Sikhs are by and large behind the US in its current crisis in the Persian Gulf as they know this country to be a great champion of freedom. Tens of thousands of Sikhs are proud and productive citizens of this nation. But the sense of let down by the free world as far as the Sikh nation is concerned has again been brought into focus.
As we go to the press the US is on the brink of a terrible war. There are dozens of arguments in favour of the US haste in throwing Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The aggressor has been warned and deserves to be punished.
The United Nations has passed many resolutions but never have any of them been backed up with so much muscle as resolution 678. This world may have been a much safer and saner place if earlier resolutions had such force behind them The US would not be in the predicament it is in today if the UN had teeth all along. Also the US would not be open to the charge of double standards if it had shown half as much determination on other resolutions.
One notable example is one of the earliest resolutions in 1949 on a UN conducted plebiscite in Indian held Kashmir. Forty years have passed and the suffering of Kashmiris at the hands of the Indians continues. The UN is a silent spectator as vested interests manage to bury the issue each time it is raised.
The dark deeds of the Hindu governments of India are in no way less than Saddam Husseins crimes. They have been studiedly ignored by the world for over 40 years now. Soon after the British left India it attacked and forcibly occupied Muslim Kashmir a country at least 1000 times the size of Kuwait. In 1962 India overran and occupied the Portuguese territories of Goa Daman and Div. In 1975 it annexed the Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim. The kingdom of Bhutan is a very likely next target. Indias meddling in Sri Lanka accounts for hundreds of thousands dead on that island.
That is not all. The US reacted strongly to 14 people being killed the other day in Lithuania. Many times that number is killed by the Indian military each day in Punjab and Kashmir. But the world is silent. For two years despite heroic efforts by over 200 US Congressmen aid to India could not be suspended pending investigations by Amnesty International. Western aid has indirectly helped in the suppression and genocide of non-Hindu minorities. India goes about its bloody business without fear.
The official toll in Punjab was around 4000 killed but a conservative estimate puts the figure at thrice that many. The Indian government admits there are over 20,000 Sikhs currently lodged in various jails. Arrested Sikhs youths are routinely killed in attempts to escape and in fake encounters.
There are apprehensions even among Sikhs in the US that what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II may not be repeated. A Sikh gentleman was whisked away by security men at Governor Pete Wilsons inauguration last week. They may have mistaken him for an Arab. Will all American Arabs be suspect? The Japanese Americans are now being made reparations. Did America not learn anything from that.
Despite all indications to the contrary we still hope that a peaceful solution will be found to the Persian Gulf crisis. We who have suffered war and bloodshed for over a decade do not wish it on anyone.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 18, 1991
