by B.S.Mahal, Quebec Canada
Republicans tum blind as a bat when it comes to malevolent governance in the developing nations: Nixon (Chile); Reagan (San Salvador); Bush (Kuwait). Democrats, on the other hand, celebrate sanctity of human rights. President Bill Clinton, like Jimmy Carter before him, is committed to the human rights cause.
Punjab’s troubles spawned and grew during the 12year Republican rule. Amnesty International and Asia Watch have, for years. Sounded the alarm over the chronic human rights violations in Punjab but no one listened, particularly in the USA where it mattered the most. The alarm was always toned down by India’s stalwarts in the USA Congress. The most ardent of the Indian partisans, such as Stephen Solarz, became “92 election casualties. India’s voice in the Congress was thus silenced.
Seeing the writing on the wall ¢.g loss of proxies, a new Democratic President the Indian government is taking upon itself the task of countering any attacks on its character, It is firing its first volley in the propaganda war by distributing an expensively produced, slick, biased and distortive folder to one and all in the west. The folder entitled “Facets of a Proxy War” consists of five glossy pamphlets, each addressing a specific facet of terrorism ¢.g connections, activities, revelations, links and the human rights violations.
The leitmotif running throughout the five pamphlets (or facets) of the “Proxy War” paints a totally one sided picture of the insurgency in Punjab. Punjab’s problems, complex and pregnant with nuances, have been reduced to one issue only, namely that of law and order. Even given that, all the Killings, brutality, human rights violations, extortion, bombings etc are laid at the feet of the Sikh separatists a.k.a Sikh terrorists.
Institutionalized violence, an open secret, which permeates throughout the nation has been glossed over entirely. For example, in reporting the carnage at Sopore, “Time” magazine Jan.18) accused paramilitary forces “with indiscriminate shooting and burning that left 55 civilians dead and 155 buildings razed.” Apparently, this was the price exacted for the killing of one soldier. Again, writing about the Ayodhya triggered riots, “Time” reports the killing of 15 people and torching of houses in the New Delhi district of Seelampur by a police “gone berserk. “In his chilling opening Para, “Time” writer Jefferson Penberthy, aided by reporter Anita Pratap of New Delhi, quotes an Indian army aide as saying that “when we torture the Sikhs in Punjab, they can hold out for weeks, and they will die before they tell us a thing.”
Such happenings are becoming increasingly commonplace in Punjab, Kashmir, Assam and elsewhere, and, the mother of all carnages remains the Aceldama of November “84. Grisly pictures of decapitated torsos, impaled bodies, emasculated manhood, and charred corpses of innocent Sikh victims, systematically hunted down and from whom the nation had willfully withdrawn its protective shield, can also be assembled to portray sanctioned reign of terror.
But, what will this unfort at recriminations serve? The question ought not to be who is the most beastly, but rather who is the un fallen and righteous, a distinction, however, needs to be made between the ruler and the ward. The former ought never to sin, the latter may errand will be forgiven. Such distinction exists: not in Indian governance which should heed La Rochfoucauld’s plea that a nation ought “to do UN witnessed what we should be capable of doing before all the world.”
Incidentally, the very mention of the downing of Air India plane on June 23, 85, under the heading “Terrorism in the Skies,” is a Machiavellian ploy, unbecoming of the Indian government. The downing of the plane remains a mystery. The “Proxy War” has wrongfully concluded sabotage (not yet satisfactorily proven). By Innuendo the report accused Manjit Singh alias Lal Singh for the crime (as yet no trial or conviction). Intriguingly enough, a recent book titled “Soft Target,” authored by two Toronto journalists, saw the hand of the Indian undercover agents behind this tragedy. It is also commonly known that even the Canadian government, which has a vested interest in solving the downing, has not listed any suspects yet. The very inclusion of this sad episode in the “Proxy War” is highly disingenuous.
The culture of violence has enwrapped us all. We are being sucked into a “black hole” from which there is no escape. The root causes of Punjab’s insurgency lie forgotten, both the law enforcer and the insurgent are engaged in a dance of death. They are playing a macabre game of attack and counterattack, making mockery of life itself. Each party blames the other for being the instigator while venting their rage in an orgy of vengefulness.
For years Amnesty International and Asia Watch have been voicing their concerns over the unchecked human rights violations in India. Their well-documented reports succeeded in persuading a number of opinion makers in the West that ‘fake encounters,’ torture and unreasonable confinement without trial were routinely carried out by the police and the paramilitary troops. Realizing that the USA Congress was being won over the human rights issue, the Indian government mounted its own campaign, luckily for India, Stephen Solarz stepped in ready and willing to defend Indian interests in the USA. Whether a recruit of a volunteer, Solarz became ‘Andia’s most renowned proxy in the USA Congress. Solarz defended India, evidence be damned, as if his life depended upon it. Though New York based, he solicited campaign funds for his reelection, often from as far away as California, His brochures always spoke of a cabal against India, and he would crudely warn the reader (usually Indian) that if defeated they will lose a dedicated “friend of India.”
During his ’92 bid for his Congressional seat, Indian voters drew aline: Hindus backed Solarz while the Sikhs and the Muslims aligned themselves behind a Hispanic woman candidate (she won).
Now that Solarz is gone, the Indian government has entered the fray. India’s aim is to wage a Propaganda war against Sikh Separatists in the corridors of Western powers. By airing its domestic problems overseas, the Indian government appears to be Surrendering a part of its sovereignty. It seems to care not if Punjab politics are internationalized. However, the sad part is that the “Proxy War” will help erode the Sikh image even more. Sikh intelligentsia and Sikh professionals were already deeply estranged: publication. Will merely deepen their alienation even further. One cannot win friends in this way or hope to” bring the smiles” to the faces of those who are smeared and humiliated.
The heavy and repeated use of the ethnic term “Sikh” throughout the narrative is slanderous and reeks of racism. This overuse, of the appellation “Sikh,” to describe perpetrators of a crime, has done an enormous amount of damage to the Sikh image. Almost all of the crimes in Punjab are cast in ethnic terms as if one of the aims of the rulers is to create an ethnic divide between the Sikhs and the Hindus, Strangely enough, when it comes to Hindu Muslim notes, as witnessed recently, despite the 99% of the casualties being Muslims, the ethnicity of the victims or the criminals are never mentioned. Even the Indian media has become part of this silent conspiracy.
However, when it comes to Punjab, the exploits of the Sikh separatists are boldly highlighted. It is to be noted that insurgents in other lands are seldom referred to in terms of their ethnicity. Usually, they are defined by the cause that they espouse. For example, in Northern Ireland, he is a IRA gunman; in Nicaragua, he is the Sandinista; in Peru, he is a member of the “Shining Path;” in Germany, he is the Red Brigade; in Canada, during the short lived insurgency in Quebec, he was an FLQ. If the same protocol were to be observed by India, then the insurgents in Punjab will have been labeled as “Khalistani.’ India refuses to do that and insists on calling the Punjabi insurgent as a *Sikh’ this or that.
By opening up a new battle front in the West, India appears to serve notice to the Sikhs that they are the disowned children of India. In this new battle, India stands to get the advantage for two main reasons, Firstly, by dint of its vast resources, including the numerous foreign legations; it can reach a much wider audience. Secondly, many of the Western countries who see in India‘s fabled market for their products will choose to play possum over human rights abuses for fear of upsetting the Indian government. Thus, the Sikh image is apt to suffer even more damage.
Overseas Sikhs have been in the dumps over their soiled image since god knows when, Every now and then, they talk among themselves, Over at tumbler of the finest so of how to resurrect their receive all absorbing. Sikhs terricre must stand up to fight for their self-esteem, and honor Savages. A word of caution: is a battle for the minds of the people and as such needs to be waged “tactically and with fitness.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 16, 1993
