LOS ANGELES CA: Justice Ajit Singh Bains former Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court and Chairman Punjab Human Rights Organization received a standing ovation for his scathing indictment of the government policy of killing Sikh youths in fake encounters and enacting draconian laws that make a mockery of human and civil rights of the individual Justice Bains was speaking in the concluding session of the two day conference on “Punjab Crisis: Possible Paths to Resolution” sponsored by the University of California Los Angeles committee on South and Southeast Asia of International Studies and overseas programs.
The conference was chaired by Prof. Stanley Wolpert of the History Department.
Justice Bains briefly traced the history of the Sikhs from the time of Guru Nanak to the present day. The Sikh history he pointed out offers an unending chronicle of struggle against injustice and tyranny He read out a paragraph from the prophetic letter written by late Prof.Puran Singh to Sir John Simons on October 21 1928 In the letter Prof Puran Singh says “In conclusion I would request you not to be so small as to be partial in any way to any community and not to be so large as to give over India in the hands of one powerful community and thus reduce the other minor communities to eternal slavery even under democratic institutions. By cutting up the country into Muslim Provinces and Hindu provinces you would be only introducing a slow eating consumption of a civil anarchy which would kill the weaker communities Where the Hindus prevail Muslims shall suffer and where the Muslims Prevail the Hindus shall suffer. And as I have already said virile communities like that of the Sikhs may risk fighting to death to ask for a purely Sikh province.”
The conference Opened on the afternoon of Saturday with welcome address by Prof. Wolpert Since the keynote speaker Amarinder Singh leader of the Unified Akali Dal legislature party in Punjab Assembly could not come Dr.Amarjit Singh Marwah read out two letters written by the Dalleaderone to the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the other to the Punjab Governor S.S.Ray. The letters besides: mildly blaming the government for treating the Sikhs unjustly made an impassioned appeal for the establishment of his party’s rule in Punjab.
Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora in his address demanded a review of Indian S0vernment’s policy tor Wards Punjab. Policy of drift was in Operation he said and blamed the police C.R.PP and B.S.F for indulging in unlawful acts.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 30, 1992
