Los Angeles: A two-day session of the General Assembly of the World Sikh Organization was held at Los Angeles January 12 and 13. On January 12 the review committee finalized the constitution, the draft of which was earlier circulated to various Sikh Organizations and Gurdwaras for comments.
The Secretary General, Gen. Jaswant Singh Bhullar, placed the final draft of the constitution before the Assembly. Speaking on the occasion, he said that he was entrusted with the task of translating a floating idea into a powerful organization at the New York convention. He said that he was a new man in this part of the world and had to first acquaint himself with the ways here as also the resources that could be mustered up. He ex-pressed his gratitude to all those who had helped him in fulfilling his enormous duties particularly in preparing the constitution.
The mandate of the New York convention was to give shape to an organization that would be committed to the establishment of a Sovereign Sikh State (Khalistan). The constitution approved by the General Assembly revolves around the major objective of establishing a Sovereign Sikh State as ordained by the Guru Panth.
An Ad Hoc governing council has been appointed as a stop gap arrangement to make arrangements for the conduct of elections. The Governing Council comprises:
- Jasbir Singh Sethi, S. Karamjit Singh Rai — United States.
Varinder Singh Lamba, Raghbir Singh Samag — Canada.
Kesar Singh Mand, Satwant Singh Suman — United Kingdom.
The President and the Secretary General will be ex-office members of the governing council. The printed copy of the constitution will be circulated within a month.
The General Assembly,through a_ resolution, called upon the Akali leaders in Panjab not to enter into any kind of negotiations with the Indian Government so long as there was Army occupation and so long as the policy of persecuting Sikhs was continuing through draconian black laws. The Assembly also desired that there should be no compromise over principles and Sikhs abroad should also be consulted and their views should be given the recognition they deserve.
The General Assembly also condemned the arrest of Bhai Jasbir Singh and S. Simranjit Singh Mann a Senior Indian Police Service Officer. The Assembly regretted that the Indian Government was arresting Sikhs engaged in their routine normal activities and preoccupations in order to generate an atmosphere of terror. Speakers at the Assembly warned that continued violations of the basic human rights will not help improve the situation.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 18, 1985
