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VIII
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reconciliation of deep social and political divide. This work is being done by the
truth and reconciliation commissions in many war-torn countries. This is the core
of transitional justice. Experiences of the truth and reconciliation commissions
worldwide underline the importance of truth telling for ensuring that impunity for
violations are broken so that the aspiration of "never again" is realised and national
reconciliation is achieved.
The goals of the South Asia Forum for Human Rights in bringing out this report
are:
To give the victims a voice by presenting their testimonies of human rights
abuse;
To strengthen the NHRC's efforts to move forward in the adjudication of issues
and determination of facts within the mandate in this matter of police abductions
leading to secret illegal cremations in Punjab, which it received from the
Supreme Court in December 1996;
To shift the discourse on human rights in Punjab from the rhetoric to an examination
of the facts and the law;
To create a national memory of mass atrocities based on verifiable records so
that the victims and their deaths do not become obfuscated events;
To encourage the human rights community and other victims of human rights
abuses in India to develop a larger solidarity and the programmatic clarity for
building a human rights culture based on justice;
To ask the international community to intervene to encourage India to fulfil its
obligations to protect fundamental human rights; and
To define issues for further analysis and research.
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4/27/03, 10:05 PM
Tapan Bose