What constitutes a nation if not its people India is nowhere near the image it projects of itself as a nation. It is only a matter of time for its facade to fall away much as it did in the Soviet Union. India’s efforts at enforcing the artificial union of very diverse peoples are self-defeating but it refuses to recognize this truth. The longer it takes to come to grips with reality, the greater will be the pain and humiliation and the price in human terms. Look at Canada. An advanced western democracy may soon split because of just language and culture. Not once has there been talk of enforcing the will of one people over the other. Canada, a true democracy is hardly the model for India. India should look to its friend the totalitarian Soviet regime Union for lessons.
The prime minister told the people of Kashmir that there can be no compromise on separatism. This has been said over a thousand times in Punjab over the past decade. V.P. Singh ruled out a plebiscite in Kashmir. He said he was willing to talk to anyone who declared loyalty to India, laid down arms and declared loyalty to the Indian constitution. He needs to look south of Punjab to meet such conditions.
Many doubt if India has ever been governed by the constitution. This document was not signed by the Sikhs in 1950 and there was no question of the Kashmiris signing it as they were just recently overrun and conquered. Till 198 4, the Sikhs tolerated being bullied because they felt that they had themselves caused the terrible position they were in. The mistake of casting their lot in India had cost them aplenty but they were not prepared for the utter cowardice of an attack on their holiest place of worship from a people they had given so much for. That is what the Constitution of India wrought for the Sikhs. The Indian army sent in by the President and Prime Minister of India to rape and murder little children in a place of worship. No self-respecting Sikh will even wipe his feet on this constitution.
What compromise is VP Singh talking off? The Sikhs have already declared their independence and so have the Kashmiris. It is hardly up to India to give anything which never belonged to it except on a bit of paper signed unilaterally.
The Sikhs, Kashmiris, Mizos, Assamese and the Nagas are doing what they have to for their freedom. It remains to be seen how long India’s armies of occupation can be sustained. The writ of the people of these areas is the law, not the Indian constitution. That is the reason these people have to be kept under President’s rule and elections not allowed.
The Prime Minister needs to salvage what he can from the ruins before even those slips through his fingers. The begging bowl India brings to the West to keep its billion people from starving soon may be broken rather than filled. The cries of anguished women and children, victims of Indian oppression are increasingly being heard around the world.
So the talk, if any, needs to be of a referendum, plebiscite, elections, and rule of law, human rights, and such. Any talk of the Indian constitution is like adding fuel to an already raging fire. This constitution must be imposed on those who wrote it and agreed to abide by it.
We, the Sikhs, have determined to live by our own laws in our own land. It is to this end that our efforts have been directed since June 6,198 4 and we are prepared to talk to anyone who can say “I am for Khalistan.”
Article extracted from this publication >> July 27, 1990
