There is no cause greater for any human being than to defend his faith. And men of faith have courage. How else can anyone explain a mere two percent in a nation of 900 million fighting successfully for freedom? The Sikh struggle against bigotry, tyranny and oppression against seemingly insurmountable odds is unparalleled in human history.
Faith, they say, Moves Mountains. As the disenchantment of the Sikhs with India grew, the regime in Delhi rather than do something positive tried to bulldoze a minority into submission. It will never stop paying the price for this blunder. One has heard of “cutting off the nose to spite the face” but India took it a couple of steps further.
It would not require a wild imagination to say that the great nation of India would one day extend a few hundred miles along the holy River Ganges.
Operation Blue star the savage military attack on the holy Sikh shrines of Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht will go down in history as the beginning of the disintegration of India. Indira Gandhi laid the foundation of Khalistan. The booming of artillery and tank cannons within the Golden Temple sounded the death knell of India and ultimate freedom for the Sikhs and other long suffering minorities.
After Indira, her son Rajiv Gandhi and now VP Singh are building on the foundation laid on June 6, 1984. It is only a matter of time that this horrible modern tower of Babel will come crashing down on its builders.
In 1984, Indira Gandhi said there are 80 odd “terrorists” demanding Khalistan. A thousand times that number of Sikh men, women and children has since embraced martyrdom for Khalistan. In its desperation, Delhi keeps changing governors and keeps sending more para military forces to quell the uprising in Punjab. What drives the Sikhs to such heights of bravery, India will not understand and never suppress. It is simply their faith.
There are sure signs that the tide has turned what with our Kashmiri allies fully in the fray. The need now is for decisive action, to marshal our strength for the big final battle, to free ourselves forever.
Work is in progress on a draft constitution for Khalistan and ‘an appeal is out to all Sikh intellectuals to busy themselves with this all-important task. This document, our manifesto must reflect our ideas and ideals to the world. Equality, justice and truly democratic institutions will be the bedrock of our constitution. If these basic principles are assured, we can be sure of a modern and dynamic nation.
The World Sikh Organisation has a vital role to play. It must ‘set about creating a friendly environment in the international community of nations for Khalistan. Recognition of the new nation must quickly follow our sovereignty. Much time has been lost, first in blindly trusting our fate to someone else and now in fighting to become masters of our own destiny.
Every Sikh can and must rouse himself to this basic cause of the Panth. Sikhs in the West have done a commendable job in helping the movement materially and morally for over six years. Well done, but keep it up. The time now is not to rest on our laurels but to intensify our struggle so that it bears fruit. Much depends on us and after having done so much we must not, nay cannot, let ourselves down.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 22, 1990
