Unity among members of minorities all over the world is a natural sentiment more so when such minorities have to face grave danger from states controlled by majorities. Among the Sikh community the call for unity always strikes a responsive chord In the context of India its ruling class has all along created divisions among Sikhs The results was that Sikhs could not achieve much under the present limitations That Sikh governments fell is as much due to the Indian governments machinations as to divisions among the community This scenario called for unity among the various Sikh groups in Punjab. But there has been a complete change in the political situation in the past 10 years. The Indian state has launched a full scale war on the Sikh youths who in the thousands had to go underground to take to arms to free their motherland from Indian imperialism. Thus the nature of political struggle in Punjab is no. longer parliamentary. It is armed. In view of the rather preliminary stage of the struggle Sikh youths are fighting a guerrilla war. There is no direct confrontation. Mostly the tactics being employed are based on the “hit and run” method But despite this basic change the calls for unity are being issued as if no change had taken place When one calls for unity in a guerilla war situation it at once means turning the guerilla war into a traditional war between two armies. This traditional war suits India. That is why J.F.Rebiero used to taunt Sikh youths to be brave and confront the Indian security forces. In guerilla warfare Sikh youths bad all along was invincible. In view of time-tested Sikh tactics the Indian state authorities always reckon the fight in Punjab to continue almost forever. This does not mean that clever Indian intelligence agents do not make efforts to mislead Sikh underground groups on the theme of unity. Whenever someone calls for unity among Sikh underground groups one should immediately be on guard. Such calls must come either from the enemy or from the ignorant. In either case the effect is bound to be disastrous that is the lesson of Punjab’s experience. But the mistakes continue to be repeated.
Only last week one Malwinder Singh Chaheru who claims to represent Khalistan Commando Force (Zaffarwal) mysteriously surfaced in Jalandhar called a “press conference” to announce that unity among militant groups is round the comer. According to him all major groups except for Babbar Khalsa International have agreed to form a “confederation” to be headed by Bhai Paramjit Singh Panjwar. According to Chaheru all groups will be asked to disband themselves and come under a single command. Bhai Manjit Singh who was released from Bathinda jail recently also issued a similar call for a single command for all militant groups The unity calls from these gentlemen should be taken with a pinch of salt It is worth remembering that the Indian security forces are these days in an upbeat mood. They have succeeded in killing as many as 153 Sikh militants including seven general-level activists in June alone. The only way to prevent Sikh losses is to divide further the existing militant groups not by uniting them into a single formation In fact the enemy wants the organizational unity among militants. Writing in “Sunday Mail “June 211992) an Indian weekly its political correspondent V.V.P. Sharma records: The Center is reportedly banking on the current moves for unity by Punjab militants outfits bearing fruit to set in motion its latest action plan to curb militancy. It is easier to communicate with or eliminate a centralized rather than a scattered leadership is the union home ministry’s assumption.”
Efforts towards unity among the overground organizations for carrying out specific plans of action in a democratic struggle are altogether a different matter. Bhai Daljit Singh’s endeavor to unite overground student groups is welcome provided the new unified overground movement is guided by Sikh militants and is engaged in specific plans such as launching a movement to stop supply of water and power to India and to reduce cultivation of foodgrain crops by Punjab farmers. This overground movement could also work for banning the use of liquor and for introduction of Punjabi in all walks of Punjab’s life However unity for the sake of unity has little meaning. On the other hand such a unified group is capable of creating more confusion in the absence of pre-determined plans of action. That is what is happening with the so-called panthic organizations. Some of them are busy attacking Gurcharan Singh Tohra. That is the end and be all of these overground unified groups of Sikhs I al present. It is better to do without unity than lend credibility to such I discredited leaders as Bhai Manjit Singh and his ilk. Bhai Daljit Singh will therefore do well to make a program of nation the pivot of his unity efforts.
On the contrary the militants groups are well advised to further split their underground formation. One small group need not to know the other group. The current trend of taking responsibility for actions by giving a list of names of militants should be stopped. The responsibility could be owned by such formation as “units numbers” of a specific group without publishing any names whatsoever. There
Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992
