Dear Editor:
Time magazine in its September 8th 1986 issue has correctly analyzed the situation in India. It has reported that Hindu government has used Gurkha soldiers in Punjab against the Sikhs and Sikh soldiers in Darjeeling against the Gurkhas Hindu government in India has been playing this divide and rule game with the minorities very successfully It is now time for the minorities to realize this and get together to fight for their rights. Gurkhas Sikhs Muslims Christians and Dalits in India have a common problem that is to preserve their identity and religious beliefs. I feel strongly that all the Sikh organizations and Sikhs as individuals should work with other minorities closely otherwise this Brahmanical monster will finish each and every minority in a systematic way. World Sikh News can play a major role in this respect. It should serve as a spokesman for the minority rights.
Sincerely G.S. Grewal
Dear Editor:
“SLOW LEARNER”
The Ottawa columnist of the Globe and Mail Mr W.A. Wilson Ought to be complimented for his candid analysis of the Tamil refugee escapade linked to arson of a police station in Hamburg (Province Aug. 19) and our Canadian governments weak and unwitting response which also illustrates the governments double standards and discriminatory administration of the immigration department.
Why Sri Lanka or Iran is put on a special programme for the refugee immigration but not the repression in Punjab (India) is an oddity of the foreign policy of Canada on the whole subject.
It’s clear that Canada favors the breakup of Sri Lankas integrity by a resourceful Tamil minority with operational bases on the Indian soil But Canada looks the other way when it comes to the repression and massacre of the Sikh minority in the Punjab and the rest of India: in Canadian interpretation it simply does not exist. Possibly the $466 million annual exports of Canada to India are weightier than any other humanitarian arguments when it comes to the human rights of the Sikh and international conventions for refugees. The prospect of future trade agreements with India is even more alluring. Yet this same country of ours Canada trumpets the necessity of imposing sanctions on South Africa where blacks are under oppression. What double faced respectability.
It is all right for India perpetuating the repression of Sikh minority. But it is another matter if another minority Indian backed Tamils fight another democratic nation Sri Lanka what farce the Ottawa governments policy tries to sell to the world. Canada favors India because it considers it more worthwhile to do so due to the size and resources of that country but when it comes to a smaller country such as Sri Lanka (or smaller people such as Sikhs) then Canada has a different conscience. So much for the foreign policy of Canada selective as it is when it comes to human rights or immigration.
What havoc such biased administration of Canadian immigration policies wreaks on a minority such as the Sikhs within and without Canada deserves to be investigated by a Royal Commission particularly when it is offensive to Canadian freedoms under our Charter including the freedom of association. Consistently the immigration department has turned back any Sikh visitor who could be suspected of favoring the Khalistan movement. This is a continuing outrage against the beliefs opinions and freedom of association of Canadian Sikhs. It is time that this practice is stopped.
The rules and policies of the immigration department to our daily knowledge are administered prejudicially in particular to the Sikh minority. Repeatedly Sikh individuals who had stayed and integrated to Canadian life and economy without legal visa in Canada or illegally have been deported out of the country even though they had been in Canada for as long as TEN YEARS. The discrimination being practiced by Canadian Immigration and External Affairs is shameful as far as the Sikh as a minority is concerned.
People had high hopes for a fairer and more efficient government in Ottawa when they voted in Mr. Molroney. But alas the events of the last two years of his government have sadly brought home the fact that this government “learn slowly if at all” as Mr. Wilson accurately pointed out.
Sincerely B. Singh
Dear Editor:
The Operation Blue Star on the Golden Temple has destroyed the Sikh Reference Library. It is proposed to fill this vacuum by setting up similar libraries in New York Chicago and Stockton. Readers of the World Sikh News who can provide a bibliography of names authors and publishers of such books and manuscripts are requested to kindly furnish this information to: I Amarjit Singh Buttar 2207 Green View Road North Brook Illinois 60062 2. S. Manohar Singh Grewal 114 Larchmont Lane Hanover Mass 02339.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 26, 1986
