal Usmani Syed Shahabuddin Mr. Niyaz Farooqui Maulana
Asrarul Haq Qasmi Shri Rajiv Vora Shrimati N Vora Dr. N K
Afandi Shri Vinod Jain Mr. N D Pancholi Ms. Mani Mala
Citizens For Peace
Syeda Manzil, Muzammil
Compound 4/1703, Dodhpur, Aligarh 202001
Tel: 0571-3298957
Mob. 9411415100
E-mail:[email protected]
Draft Declaration
on the Protection of Civilians During Armed Conflicts
We the citizens of India
and Pakistan, including the people of Jammu & Kashmir on both sides
of the Line of Control make this solemn declaration to provide a
framework for elimination of the undeserved suffering of innocent
civilians during all international and non-international conflict
situations caused by any inter-State dispute or any dispute between
opposition groups and any State or inter-group disputes on
religious, sectarian, ethnic, linguistic or regional basis.
Affirming faith in the
sanctity of human life,
Recognizing
the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members
of the human family,
Holding that all human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that they
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood,
1. We hereby
solemnly pledge to resolve disputes by peaceful methods, which
includes negotiations, adjudication, arbitration and mediation;
2. In our view,
recourse to force can be taken only when all peaceful means have
been exhausted, and when there is a serious threat to a person’s/
group’s/ community’s/ country’s right to life, dignity and freedom;
2.1 Such recourse to
force can also be taken to help a person, community or country to
defend its right to life, dignity and freedom, in case such persons
or groups are too weak to defend themselves, and seek such
assistance.
3. Such defensive
force for protection of one’s basic rights or to help others defend
their basic rights, when they seek help, must be proportionate to
the requirement of the situation;
3.1 In no case can
force be used for self aggrandisment, territorial expansion or for
settling old scores or for righting perceived historical wrongs;
3.2 Force cannot be
disproportionate to the situation required for defence of one’s
rights;
4. Before taking
recourse to force, warning and due notice will be given to the
opposite party/ parties.
4.1 In the event of
positive response from the opposite party, showing readiness to
settle the dispute through any agreed mechanism of negotiation,
arbitration and mediation, the aggrieved party will accept the offer
of peaceful settlement of the dispute(s).
4.2 In the event of
failure of negotiation/ mediation and in the event of armed
hostilities having started after due notice and after declaration of
the objectives for which force is being used, the following ethical
norms shall be treated as legally binding multilateral treaty
obligations, in terms of the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of
Civilians (1949/1977)which will be strictly adhered to by all
parties engaged in any armed conflict of a short duration or during
sustained prolonged hostilities.
(1) Humane
treatment of all persons taking no part or not being able to take
part in hostilities, prohibiting
(a) Violence to
life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation,
cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of
hostages;
(c) Violation of
dignity;
(d) Punishment
without due process of law.
5. In view
of the above we resolve to campaign for the protection of the life,
dignity, freedom and places of worship of all civilian persons
belonging to any group, community or country.
In view of the
fact that Hindu Dharma, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism which originated
in India and Islam and Christianity, having followers world-wide all
religions ate committed to peace and fraternal relations among
people, we condemn the following manifestations of unlawful and
inhuman use of force.
(i) Harming of
innocent persons including children, women, old, sick, disabled and
poor, destitute people—by killing, maiming, torturing and raping
them, and destroying their property, shelter, livelihood and places
of worship during any inter-community conflict just because of their
loose (real or imagined) affiliation to the community.
(ii) The State’s
armed police and paramilitary and armed forces using excessive force
and firearms, not authorized by human rights norms against unarmed
civilians, often indulging in targeted killing if innocent people
unwarranted by the situation in the name of controlling riots,
militancy, insurgency and secessionism.
(iii) Extra judicial
killings in false encounters by State agencies.
(iv) Acts of torture
and humiliation of civilians including rape by state forces
(v) Majoritarian
partisan role of State forces during inter-group conflicts including
targeted killings of minorities
(vi) Militant groups
using indiscriminate force, selecting site, method and weapons,
which are certain to harm and kill innocent civilians including
children, women and old persons, and their property and places of
worship.
(vii) Muslim
signatories to this statement express their deep concern and deplore
the use of such un-Islamic acts that harm civilians by groups who
claim inspiration from Islam.
(viii) Hindu
signatories to this statement deplore the use of Hindu dharma for
waging violent campaign of hate and revenge against Muslims and
Christians.
(ix) Other faith
community signatories express similar condemnation of any unethical
acts and any excesses committed by their co-religionists.
6. We further
resolve to make this Declaration on the Protection of Civilians
acceptable and implemented by all sections of the civil society in
each country, by the Governments of the two countries and by
militant armed groups and organized religious groups which tend to
indulge in violence, by undertaking educational campaigns and
recourse to law.
Iqbal A. Ansari
Inter-Community
Peace Initiative (ICPI)
Syeda Manzil, Muzammil
Compound 4/1703, Dodhpur, Aligarh 202001
Tel: 0571-3298957 E-mail:[email protected]
Pledge for
Protection of Civilians during Conflicts
In spite of our special
civilizational claim to non-violence, and respect for religio-cultural
pluralism, the country has witnessed during the last six decades
communal blood baths at the time of partition of India and later
during secession of Bangladesh. Within each of the three countries
innocent blood has been shed in the name of religion, sect, language
and ethnicity. Armed opposition groups in each country and some
enjoying support across borders have been using force
indiscriminately killing innocent civilians.
The State-power-centric
governance in all the three countries, irrespective of the claims of
democratic constitutionalism, makes them use indiscriminate unlawful
force against innocent civilians in the name of mob control,
repression of riots, fighting insurgency and secessionism and
terrorism.
India’s paramilitary and
armed forces have killed innocent civilians including women,
children and old people and committed other atrocities including
gang rapes against civilians in Jammu& Kashmir, Punjab and the North
East. The police and paramilitary forces have done targeted killing
of Muslims during communal riots, of which Hashimpura (Meerut) may
be the most brutal, but not he only example.
Innocent Hindus have been
periodically targeted since 1996 in Jammu resulting in brutal
killing of women, children and poor migrant workers. Places of
worship from Babri Masjid to Sankat Mochan have been specially
targeted by all militants/terrorists.
Without going
into the historical and present day ideological roots and religio-political
causes and compulsions of the situation we would like to confine
ourselves to building consensus over observance of humanitarian
ethico-legal norms during armed conflicts by all parties in all
situations, which we consider irreducible minimum of any peace
programme. These norms which are codified as Four Geneva
Conventions, 1949 are binding on all parties to any armed
hostilities, international or domestic .In this set of humanitarian
laws, we shall focus attention on common Article3 and Protocol II of
1977, dealing with protection of civilians during armed
hostilities, which requires all parties to armed conflict to
treat humanely all persons taking no part or not being able to take
active part in hostilities, prohibiting
a). violence to
life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation,
cruel treatment and torture;
b). taking of
hostages;
c). violation of
dignity;
d). punishment
without due process of law.
This ethical concern and
legally binding requirement for the conduct of armed conflicts that
civilians ,especially children, women ,old, disabled ,sick and
worshippers should enjoy absolute protection from any harm to life,
limb and dignity, enjoy sanction of all religions including Islamic
and Hindu laws of war.
It will be our endeavour
to seek endorsement to such a Citizen’s Declaration on Protection of
Civilians, from each religious community within a country and across
borders followed by a common country-wise and finally a Regional
Declaration on Protection of Civilians.
Our programme will include
the following campaigns:
(a). Sensitizing
people to sanctity of human life.
(b).(i) Making all
religious community organization, leaders and intellectuals in the
country sign a pledge for ‘No Harm To Civilians’, and for getting
it accepted and implemented at the community level.
(ii) Similar
pledges to be signed by people in Pakistan and Bangladesh
(c). Humane,
accountable policing requiring nonuse of lethal weapons/firepower
for controlling unarmed mob, unless there is grave imminent threat
to life.
(d). Repeal of all
laws, rules and manuals that empower police and magistracy to shoot
to kill unarmed people.
(e). No
extrajudicial killings by the police, without due process of law
(f). Speedily
bringing to justice all those charged with violation of human rights
by special courts, and rehabilitating the victims and making
adequate reparation for losses suffered by them.
(g). Similar special
courts to be set up for speedy trial of militant Hindu leaders
responsible for incitement to hatred and violence against minorities
including demolition of Babri Masjid
(h). International &
National Human Rights Institutions to be entrusted with the
responsibility of preparing a comprehensive report on human rights
violations in Jammu & Kashmir by all parties
(i). Involvement of
the NHRC in bringing to justice all personnel of police,
paramilitary and armed forces in Jammu & Kashmir. Special courts may
be set up for trial of cases of militant leaders and of
organizations responsible for violation of human rights.
j). The Red Cross
to be involved in rehabilitation of all victims in Jammu & Kashmir.
Iqbal A. Ansari