India’s deadly games in its forcibly occupied colony of Punjab (Khalistan) are taking on a deadly new twist. The deployment of the Army in such great strength cannot be explained away so easily. Eighteen brigades in an area of 13 averages sized US counties! That is not counting almost as many paramilitary and policemen. The law and order situation after the reign of terror let loose by the government-controlled “Black Cats” was so bad that any respite from it, whatever the reason, will be welcomed by the people. The army was thus not required at all. India could have just called off its criminal gangs of Black Cats; Media reports even in India have revealed how the Black Cat police nexus has bled the common people of Punjab. Murder, rape and loot are the laws and criminals reward themselves with plunder as they are the rulers. Middle level police officers have acquired property and assets worth millions.
As to calling in the army for the elections _ power may or may not flow from the barrel of a gun _ never democracy. The process of inducting pliable Akalis and others into the service of India against Sikh interests has been put into top gear. Offers of talks with leaders of the freedom movement having been spurned outright, the Indian government is kowtowing with even the most insignificant militant outfits not only to show its “sincerity” but to disguise its intentions. The army was in Punjab in May this year but the Congress1 of Sikh haters Indira and Rajiv Gandhi was not ready with their plans. To them, so long as Punjab keeps burning everything is all right. The whole point is to keep the Sikhs subjugated whatever it takes. By a conservative estimate, 1, 50,000 Sikhs have died in government-sponsored pogroms and 30 to 40 Sikh youths are being killed every day. There is no room in any of the jails in Punjab. They are full of young Sikh boys whose only crime is that they are Sikhs.
The election announcement cancellation drama is by now a familiar one. The army’s utter failure to crush the freedom movements in Kashmir, Punjab and Assam was not lost on the Brahman planners in Delhi. The terrible human rights abuses greatly surpassing those of the police and paramilitary has led to the complete alienation of the Sikh, Muslim and other minorities. This time around the strength of the army deployment in Punjab has been doubled. We can soon begin getting horror stories a la Rataul and Brigadier Sinha.
But the overall scenario of a war, sooner or later, with Pakistan seems to be another grave miscalculation by the brahman think tank insofar as curbing “insurgency” in Kashmir and Punjab goes. Many analysts feel that the massive army deployment in Punjab is aimed in this direction. There is even talk of “destroying” the Sikh homeland under the pretext of a limited war with Pakistan.
There are times in the history of nations when redoubled repression on the people acts as a catalyst for the over throw of tyrants. Bluestar a brutal assault on the holiest Sikh shrine of the Golden Temple by this very army laid the foundation for Khalistan. The army occupation will gouge open once again that painful wound and strengthen the resolve of Sikhs to be free.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 13, 1991
