In the past two years the Sikh community has helped several Sikh victim groups in India. One group, however, has inadvertently fallen through the cracks. It has been reliably learnt that families and dependents of Sikh soldiers killed during the uprising as a result of the Indian army’s brutal attack on the Golden Temple, are going through a very difficult time. They have received minimal support from the Sikh organizations and have been continuously hounded by the government authorities.
With the help of reliable contacts in Punjab, we have compiled a list of names of these Sikh soldiers and the addresses of their dependents. We have initiated a mechanism to help them. This is how it works.
We request people to write to us and pledge a monthly amount. Include the name of the districts in Punjab and Haryana where you have personal contacts (family or friends). We will send you the name and addresses of a family in the same district that you should arrange to send the pledge amount to (monthly, quarterly or whatever) through your contact. It is important to keep the donation and the contact person’s name confidential, or else the Indian Government will surely hassle them. We will, of course, try to spread the donors as evenly as possible across all the recipients. The list of donors in the U.S. will be kept confidential, For those who do not have a contact person, we will attempt to either arrange for one, or we will try to pair them with others with contacts.
Please arrange whatever amount you can afford, however small. Remember that even a $5 / month from a few donors would mean a lot to those families in need. Let us not forget that the breadwinners Of these families made the supreme sacrifice for upholding the honor and dignity of our community; the least we can do is to sacrifice a little bit to take care of their dependents.
Please write to: WSO/Boston Chapter, 10 Washington St., ‘Medford, and Mass 02155
Article extracted from this publication >> October 3, 1986
