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Sikh
group to challenge diplomatic immunity for Kamal Nath
Thursday January 27, 2011 12:42:46 PM,
Arun Kumar, IANS
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Washington: A Sikh
community group says it will challenge any effort by the Indian
government to get diplomatic immunity for Urban Development
Minister Kamal Nath for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh
riots.
The issue of diplomatic immunity is decided by the court and the
US Department of State can only give its recommendation, according
to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to Sikhs For Justice (SFJ),
a US based human rights advocacy group, which filed a civil suit
against Kamal Nath last April.
If diplomatic immunity is granted to Kamal Nath, plaintiffs will
challenge it in the highest court of the US and will also lodge
petitions and complaints before the UN Human Rights Commission
with regard to India's open practice of impunity, he said
Thursday.
The US is still reviewing whether Kamal Nath, who has been
summoned by a New York court for his alleged role in the1984
anti-Sikh riots, can be given diplomatic immunity, State
Department spokesperson Philip J. Crowley told reporters Monday.
"The immunity question remains under review here at the State
Department, and we have not made any determination at this point,"
he said.
Kamal Nath has been summoned Feb 9 by New York's Southern district
court for a pre-trial conference, according to Pannun.
In April 2010, SFJ along with two individuals filed a law suit
against Kamal Nath in US District Court under Alien Tort Claims
Act (ATCA) & Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) asking the Court
to order compensatory and punitive damages against Kamal Nath.
"Alien Tort Claims Act, the law under which the trial against
Kamal Nath will be held, is specifically created to provide remedy
and forum to victims of genocide to vindicate their complaints,"
Pannun said.
"The trial against Kamal Nath is one such opportunity through
which SFJ plans to put on the record of the court evidence related
to genocide of Sikhs and Kamal Nath's role in it."
Plaintiffs have asked for a jury trial and will have the right to
call upon survivors and experts on genocide as witnesses to prove
that systematic killing of Sikhs in November 1984 was genocide as
defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide, he said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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