Sir,

The gesture of visiting the GoIden Temple in the Holy City of ‘Amritsar by the newly elected Prime Minister of India does not mean a thing if the following simple administrative steps are not taken immediately to demonstrate his goodwill and good faith:

  1. All Sikh and Kashmiri political prisoners, no matter what the trumped up charge, are not released immediately and unconditionally.
  2. All restrictions are not removed on the freedom of the Sikhs in India to travel abroad.
  3. The 400 mile long and thirty feet wide barbed wire fence called the “Punjab Wall” (on the Indo-Pakistan Punjab border) is not dismantled “A La Berlin Wall” immediately so that the Sikh population can visit their holy places in Pakistan freely.
  4. All activities of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Indian intelligence agency, in India and abroad in matters concerning the Sikh nation are not curtailed immediately.
  5. The good offices of “The Conflict Resolution Hub” in the Carter Presidential Center in Ajanta, Georgia is not utilized immediately to put an end to the bloodshed in Punjab Khalistan.
  6. The volatile situation in Punjab is not diffused by demilitarizing the area and repealing the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
  7. Rajiv Gandhi and his cohorts are not in protective custody, pending a public trial, for having incited and encouraged the murder of thousands of innocent Sikhs by his behavior and public statement in Calcutta on October 31, 1984. This step is for his safety lest a new “Nathuram Godse” harms him and the Sikhs are blamed.
  8. All construction work is not halted immediately on the Sutlej-Jumma Link Canal pending further negotiations on the waters of the Sutlej.
  9. Representatives of Indian Punjab are not given joint control of the dams on all the rivers flowing, into the Punjab to avoid a repetition of manmade floods.
  10. A clear-cut statement is not issued by the Indian government repudiating the Rajiv government’s stand that “a grant of Vatican Status to Nankana Sahib by Pakistan would be considered an unfriendly /hostile act.”
  11. An international conference is not convened to decide the future of the Sikh people and to demarcate the boundaries of the Sikh homeland of Khalistan.

As a Kashmiri and sincere friend of the Sikh people I would like to alert my Sikh brothers, through the columns of your esteemed paper, to the very dangerous developments not taking place in Punjab Khalistan, Lately in international diplomacy it has become fashionable to apologize to the Afghan people too. The Soviet apology is really a cover to sow disunity among the brave but simple Afghans while Moscow props up, with Indian assistance, its puppets in Kabul with massive arms airlift and other aid. In my humble opinion the Soviet ally in South Asia has embarked on a similar plan in the Punjab the Sikh nation better be on guard.

  1. Shaikh Chicago, IL

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 29, 1989