“By setting free Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu, Punjab’s Sikh militants have shown that they respect world public opinion, Radu’s own account of how decently he was treated by his abductors confirms that the Sikh political movement is not all chaos as is sought to be made out by India That activists of Khalistan Commando Force could fool the vast Indian security establishment by carrying Radu 300 kms away from the well-guarded national capital and keeping him incommunicado for 48 days speak volumes of the organizational skill and resourcefulness of Bhai Gurjant Singh Budsinghwala and his associates of Panthic committee But however justified their demand for the release of the three Sikhs held in connection with the murder of General Vaidya, abductions as a political means must never be done The practice is rightly abhorred by the civilized world The Sikh activists have to live with such reprehensible acts of India and expose them the world over By responding to the world public opinion, projected forcefully by leading Sikh organizations as much as by others, the Sikh movement leaders acquitted themselves welt in the eyes of civilized people The response unmistakably reveals that the Sikh movement essentially is democratic in nature and is amenable to reason and argument

The World Sikh News appreciates the gesture of Bhai Gurjant Singh Budsinghwala and his associates for, we were the first to call for unconditional release of the Romanian diplomat At the same time, we reiterate our request to the government of Romania and the good people of that country to give no room to men like Ribeiro whose hands are soiled with the blood of hundreds of Sikh youths He must be declared persona non grata if gentle ways of easing him out of Romania fail. We also appeal to Bucharest to reciprocate Sikhs? goodwill and free unconditionally all the Sikh youths detained in connection with an effort to punish the Sikhs’ war criminal living in that country The Radu incident, howsoever painful to all civilized, men and women, must serve in a warning to countries not to accept the credentials of the bloodstained from India.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 29, 1991