It must have been quite an ordeal for Mr. Joe Clark, the staunchly pro-Indian Foreign Minister of Canada, to ask for the removal of certain Indian diplomats who were found to be engaged in the espionage work. It must have been particularly painful for him as he was chiefly responsible for piloting the extradition treaty with India. Whatever be the public posture, the extradition treaty is primarily directed against the Sikhs. It is no secret that India used its trade leverage to make Canada sign the treaty. Canada was never keen nor had any special interest or aim in signing it. For over thirty-five years India, too, had not felt its necessity. But the Sikh protests and demonstrations after Operation Bluestar and the mobilization of world opinion against the ongoing persecution of Sikhs in Punjab put India in a very embarrassing position. Since Sikhs living abroad were pretty successful in tearing to shreds the secular pretensions of India, the policy makers in Delhi devised a strategy to ckoke into silence these uncomfortable voices. The fact that most Sikhs are inseparably attached to their roots in India and frequently go there to visit relatives and religious shrines makes them easy targets to be framed in false cases. In the absence of an extradition treaty, Indian government felt helpless as it could not hold the sword of extradition over the head of each visiting Sikh.
The creation of a network of paid informers and agent provocateurs to penetrate into Canadian Sikh community by the Indian diplomats has vindicated Sikh apprehensions. It must have come as a rude shock to Mr. Clark and he must be cursing the day he signed the treaty.
Indian government is spending huge sums to divide and discredit the Sikhs everywhere. It has planted, through its diplomats, agent provocateurs in various Sikh organizations and gurdwara management committees. These agents pose as committed Khalistanis and assume fundamentalist postures. Curiously the main target of their attack is not government of India but the democratic Sikh organizations and fearless media organs. To destroy the image of the Sikh youth and to alienate them from the mainstream, they provoke them into contravening the basic Sikh principles and bring them into conflict with other Sikh organizations as well as with the law enforcing agencies.
In America also Indian diplomats are said to be engaged in the espionage work through their paid agents. The insidious role of a few diplomats was brought to the notice of certain Senators and Congressmen. Initial investigations strongly suggest the possibility of a Canadian style network operating in cities with sizeable Sikh population. Many heads are likely to role when the full results of the investigations are made available to the public.
There is nothing surprising in what the Indian diplomats are doing. They are merely extending to foreign soils the sinister game being played by Delhi rulers in Punjab. It is also not surprising that they succeed in recruiting Sikhs who, for paltry material gains, servilely act traitors to their community and religion. Traitors are common to every country, nation and community. They constitute a class in themselves and self-interest is their only religion. Bereft of conscience, they abhor ethical codes. No amount of sermonizing or emotional appeals can influence their perverted minds.
These traitors need to be identified and exposed. It should not be difficult to track them down. Sikhs will have to be vigilant and they must rigorously scrutinize the activities of all those who claim to be working for the Sikh cause. It can be easily determined whether an individual’s word or deed helps to promote the Sikh cause and Sikh unity or weakens the struggle by generating internal wrangling. Those who are relentlessly targeting dedicated Sikhs rather than directing their guns against the Indian government must be closely watched and expeditiously weeded out.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1987
