WASHINGTON: On Feb 4, the Gum Gobind Singh Foundation here dedicated a special diwan to the memory of the late S. Harminder Singh Sandhu, general secretary of All India Sikh Student’s Federation, who was assassinated recently in Punjab. Sandhu, 32, got married only 2 weeks ago. He was released only 2 months after more than 5 years of solitary confinement. He was the only Sikh leader in Punjab who was openly speaking and was working for the establishment of Khalistan, Recently he cleared many misgivings about the concept of Khalistan and he was hopeful about all Sikh political organizations getting united behind this concept. In an interview to Ajit, he said that, “according to me the goal of AISSF is to establish Khalistan. Although AISSF had participated in a campaign in the recent elections in Punjab but it would avoid doing that in further elections.” He was in agreement with the organizations that had launched an active resistance against State repression. He had stated that “the government perpetrators have been doing criminal acts to malign the Sikh struggle of self-determination.” Speaking in a interview he said, “concepts don’t die, men may die. Only those will be successful who stand by these concepts. Persons are not important and we should be concept oriented rather than personality oriented. This struggle is not of one Sikh or two Sikhs, but of the whole community. All we want is a place on the world map, where the Kesri Nishan (Sikh symbol) will have supremacy and we can to the whole world that we also exist as a nation which will be inspired by the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib. The concept of Guru Granth is of equality and justice for all. This concept is a humanistic concept; it is a social concept and a democratic concept. It asks for well-being of all human beings. And to build a society based on such principles is called “Khalistan.”
He had recently stated, that “the murder of Jagdev Singh Khudian, a Sikh member of parliament was a work of The Indian Intelligence Agency because he had stated his intention of raising the voice of Khalistan in the next session of parliament.”
- Satinder Pal Singh Kapur, former chief editor of Akali Patrika, author of books on present Sikh political struggle in Punjab spoke on the occasion and stated that, “in my opinion where Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale inspired the present Sikh struggle. S. Sandhu played a major role in organizing and becoming a voice of the Sikh youth.” Sardar Kapur said that “as a newsman, I had many encounters with him and I discovered him to be a man of great intellect and well informed of the world events and history. He also had deep religious convictions. He would many times leave very important press appointments to perform his daily prayers. ‘He was very much inspired by S. Balbir Singh Sandhu, who was active in the movement of Khalistan before Operation Bluestar.”
He said that, “there was a charge on Sandhu waging a war against the state and Sandhu was never apologetic of it and justified it”
He further stated that, “Indian intelligence is afraid of any person of strong intellect and political clarity and Sandhu has also been murdered for those reasons. This is not a result of Sikh infighting.” He appealed that “we must protect our leaders from this force.” He stated that “this is a political murder.’
- Harminder Singh Jassal, President of GGSF while paying tributes to Sardar Sandhu said, that he was one of the pioneers of the present Sikh struggle in Punjab and has made enormous contribution to the Sikh cause. He added, that “we as Sikhs must have trust in each other and must stop rumors about each other.
Dr. Rajwant Singh director of GGSF stated that, “inspite of all the hardships, Sandhu never compromised on principles. He always upheld his honor, integrity and above all, his vision for the community.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 16, 1990
