The beleaguered but beautiful land of Kashmir is now at a stage of its liberation movement which has won it the admiration of Sikh leaders. Kashmiris are collectively fighting the Indian tyranny and the occupation of the land by the army which usurped it more than 40 years ago. We express our solidarity with our Kashmiri brethren and ask all the Sikhs to greet Kashmiris with open arms.
The state was forcibly occupied by India after the partition of India in 1947 when it’s Hindu King, the father of the Indian envoy to the US Karan Singh handed over the Muslim majority area to India. The people were given no opportunity to participate in the decision.
India swallowed Kashmir in defiance of United Nation’s resolutions of 1948 and 1949 and realizing that Kashmiris do not want to be oppressed by it, has steadfastly refused to hold a plebiscite despite many promises to the UN.
Kashmir, once a part of the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was given to Dhian Singh and Gulab Singh Dogra as a reward for betraying the Khalsa Raj to the British. Sikhs and Muslims have had the same relation with the erstwhile Hindu Dogra rulers of Kashmir-they were both betrayed by them and were systematically oppressed, their wealth plundered and their religious and cultural freedom quashed under them.
India seeks to crush the aspirations for freedom of the Kashmiri people just as those of the Sikhs in Punjab. V.P. Singh’s regime has been marked by deliberate decisions. Rajiv Gandhi did not want to go down in history as the man who lost Punjab and V.P. Singh does not want to be the one to lose Kashmir. They have to see the writing on the wall. India was artificially created and the map of India will soon be redrawn.
Actions speak louder than words, the democratically elected, though corrupt and inept, government of Farooq Abdullah has been dismissed by New Delhi and the Central government has assumed direct control of the State, as it often did in the past, not only in Kashmir but also in Punjab and other places.
It has let loose its army, which in at least one well documented case fired at the crowds of people, as well as local police who were protesting the occupation of their land by India since 1947, killing a large number of them. Actions of an occupying army indeed. Governor Jagmohan who became notorious because of the firing on unarmed, poor Muslims at the Turkman Gate in New Delhi during the Emergency (1975-1978) has been brought back.
26 January, which is celebrated as the Independence day of India saw streets deserted because of a call by the Kashmir Liberation Front. Authorities reacted predictably, they launched repressive measures, ordered indiscriminate mass arrests, forces the foreign press out of the state so that the repression would remain un-reported, and clamped curfew. Actions similar to what happened in Punjab in 1984.
Sikhs all over the world condemn the forcible occupation of Kashmir. We re-assert our and their inalienable and fundamental right of self-determination as enshrined in the United Nations charter and extend our full support to the liberation struggle in Kashmir, just as we do to freedom struggles in Africa and the rest of the world. We urge Sikh and Muslims to form joint organizations in Punjab, Kashmir and the rest of the world so that they can achieve their goals together.
We urge Sikh soldiers stationed in Kashmir to refuse to participate in this operation of the Indian regime to crush the Kashmiris even at the cost of facing disciplinary action. Soldiers of other communities in the Indian army should also refuse to fire on unarmed civilians. They should emulate the brave example of Brigadier Ranjit Singh who refused to lead his troops in attacks on civilians; much as the Rumanian army did recently, transforming the country. We hope that this action by the brave Sikh officer has the same kind of effect as in Rumania.
Muslims are our brothers, they also must refuse to raise their hands against the Sikhs, and we both have to free ourselves from the tyrants. WE WILL.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 2, 1990
