THE COMMON WEALTH AND THE SIKHS:

The culmination of British Empire into a voluntary association of a nations comprising nearly 50 countries with people of diverse political, social and economic backgrounds and beliefs is a monumental achievement in human to otherness, India, along with Pakistan (East and West), was the first Member State of the New Commonwealth. The Sikhs, who have  long ties with the British — motives good, sometimes bad and sometimes otherwise — since he middle of the 19th century, are and have regarded themselves as much a part of the Common wealth of Nations as Britons do. Those Sikhs who live in India or who have settled in the United Kingdom, Canada, Malaysia, East Africa or any other Member State eel they have a much greater Jaim on the resources of the Commonwealth diplomatic, economic and political in comparison with those people who are no longer its members, like the South Africans.

THE COMMON WEALTH AND THE INDIA:

India is an important member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It has spearheaded a programmer which in legal and political terms can only be called intervention in the domestic issues of South Africa no matter how humanitarian the concern for exploitation of the black population in South Africa. While apartheid is to be condemned and efforts made to eradicate its practice commended, interesting to note that India on the one hand champions the cause of the victims of apartheid in South Africa and on the other practices a much more vigorous, insidious and widespread apartheid of its own brand. The secular and democratic government of India brandishes the Indian Constitution as the protection of Human rights on Indian soil. In one single simple sentence the text of the Constitution abolishes “untou-Cability. The protectors of that Constitution and keepers of secularism and democracy in India, however, believe more in abolishing the untouchables than in abolishing untouchability. And with the untouchables are thrown together other numerically lower minorities like the Muslims and the tribal and the Sikhs.

INDIA AND THE SIKHS:

In 1947, the Sikhs opted to align with India that is Bharat, on the assurances uttered publicly and privately by the then leaders of the Indian National Congress Mr. MK. Gandhi and Pandit Nehru off truly federal & secular structure of the Union of States to be called India that is Bharat. The overwhelming majority of the Hindus in India have exerted its own brand of tyranny while the brahminical ethos, inflicting pains on the faithful themselves has rent the very concept of secularism. Power equations manufactured by Pandit Nehru and his colleagues started with the de facto merger of the offices of the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Indian National Congress the party in power and culminating in the 1963 amendment to Article 19 of the Constitution have deprived India of even the possibility of being a federation. Corruption, which was given a basis in the Constitution and which was encouraged by the license raj has narrowed authoritarian tendencies of India’s rulers. Only the Sikhs raise their voice. And hence they are subjected to Orwellian events. The events of 1984 have proved to the Sikhs and, I hope, to the rest of the world, a steady growth in an Indian version of apartheid and Nazism. Even those Sikhs who nourished tremendous goodwill for India have been forced to conclude that the Sikhs can find no safety for their life, liberty and property within the framework of India, that is Bharat, and which, on paper, is a Union of States.

A CAUSE FOR CONCERN;

The programs against the Sikhs are mounted not only in India but also in other Commonwealth countries, notably Canada, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. In India itself, the administration of India’s young and dynamic Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, uses, abuses and misuses the machinery of law to oppress the Sikhs; violate their human rights almost to the same extent as that of the black South Africans are violated in South Africa; and then blame them for the resulting frustration and fury. Outside India, the-vast governmental resources are used to spread lies about the Sikhs. Allegations are made that the Sikhs, as a community, are criminals, extremists and terrorists. I have been accused of plotting to kill Mr. Rajiv Gandhi or have him killed. It is put out that the Sikhs are involved in drug-smuggling to finance their campaign of violence, And yet when Her Majesty’s Government extends a friendly hand in its efforts to stop drug smuggling as far possible, the “young and dynamic” Prime Minister of India balks, hesitates and refuses the assistance. What is not admitted by the government of India, the Prime Minister of India and Her Majesty’s Government is that drug-smuggling is, in fact, the other profession of some of the office-bearers of the India Overseas” Congress! Followers, as it were, of dynastical democracy in Gandhi style). Lately, the Government of India has started taking a rather hostile attitude towards the Commonwealth of Nations which, in my submission, is misplaced. Margaret Thatcher is the ~ Prime Minister of the United Kingpin don She Is not the Common wealth. For India to use the Sikh card to pressurize Britain, Her Majesty the Queen and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is neither politically wise nor internationally productive. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi blames the Conservative Government of Britain for sheltering Sikh “extremists” and demands their extradition. What he does not realize is that Britain does not suffer his kind of democracy and cannot initiate any proceedings against anybody as long as Mr. Gandhi keeps repeating his demands in the columns of newspapers rather than proving his case in a Court of law. With great respect for the independent judiciary of India, its democratic principles and its “enlightened leadership, I declare that the Indian society today and that includes the rulers and the ruled is a cauldron of corruption, hypocrisy, authoritarian tendencies and resentment… all ingredients for a violent revolution of the kind that was seen in Russia and might yet be seen in South Africa.

Initiative in India before it is too late; before India’s pressure-cooker conditions explode; before India becomes another South Africa,

In practical terms, the Sikhs want a Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry which has the freedom of visiting Punjab, especially the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala and Jullundur, to unearth the truth of events there; which can probe the issue of the Sikhs held prisoner under draconian laws and which an test the laws on the anvil of Universal Declaration of Human Rights; which can dig deep to reveal the reality of Sikh-genocide in November 1984; and which can publish its report for the world to see what is the truth about Punjab. The Sikhs further demand from all donor nations, especially those within the Commonwealth and particularly from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom to stop aid to India and link their trade with India’s performance in the field of human rights.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 22, 1986