Washington D.C.— S. Ganga Singh Dhillon President World Sikh Organization of U. S. A. described the assassination of Mr. Harchand Singh Longowal, President Akali Dal as the direct consequence of central government’s attempt to isolate the Sikh majority by foisting upon them a minority settlement through Mr. Longowal in consummating a calculated unholy accord with him. The objective of the government was to divide the Sikhs, to tarnish their image abroad and to weaken their struggle at home. When any government ignores the majority view, then, the natural corollary is Longowal tragedy, said Sardar Ganga Singh. He said that as a Sikh, he can’t feel happy at any ones death, but he can’t as well hesitate to remind the fence sitters among the Sikhs to learn from the fate of Mr. Longowal. It’s time to discard narrow politicking and join the mainstream of the Sikh struggle. He also warned the government to refrain from repeating the folly of unleashing a reign of terror against the youth in the fashion of late Indira Gandhi.
He also appealed to the free world to break the silence and call upon the Indian government to abandon the course of playing with the lives of innocent people. We rightly show so much concern for the happenings in South Africa. Time has come to give equal recognition to the Sikh problem, to the violation of their human rights, to the denial of their religious rights and to their right to self-determination.
The persecution of minorities in India is no different from what is happening in the Soviet Union and Afghanistan to the dissenters.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 23, 1985
