In the history of mankind people have countlessly reiterated their right to be free, From Incas and Yucatan to the American and French revolutions human race has sought to break the shackles of slavery imposed by tyrants, Even the Hindu Vedas tell of the predicament of the oppressed who for the sake of unhindered freedom had to take on their blood relations in the final epic battle. Although details differ in each episode of struggle there is one common thread that runs through all that ultimately the truth prevailed.
In modern times the Sikhs are facing a similar dilemma that of breaking the chains of oppression cast by the arrogant and wily Brahamanic Court in New Delhi. In the 18th century the newly emerging nation of the Khalsa had to face seemingly insurmountable hurdles put up by the hill rajas on the one hand and the mighty Moghuls on the other. The Sikhs faced the odds with courage and certain impetuosity that ultimately won them their first homeland the SarkareKhalsa under the able leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. What made it all happen was that the truth was on the side of the Sikhs.
So it is today. In the 20th century the Sikhs were in the forefront of the struggle for independence from the British. They waged a multi-pronged effort along with other participants to force the British to leave India at a time when the British might was at its apex. When the time came to share the fruits of the struggle the Sikhs trusted the majority community in allowing them to guide their destiny. This was both a testament of childlike trust and a political blunder of the extreme. Within years the Brahamanic court in New Delhi started to undermine the trust ranging from dismissal of the popularly elected governments, to the army quotas for the Sikhs, to the desecration of their holy places, to the economic plunder of Punjab.
Today the fraudulent Indian government shouts to the world that the Sikhs are trying to undermine the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India in order to create a state of their own. Wait. What are the facts?
It needs to be remembered that in the Indian subcontinent Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s SarkareKhalsa was last of the independent states conquered by the British that the Sikhs were one of the three negotiating parties that the British consulted the Muslims and Hindu representatives being the other two on the future set up of the Indian subcontinent; and that the Sikh representatives (Akali Party) did not actually sign the Indian Constitution when it was framed and passed by the Constituent Assembly. The fact of the matter is that it is the present government of India which is in occupation of the land of the Sikhs.
Having been led up the garden path the Sikhs are now asserting their right to fundamental freedom in the form of an independent homeland or Khalistan. We are not secessionists but asking the wily and unethical ruler who has now assumed the role of mindless oppressor, to leave the occupied lands of Punjab. Otherwise, as the Tenth Guru wrote to Aurangzeb “I will not let you drink the water of Punjab and will strike fire to the hooves of your horses … “ History bears testimony to the fact that within decades the SarkareKhalsa was established in Punjab.
Today the Sikhs proclaim their fundamental right to be free and to guide their own destiny in an independent state of Khalistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 12, 1989
