Dear Editor:
Your brief news on “Indian consulate Wooing Sikhs”, perhaps inadvertently, could leave an unfortunate impression and, therefore, deserves some elaboration. 1. Daljit Singh Ahluwalia and Mr.
And Mrs. Rajinder Singh Dhamoon were not the only Sikhs present; others also attended the meeting that you reported.
- At the above meeting, a very frank discussion was held which focused primarily on two areas: a. about 75 to 80% of the total time (about four hours) was devoted to the Immigrant Day Dinner and Parade. The position of the Sikhs attending the meeting was frankly and firmly stated that neither the Indian flag nor the Indian consular officials rightfully belonged in that parade. This position has also been explicitly stated by me in “India Abroad” and “News India” recently.
- In the remaining time, the Sikhs vat the meeting firmly and clearly stated that, however flawed the Punjab Accord, the responsibility for their nonfulfillment lies with the Indian government and, in the matter of the inquiry into the massacre of Sikhs in November 1984, the Indian government had failed in its primary function to guarantee the safety of its citizens, to hold an honest inquiry and to follow it up with justice. The onus remained on the Indian government to prove its bonfires.
In short, I believe that the meeting served a purpose. Once again, it articulated very clearly and UN. Ambiguously the feeling of some Sikhs. If the purpose was to woo the Sikhs, the Indian government could not have gone about it in a poorer way.
I am sure Drs. Dhamoon and Ahluwalia do not need me to defend them and I certainly do not wish to be in that position, but I am writing this in the interest of providing our community with a complete story. You have done so well with your paper. I just wish you had called one of the attendees for further details. You see. incomplete reporting, even though honest, can be so easily misunderstood which can only serve to hurt the Sikh cause to which we are all equally dedicated each in his own way.
I.J. Singh, D.D.S., Ph.D. Professor of Anatomy
New York, NY
Since the news had come from reliable sources, we did not feel the necessity of confirming it. However, we will be more cautious in future.
Editor
Article extracted from this publication >> January 2, 1987
