On May 30, 1987 the Sikhs gathered in one of the halls of the historic University College of the University of Toronto to take a hard look at the Sikh’s struggle to gain what has been denied to them since the day India gained independence. It was an attempt to destroy the myth and fallacies and bring about the truth of the Sikh’s fight for survival. The main objective of this one day seminar was to provide a factual, unbiased, non-prejudicial and judicious picture of the unrest in Punjab.
Through its disinformation campaign, the government of India has labeled the Sikhs as terrorists, murderers, extremists and this seminar tried to prove that the reality is completely at variance with these baseless allegations.
The Sikhs are fighting legitimately to exercise their basic human rights, the rights to preserve their unique identity, their religion, their language, their heritage and most of all to direct their own destiny.
Since 1947 the Sikhs had been demanding equality, respect and dignity which had been denied to them time and again. As the guest speaker, Ms. Beate Hamizrachi of the department of History, University of Manitoba mentioned in her opening remarks that “Now this (Sikh) struggle centers around the more extreme demand for a completely independent country of their own: Khalistan.” She also put forward a convincing argument that the Sikh struggle cannot be solved by repression, state terrorism nor through draconian laws, because historically, the Sikhs have not submitted to oppression in the past, they are not submitting to it now nor they will submit to it in future. Political expediencies, electoral maneuvers and religious exploitations will not resolve the issues. They can only be resolved by acceding to the genuine demands of the Sikhs who sacrificed the most for the freedom of India.
Amongst the distinguished guests were Ms. Aideen Nicholson, M.P., Ms. Sheila Lambrinos, Trustee, North York Board of Education, Mr. David Reville, M.P.P., Mr. Ed Phillip, M.P.P., Dr. John Berthrong representing United Church of Canada and Mrs. Adith Land representing Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. Ms. ‘Aideen Nicholson who recently visited India as a member of a parliamentary delegation expressed her disappointment for not allowing them to visit the detainees, detained in various jails since June 1984. Two well written papers “Punjab: A Look Back in Anger” and “Impact of Happenings in India on Canadian Sikhs” were read by Mr. Harsharan Singh and Mr. Kuldeep Singh Chatwal on behalf of the authors, Mr. B. S. Mahal and Mr. S. Singh respectively, who could not be present personally due to earlier commitments.
The proceedings commenced with an Ardas, the Sikh prayer, for the success of the deliberations which was followed by a welcome address by Mr. Raghbir Singh Samagh, Secretary, and International Sikh Organization. The seminar was meticulously conducted by Mr. Manohar Singh Bal, President International Sikh Organization (Canada). At the end Mr. Kulbir Singh Sodhi thanked everybody present. The full text of the proceedings will soon be available to the public.
