Lapta.org

Panjab, the land of five rivers, best known for being the home of the minority Sikh population with its gleaming history, culture and lifestyle. This exhibition charts the murky truths about those affected by state sponsored disappearances of thousands of young males during a time of direct rule by the central government (1984-1995) which saw an erosion of democratic norms and a struggle for independence.

Young men were arrested indefinitely, and human rights abuses dramatically increased; police and security forces abducted those suspected to be involved in a movement for liberation, often in the presence of witnesses – yet later denied having them in custody. Most are understood to have been killed, but their bodies remain missing with only a small number receiving the ashes of their loved ones.

In 1995, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra went missing himself after exposing municipal records detailing how as many as 25,000 Sikh youths were secretly cremated after being killed in police custody. As recently as 2017, human rights group, Panjab Advocacy and Documentation Project (PADP) meticulously recorded the names of 8,257 young male Sikhs who had disappeared.

Tragically, in the absence of a formal investigation, the true number of disappeared – the lapata – may never be known.