by Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer and Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon
Although the Sikhs of the Punjab (the Sikh homeland) never won their independence, a so-called pseudo-independent state was created on 15 August, 1947, when British rule in the Indian empire ended, resulting in Hindu India and Pakistan gaining their independence. Since, then the Sikhs and their homeland have had no choice but to embrace the slavery imposed on them by Hindu India. A few weeks after Hindu India’s independence, the government headed by the Kashmiri Brahmin, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his team of staunch Hindus, (including the father of the Hindu nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), issued a highly secretive memorandum stating that the Sikhs are lawless people and that they should be dealt with firmly. A Sikh civil servant, S. Kapoor Singh, later known as the Sikh National Professor, resigned in protest as he assessed the ulterior motives of the Hindu government’s policy towards the Sikh community of the Sikh nation (WSN, 17 & 24 Nov, 1989). Having repeatedly put forth their grievances before Hindu India’s New Delhi administration, the Sikhs of Punjab and those living in other parts of the Hindu Empire were branded anti-nationals, communal, and terrorists, to cite a few of the names they were called.
Since 1978, atrocities towards the Sikh community increased and Hindu India’s discriminatory activities also increased 10 such an extent that on one hand Hindu India’s New Delhi administration launched an extensive undeclared war against the Sikh nation, suspending all means of communication in Punjab and isolating it from the rest of the world, mercilessly butchering 80,000 innocent Sikhs in practically every major Gurdwara in Punjab over a period of 72 hours in June 1984. Even the armed ‘forces of the Hindu India Empire indiscriminately killed youths 6 months 12 years of age, women, and men alike. The state controlled news media, the government’s own propaganda machinery, and its foreign diplomatic services, on the other hand, carried out venomous campaigns against the Sikhs in order to brand them “terrorists” in the eyes of the non-Sikhs of the Hindu-India empire, as well as the international community. The Hindu government elected in 1984 and headed by the Kashmiri Pundit’s (Nehru’s) grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, increased its anti-Sikh campaign from $6 million (U.S) to $50 million in 1988 (Dilgeer, the SWORD, Vol. 5, Fall/Winter, 1989) so as to present the Sikhs as “terrorists” in order to sidetrack the Sikhs political issues. As Qureshi puts it, in the political arena one sits and negotiates with political foes and not with criminals or with deliberately branded terrorists (The SWORD, Vol. 5, Spring/Summer, 1989). The latter constitutes the primary objective of the second phase of the ‘operations instituted by the Hindu government against the Sikhs not only in India, but also in Europe, North America, Australia, and south-east Asia.
The post-invasion era of Darbar Sahib, Akal Takht Sahib, and the Sikh nation, witnessed a reign of terror by Hindu India’s. New Delhi administration of Rajiv Gandhi and his “Joe-boys” and cabinet colleagues: H.K.L. Bhagat, Buta Singh, R.F. Ribeiro, K.P, Gill, Mr. Ray (the former Governor of Punjab), and many others. It should be ‘mentioned that those who now refer 10 themselves as Sikh sympathizers for instance: Mr. Karan Singh, a Kashmiri Dogra, staunch Hindu, until last week Ambassador of India in Washington and the new Prime Minister of Hindu India, Mr. V.P. Singh watched Rajiv Gandhi’s game calmly and quietly and did not utter a word against their terrorist government.
After the coronation of Rajiv Gandhi in November 1984, and until November 1989’s general elections, Rajiv Gandhi’s administration carried out major events directed towards the extermination, humiliation, and terrorization of the Sikhs, as illustrated below. The downing of Air India Flight 182 (Toronto-London-Bombay) off the Irish coast, Operations Black Thunder 1,1, and II in the Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab; destruction of historical buildings in the name of beautification; Operation Mund; the man-made floods of 1988 that were intended to destroy the economy of the ‘Sikh nation and to create enormous hardships for the nation’s citizens; chemical persecution of the Sikhs with napalm gas; intensifying inhuman persecutions and prosecutions of the Sikhs (children, women and men alike); burning of Sikh holy places and the Granth Sahib; the massacre of Sikh students in Bidar, Karnataka; the torture and killing of Sikh academics, erosions in the principle of Miri and Piri of the Sikh way of life, established from the times of the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev. Ji, executions of S, Beant Singh, Satwant Singh, Kehar Singh and countless more individuals; the torture of foreign Sikh nationals S, Balkar Singh and S. Daljit Singh, both of Ontario, Canada; the torture of S. Simranjit Singh Mann (now the leader of the Sikhs and a member of parliament since November 1989), S. Harmandar Singh Sandhu, and hundreds of thousands of other Sikhs in jails; the humiliation of Sikh women by police officer Gobind Ram (the Sikh Women’s Committee Punjab and Justice Ajit Singh Bains Human Rights Committee); the impounding of Justice Ajit Singh Bains’ passport and preventing him from appearing before a UN Human Rights tribunal in Geneva in August 1989.
Indian voters defeated Rajiv Gandhi’s government in the recently held general elections. VP Singh, who was at one time ‘finance minister under Rajiv Gandhi’s administration, then defense minister, then kicked out of Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress (I) Party, and who watched the terror transpiring in Punjab as a spectator with closed eyes, became the Prime Minister of Hindu India with the support of orthodox Hindu parties, the communists, and leftist, centrist, and rightist elements. Recently, he visited Darbar Sahib for what reason? The army, paramilitary forces, and Russian trained intelligence personnel are still there. So what has changed in the Sikh nation since Mr. V.P. Singh assumed office? The answer is nothing in a real sense. Since the November 1989 elections, it is amply clear that S. Simranjit Singh Mann, Bibi Bimal Kaur Khalsa, S. Atinderpal Singh, Sucha Singh Maloa, Bibi Rajinder Kaur Gill (widow of Professor Rajinderpal Singh Gill, killed while in police custody), S. Dhian Singh Mand, S. Jagdev Singh Khudian, and S. Kirpal Singh, have been elected by the Sikh nation to deliver a clear and definite message to the Indian parliament that entails first, that the Sikh nation supports the creation of Khalistan and second, that the Sikh nation has rejected the Hindu-Congress and its occupation of the Sikh homeland. Sikhs around the world fully support the Brig. Gen. Ben Blaz’s views that the Sikhs are only safe in their own homeland when it is free and sovereign the verdict of the Sikhs is also a message to the Hon. Stephen Solarz, Congressman, that he should reconsider his views with respect to the issue of an independent Sikh nation.
As the people of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, E. Germany, Afghanistan, Romania, and more recently, Lithuania and the Baltic states, have determined or would like to determine their own destiny 10 self-rule with the same token the Sikhs of Punjab have spoken and rejected the forcible occupation of their homeland by Hindu India’s ‘forces. Any union with Hindu India’s terrorist government is unacceptable 10 the Sikhs and the government must, therefore, vacate the Sikh homeland and return all territory of post 15 August, 1947, Punjab and adjacent-dominantly Punjabi speaking areas 10 the Sikhs. Further, it is the moral obligation of the International Community of Democratic Countries of the world to exert their influence on the terrorist regime in India to honor the referendum, in order to prevent further bloodshed and other losses in the Sikh homeland. Without an independent Sikh nation, the language, heritage, culture, literature, history, holy places, honor, dignity, and pride of the Sikhs will never be safe. The terrorist regime sin Hindu India has lost the trust of the Sikhs since 1947; trust which cannot be restored. The Sikhs do not envision a future with terrorist Hindu India. The Sikhs do not wish to raise their children under the slavery of the Hindu India regime.
The followers of the ten Gurus, the Granth Sahib ji; and the path shown by martyrs like Darshan Singh Pheruman, Saint soldiers like Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Bhai Amrik Singh, Bhai Shahbeg Singh, Bhai Labh Singh, and others; and the vision of philosophers like S. Pritam Singh Gill and others, will peacefully continue their struggle until truth prevails and the future of their children, brothers, sisters and elders is safe in an independent and sovereign Sikh homeland: Khalistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 26, 1990
