By Gurbhajan Singh Gill

General Secretary, Sikh Vichar Manch

Ludhiana (Punjab)

Since the dawn of freedom, India i.e. Bharat has been ruled by a single coterie, except less than 3 years when a hutch patch party took reins of the state. The coterie was of Congress. Previously it used to be the Indian National Congress which along with other political parties had fought for freedom; but the same came under the Nehru Dynastic Rule and was changed into Congress (Indira) and became a pack of opportunists, hypocrites, spies, smugglers, tax evaders, land grabbers, corrupt, comma lists and Youth Congress goes. So democratic is the organization that no party elections have been held for the last 2 decades i.e. since the day that it came into the clutches of the great ““democrat” Indira Gandhi. Since then, a single family was holding the Bhartis to ransom, under the leadership of that particular family; hypocrisy has become an integral part of the Indian Culture. Many congresses have, though left the patty but they have not shed the “culture” they had been molded into.

Punjab since the advent of freedom, is considered a colony of the Hindi belt “BHAYYA” States. Its natural resources are being plundered and squandered throwing all international or riparian laws to wind, its river waters have been unlawfully given to other states, even to Rajasthan which is far far away from these rivers. Hydroelectric power is given to Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. No major industry is allowed to be established here. Cotton, as raw material is taken away to Gujarat and Maharashtra where cloth is processed and then sent to Punjab. Hydel projects have been usurped by the central government. According to the 1981 census, the population of Punjab is comprised of 61.5% Sikhs, 10% Dalit’s and 18% Hindus but the majority of government posts and semi-government posts go to non-Sikhs, because the Sikhs are considered as pariahs. Baptized Sikhs with flowing beard cannot get Jobs. The figures can be checked from 1980 onwards when a planned program to annihilate the Sikhs was chalked out. Even though, baptism is a must for a Sikh, there is an undeclared War against this rite. A baptized Sikh is considered anti State, anti-India and a murderer, the Defense Department (Considered to be secular democratic) has issued such secret circular to its officers

The world knows that the Sikhs ultra-nationalists because of the teachings of their religion and have been defending the country since the birth of the Sikh Nation, but the Russians who are the guiding stars of the Indian government are allergic to them because they are aware that the Muslims of Pakistan and Sikhs in Punjab are the greatest obstacles for their onward march to Delhi. The government of India is blind to the Russian strategy and is playing in the hands of the communist parties who are the agents of Russians who in order to throw the Sikhs out of their way, have prevailed upon the rulers to adopt an anti-Sikh strategy Under their advice, Indira Gandhi invaded the holiest of the holy premises of Durbar Sahib by deploying about a hundred thousand men of Indian Army in the first week of June 1984, when thousands of Sikhs were congregating to celebrate the martyrdom of Gum Arjan Dev ji. The army invaded 38 other historic gurdwaras simultaneously after announcing curfew. According to rough estimates about 10,000 Sikh men, women and children including the infirm were mercilessly butchered, holy Akal Takhat was demolished, and Sikh Reference Library (only one of its kinds) was set on fire after looting the rare manuscripts bearing the signatures of the Gurus. Unknown numbers of innocent pilgrims were arrested tortured in military camps and shot by the Indian army which was commanded by General A.S. Vaidy and Lt Gen Ranjit Singh Dayal. Hindus celebrated the day with fanfare. The Sikhs could not digest this barbarity and two of them killed Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 where upon her son, Rajiv Gandhi vowed vengeance, Ina planned and systematic manner scores of thousands of Sikhs were lynched, burnt alive, brutally butchered, women raped and billions worth of Sikh property was destroyed throughout the Hindi belt States under the physical supervision of Congress goons, who were later rewarded with ministerial berths in the central cabinet and other important posts. Anticipating a backlash in the Punjab, whole of the state was put under curfew and several divisions of Indian army and Para military forces were deployed throughout the Sikh populated countryside to overawe the Sikhs and energies the Shiv Sena a government sponsored Hindu militant organization and the Congress goons. No foreigners even the Sikhs living abroad, was allowed to enter. Punjab for more than five years, so that the world may not come to know the atrocities face of the non-violent secular and the socialist Republican Democratic State. If, even now the reality is known by the democratic countries, they would forget the South Africans and Latin American barbarities and even the incarceration of Nelson Mandela would seem insignificant.

Since 1984, Punjab is burning because of the chauvinistic Brahminic culture and the stupidity of the blundering eager-beavers who put all possible hurdles in reaching to some understanding with the conquered Sikhs. The sycophants saw a great chance to indulge in inanities. Instead of applying balm, salt is continuously rubbed into the wounds. According to the reports of several Civil Liberties bodies including the Punjab Human Rights Organization, Sikh youths are continuously arrested, tortured in police butcheries and murdered in stages encounters. If any life is spared, it is not for imparting justice but against bribes ranging from Rs 20,000 to one Lakh per Sikh. No wonder the officers and the subordinated in the police or security forces are tolling in wealth. In 1985, the so-called popular government of Punjab appointed a panel of 2 Hindu and 2 Sikh prominent persons to enquire into the police cases. The panel unanimously reported that all the police encounters were false and thousands of Sikhs arrested were falsely implicated. The report never saw the light of day. The Punjab Human Rights Organization with its Headquarters at Ludhiana has revealed through its reports that Sikh youths were being taken away from their homes, tortured, at the various torture centers viz BECO at Batala, Maal Mandi in Amritsar, Mai ki Serai Patiala, all district CIA Staffs all CRPF camps and all Border Security Forces headquarters and many taken to the Indo Pak border where they are shot dead and shown as intruders, Young Sikhs are a rare sight in the border districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and now Ferozepur. The police have taken the role of a prosecutor, a judge and the executioner. Rule of Law is a matter of British regime. Even inmates of jails have been taken away, tortured maimed and even shot under the orders of the barbarian police officers. Changez Khan, Adolph Hitler and Idi Amin might be turning in their graves if they learn that the Indian “secular non-violent democratic” but revivalist rulers have surpassed their inhuman methods of torture. Some Dracula’s get pleasure in using sadistic methods towards the innocent villages. The departed Gobind Ram living Saini and the ilk are a few examples.

But the modern Mughals and Abdalis have not gone through the Sikh history and they are unaware of the Sikh psyche. They should know that the Sikhs are ultra-sensitive for their honor and have always been crusaders against injustice. They cannot and would not continue to tolerate dishonor of their holy shrines and their womenfolk. The fate of Governor Wazeed Khan, Sadhaura executioners, Massa, Chandu Lal, Sucha Mal, Sir Michael O’Dwayer, and more recent Indira Gandhi, Lalit Makin General Vaidya, Gobind Ram, Harchand Singh Suri and Mit Singh etc. are a few examples. The government of India under the patronage of communal, anti-Sikh and chauvinist leaders and of course under the instructions of their Russian masters has declared a total war against the religious, social, economic and political ide ntity of Sikhs who because of their spirit of patriotism managed to rescue, half of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana for India at the time of partition, otherwise, the horse of Pakistanis would have been drinking in the Jamuna close to the Bharati Capital. The Sikhs are more patriotic than those, who because of circumstances and the twist of history, happen’ to occupy the throne at Delhi. They today are compelled to feel that their identity is endangered like Buddhism by the revivalists who encourage cutting of hair (a taboo for the Sikhs) and discourage baptism (Amrit sanchar) by the Sikhs.

The rulers with their unlimited funds have succeeded to rope in some Sikh Quislings who are brought on the television network and their tutored statements are published in the communal and chauvinistic National Press, but the Sikhs have totally rejected these turn coats, shoe lickers, State honored, Sarkari Jathedars or the so called Singh Sahibs. Dr. Gopal Singh Dardi, Sujan Singh, Rachhpal Singh, Buta Singh or the great obscene writer Khushwant Singh the toads of the rulers are not Punjabis and having no interest in Punjab are not the spokesmen of the Punjabis or the Sikhs. They have lost their conscience for a few coins. Some of the door mats have rightly been ex-communicated by the Sarbat Khalsa while the others are waiting for their turn. They do not understand that traitors to their own compatriots are never respected and are only used as Trojan horses by the exploiting rulers. Today the State of Punjab is a colossal goal where more than 14,000 Sikhs are kept in imprisonment by more than 70,000 members of the Security Forces or the police who are holding the entire Sikh Nation in the state to ransom and are harassing humiliating, torturing and “encountering” the brave, patriot and ultra-sensitive population. TREMENDOUS STATE TERRORISM HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO ITS NATURAL REACTION i.e. INDIVIDUAL TERRORISM. The Sikh youths in order to survive have taken to armed struggle. In this process, several thousand mostly innocents have been killed by the state and by the individuals. Inspite of an organized and systematic genocide of the Sikhs the number of the militants has gone up. According to KPS Gill the State Director General of Police, only in 11 months of 1988, 365 “terrorists were killed ans 3431 were arrested. His predecessor, J.F. Ribeiro had boasted in 1986 that there were only about 100 of them in the state. He had declared his policy of “bullet for bullet” and he is known as the initiator of fake encounters. The result is there; the number of militants has risen hundreds fold. The phoenix has started from its ashes, no wonder,

Inspite of the ZOOLUM OD dark ages, the Sikhs still hope that the Sarkar led by apparently, a good Prime Minister would come out of the clutches of his communal, Brahminic and adventurous but opportunist coterie, and by reversing the anti-minorities policies would try the formula of equality and fraternity. The satisfied religious minorities would prove a re-in forced concrete in the reconstruction of a TRUE SECUIR, DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLICAN and POWERFUL INDIA. If the Sikhs are continued to be berated, humiliated, treated as pariahs, named unpatriotic and their genocide is not stopped immediately, history would not forgive these short-sighted rulers and the neo-Nazi & Marxist friends, for the total disintegration of Bharat i.e. India which by a twist of destiny was united by the Britishers for the first time in the history of this sub-continent.

Even after a horrible delay and cunning manipulations by destroying the democratic institutions, the just of Sikhs snatched away by the neo-Nazi regime should be restored forthwith. The Longowal Rajiv Fraudulent Accord is already dead and its corpse is stinking. A new accord should be restored according to the constitution and International Laws. Any accord with the stooges would receive contempt as the Sikh Nation has seen all the Sikh “leaders” in the proverbial TURKISH BATH.

Before the talks start with the true militants (elections are not the barometer as the examinations are not the tests for the intelligence of the students), the government of India should unilaterally announce the restoration of the rights of the Sikhs and the Punjab, which have been treacherously usurped by the government of India by crooked means. A few suggestions can guide the rulers (if they are sincere and different from the Nehru Dynasty), so that a climate is produced for holding talks. If the constitutional rights are not restored, it is feared that, all TALK for the talks would be futile.

(1) The River waters’ issue should be decided strictly according to the Universal Riparian Laws and the construction of the SYL canal be dispensed away with. The water, surplus to the needs of Punjab can, then be sold to other states under royalty system, as is done by the States of Bihar, Assam etc., about their natural resources.

(2) Control over the Power and Hydel Projects be restored to the state, as is prevalent in the other states in India.

(3) Interference into the Sikh religion, Sikh customs, Sikh traditions and other Sikh institutions is stopped, as was promised through Nehru Tara Singh Poact of yester years.

(4) Goondas responsible for the 1984 Sikh carnage is punished on the basis of the probe reports compiled by various independent organizations. Certainly not to depend upon the “staged” commissions.

(5) Defense personnel who left their barracks after the destruction of Holy Akal Takhat by the Indian Army and all the civil officers who were shunted out of service after 1980, simply because of their being Sikhs, be rehabilitated and their cases be reviewed.

(6) All Black Laws be repealed forthwith and as a result, all security forces brought to suppress the Sikhs is withdrawn from the state.

(7) All police officers, high or low, responsible for the killings of Sikhs in staged encounters or in the Torture Houses, be allowed to be prosecuted in the courts of laws established under the Constitution.

It was expected of the National Government that the Rule of Law would be re-introduced in the State. But, some District Police Chiefs specially Mr. Sumedh Singh Saini the Senior Superintendent of Police, Bhatinda has started new techniques of torture and as a result, hundreds of Sikhs — young or old have been compelled to go in hiding.

No Simranjit Singh Maans, Parkash Singh Badals, Sarkari Jathdears Bainses or the ilk, can bring any accord acceptable to the aggrieved Sikhs. Unless the Constitutional Rights stolen and robbed from the Punjabis especially the Sikhs are restored first.

After the unilateral and unconditional restoration of the Constitutional and Human Rights, the talks can be initiated on an open agenda with the Parliamentary representatives as well as those who do not believe in the parliamentary process.

Without following this framework, the permanent solution to the lingering Punjab problem cannot be achieved, rather it would make the problem intractable, because the Sikhs are determined to keep their religious, social and’ political entity intact. They are determined to save their culture, language traditions, honor and the economy of the state, besides the sanctity of their shrines.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 16, 1990