The walk out from the fund raising dinner for the First International Immigrants Parade by the seven member Indian Consulate delegation led by the Deputy Consular, Mr. Pari puran ‘Singh Heyer is most regrettable. It is symptomatic of Indian ruler’s deep seated animosity towards the Sikhs. Hatred for Sikhs seems to have so completely distorted their perspective that even the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi cannot restrain himself from making uncalled for observations about Sikhs wherever he goes. After history’s most ill-conceived Operation Bluestar followed by “lesson teaching” holocaust in Delhi and other Indian towns, which ‘were aimed at subduing and suppressing the brave Sikhs, members Of the majority community are now constantly haunted by a kind of, fear psychosis. To them every Sikh is an “extremist” wherever or whosoever he may be. Their objection to the presence of the Sikh religious flag among the flags of eighteen different ethnic groups brings into focus their essentially intolerant mentality

In their characteristically indecent haste, Indians forgot that all Sikhs do not necessarily come from India. They have migrated to the United States from almost all continents of the World and some have never set their foot on the Indian soil for many generations. Quite a few Sikhs in the United States trace their ancestry to those who had been living for over a hundred years in Near and Far Eastern countries and some in Kenya, Uganda and other African countries. To expect all Sikhs living outside India to owe their allegiance to the Indian flag is simply absurd.

Sikhs constitute a distinct ethnic entity as they are religiously and historically related to one another and have a distinct common culture. Different geographical backgrounds are extraneous to this relationship. Sikhs form an integral part of any country in which they have settled and are proud of its citizenship. If they feel incensed at the persecution of Sikhs in India or desecration of their holy shrines there, it is because they are emotionally and religiously attached to them in the same way as an American Christian is, attached to the Vatican or an American Muslims attached to Mecca or an American Jew is concerned with the fate of Jews in Russia.

Sikh flag is an inalienable feature of their religious institutions. It flutters majestically alongside every Gurdwara, be it in the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, India or ‘even Soviet Union. No civilized government has ever objected to this flag. The fact that most of the participating groups present at the Marriot Marquis Hotel on October 18, 1986, posed for photographs under the Sikh flag is indicative of the deep respect that one ethnic group has for the flag of the other. The only exception to the rule being the ill-mannered and narrow minded Indians.

The unseemly behaviour of the official representatives of the Indian government has helped to lay bare the extent of rabid hostility that Indian rulers nourish against Sikhs. If they can stoop so low on a foreign soil, there is no diabolic villainy that they will not practice to persecute Sikhs in India. It is hoped that the incident will serve to open the eyes of the free world, shake it from its present indifference to the sufferings of the Sikhs in India and prompt them to take necessary steps to end the continuing tragedy in Punjab.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 24, 1986