Sir;
Speaking at the Bhog ceremony held in the memory of Dr. Rajinder Kaur in Amritsar on February 12, 1989 Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi President of one of the breakaway Akali Dals said, “he was ready to quit if another Sikh leader could take the panth out of the present quagmire.” (Tribune Feb. 13, 1989 p.3)
My humble suggestion to the aging jathedar is “since he not only has failed to provide effective leadership to the Sikh community over the decades, but also in the past on numerous occasions caused division amongst the Sikh community and played a negative role, he should retire to his village Talwandi and leave the leadership issue behind.
The Jathedar further said, “The Akali Dal would not have any objection if the government opened talks with the militants to solve the Punjab crisis.
So far as the talks are concerned, the boundary line of the, sovereign state of Khalistan already stands demarcated under the Sachar formula and again under the regional formula and accepted by all concerned. Unfortunately instead of accepting the settled solution and demarcation, the entire arrangement has been upset with the appointment of the Shah commission.
Thus like the river water dispute, the territorial dispute was also deliberately created by the Central government. Sikhs do not need Talwandis and Barnalas representatives of defunt parties to reopen the already settled issue and they may well retire into oblivion.
Amarjit Singh
Buttar Vernon, CT
Article extracted from this publication >> March 24, 1989
