University of California, Los Angeles, is holding a two-day seminar on October 24 and 25 to explore possible solutions to end the political stalemate in Punjab and the resulting loss of innocent lives. It is a laudable effort and the organizers deserve all the cooperation. For the Sikhs is a consoling thought that enlightened minds from the academic portals of the Americans Universities are beginning to respond to their anguish and pain. The quest for truth is the cardinal principle underlying all academic activity and in no other world situation truth has been so outrageously and mischievously distorted as in the Sikh protest against the calculated communal onslaught to destroy their religious identity.
The U.S. Administration in Washington, D.C., is not unaware of the truth. Its intelligence agencies are resourceful enough to distinguish reality from fiction. But the State policy forbids these sources from sharing the truth with the man in the street. The administration is motivated to adopt such a stance so as not to disturb its political and trade relations with India. It is even prepared to sacrifice truth and the high American ideals to prevent India from falling prey to the Soviet designs. What does it matter to the policy makers if, in this overpopulated world, a few millions are exterminated simply because they insist on maintaining their separate religious identity and desire to breathe the refreshing air of freedom. Fortunately, the academicians are fashioned out of different clay. They are men and women with conscience who hate to compromise their scruples for petty, passing considerations.
However, the names of persons invited from India to participate in the panel discussions seem to have been suggested by someone not connected with the academic world. Out of the five invitees, three are professional politicians, one is a retired judge and one is a retired diplomat. All the three politicians have not very flattering credentials. In fact none of the five can claim to be the true spokesman of the Sikhs and none of them has even as much rappart with the Sikhs in Punjab as to address them face to face, It will only be stating the vital truth if we say that all the five will merely be, parrot-like, repeating the briefs handed over to them by the Home Ministry officials of the Indian government. Every intelligent Sikh in the United States can verbatim anticipate what each one of them is going to say.
The seminar would have been infinitely more useful if the organizers had taken a broader consensus before inviting people from India. Persons with immaculate integrity like Justice V.M. Tarkunde, Justice S.M. Sekri, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, and Prof. Rajni Kothari would have provided an honest, nonpolitical and rational view of the circumstances leading to the present impasse. Even now the proper approach would be not to lament over the ongoing violence but to scientifically determine the origin growth and the factors responsible for forcing a peaceful agitation into a violent confrontation. It is not a very difficult riddle tb solve. To solve the problem it is important to remove the myopic film that Indian propaganda has produced before many eyes. Any debate under this debilitating hangover will neither be constructive nor bad to any fruitful results.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1987
