Dear Editor,
This letter is to inform the worldwide Sikh community of the actions being undertaken by the Saskatoon Gurdwara Executive committee. The Gurdwara president received a letter of invitation for Gurdwara members to attend a “wine and cheese reception” at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel with the Indian High Commissioner. On March 27 the president of the Gurdwara, Jagat S.Basran, announced in the presence of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, that “the Indian High Commissioner had invited some members to attend a wine and cheese reception on April 6” and would we please kindly give him our comments as to how to respond.
Sadly, for Saskatoon Sikhs, only very few people went up to him afterwards to condemn him for announcing an alcoholic event in Gurdwara Sahib and for thinking that any Sikh would attend a function with an Indian official. The few of us who protested told the executive committee that rather than thinking about attending they should help us to organize a demonstration to protest the human rights abuses of not only Sikhs in Punjab but many other people in other states as well. To this date the executive committee has not made its final decision but strongly seems to favor attending the function. What a tragedy for Sikhs. On one hand we have Amnesty International producing report after report denouncing Indian government and Police human rights abuses. We have the President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, declaring openly that he is concerned about the abuse of rights of people in Punjab and Kashmir. The United Nations World Conference in Vienna in 1993, identified India as one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The European Commission in Brussels has stated that they “deplore the continuing violence and abuse of human rights in different states of India.”
On the other hand we have some misguided “so called Sikhs” wondering if they should or should not go to shake hands and drink wine with the Indian High Commissioner. Do we have to have another holocaust with six million killed before those people will realize that it is wrong to ignore injustice and to allow repressive regimes to torture and kill those that oppose them. Are not the thousands of Sikhs and Muslims who have been tortured, raped and killed enough to raise their conscience.
I beg to the readers to send letters to protest to the Gurdwara Executive Committee and urge them to shame the Sikhs by attending the function. Gurdwara of Saskatoon, 312 Avenue I South, Saskatoon. Saskatchewan, S7M 1Y2.
Avtar Singh Saskatoon, Canada.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 8, 1994
