Former Indian Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar recently visited a few western countries. In the U.K. he had a meeting with Dr.Jagjit Singh Chohan and received from him a memorandum. According to a statement by Shekhar, none of the Khalistan protagonists abroad is willing to talk to Congress (I) leaders. Implication of the statement is that most Sikh leaders are inclined to hold talks with Chander Shekhar. The claim is obviously extravagant because no serious minded Sikh leader encouraged Shekhars overtures. The exception is Dr.Jagjit Singh. He is said to have the backing of the Panthic committee associated with Baba Zaffarwal. Back in Punjab, an Akali Dal (Mann) functionary publicly claimed that his party had suggested to the former Prime Minister to talk to Sikh leaders abroad. Although not directly connected, Akali Dal (Badal) leader Gurcharan Singh Tohra, too, issued a statement claiming that he could help persuade militants to hold talks with Delhi to resolve the Punjab tangle.

Assuming that Chander Shekhar is a self-appointed negotiator and has not gone out in tandem with Congress (I), his motives were limited. It appears he wanted to corner international publicity through the gimmick of talks on the Sikh issue. The same could be said of Dr.Chauhans response. Otherwise, there was no ground whatsoever for any meaningful contact between the Sikhs and Delhi. Punjab is under occupation with about half a million strong Indian force stationed in active duty in the state. Hundreds of Sikh youths have been murdered in cold blood in the recent past. Thousands of them are in India’s prisons. An unspecified number of them is in torture chambers bearing the most unbearable torture. Punjab’s economy has been ruined with massive transfer of resources to other states. Punjab’s most precious wealth river water has been taken out of the state and more is being taken away at gun point. A total war has been declared on Sikhs. In this situation any talk of Sikh Delhi dialogue is preposterous. In any case, Delhi is in no need to respect Punjab’s present constitutional rights, much less enlarging these powers. It is unwilling to learn any lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union or the events of east Europe. India is enacting a massive farce of election in Punjab to impress the democratic world and not to let the people of the state an opportunity to decide their own fate as has been done by the people in the Soviet Union.

The Delhi inspired talk of negotiations has a history of its own. The Indian ruling class says what it does not mean and means what it does not say. Talks are bandied about as and when Delhi has some tricky things up its sleeves. These manoeuvres are now well understood by common Sikhs in Punjab. They dump into the waste paper basket of history those who allow themselves to be caught, wittingly or unwittingly, in the cobwebs spread by Delhi. No wonder, the Longowal Akali Dal is new history. The same is true of the other traditional Akali Dals. Simarnjit Singh Mann and Bhai Manjit heavily in the Sikh psyche once they responded to Delhi’s fake overtures and, process, tried to mislead the Sikhs. Chander Shekhar was irrelevant as a negotiator when he was Prime Minister. He is much more so now when he is almost here in Indian pol Dr Jagjit Singh clearly responded to Delhi’s fake overtures and, in the process, tried to mislead the Sikhs. Chander Shekhar was irrelevant as a negotiator when he was Prime Minister. He is much more so now when he is almost here in Indian politics. Dr Jagjit Singh clearly wasted a few sheets of paper when he presented a memorandum to Shekhar. Dr Singh also wasted a few hours he spent talking to the former Indian Prime Minister. The former could have used his time and paper more profitably. Dr Chauhan, after all, is a pioneer of the Khalistan movement irrespective whatever his detractors may say of him. Clearly, by his misconceived action Dr Singh has lost some ground among the Sikhs Punjab. His meeting with Shekhar was ill timed. Most Sikhs and their organizations, rightly or wrongly, have decided to boycott the Punjab election proposed to be held in February. This applies with even greater force to the S.G.P.C. chief’s offer of being helpful in Delhi Sikh talks. Any proposal of talks should be breached only after Sikhs have displayed their broad unity in the forthcoming election and India has paved the way for fruitful talks and not otherwise. We would like Dr Chohan and Jathedar Tohra to think twice before making any gesture to Delhi

Article extracted from this publication >> January 10, 1992