In everlasting memory of the Sikh martyrs who laid down their lives on June 6. 1984 defending the Faith and the Golden Temple and in the memory of the thousands who have made the sacrifice since so that we may be free.

LUDHIANA: Gang rape and molestation of women followed Indian Army’s action at Sanghe Village in Amritsar district on May 26 when seven Sikhs were killed Punjab Human Rights Organization reported after an on the spot investigation.

The security forces were commanded by Col B.C. Lugwal Commanding Officer of the second battalion of Dogra Regiment.

The PHRO team comprising Mr. D.S.Gill (Chairman): and Mr. Mohinder Singh Grewal (General Secretary) visited the village recorded statements of more than two dozen victims and eyewitnesses and gave harrowing details of the murder mayhem and destruction caused by the security forces apart from pointing out cases of mass rape.

The P.H.R.O. said that jawans of the Dogra Regiment laid siege of the village and remained stationed there for two days evidently to search for certain militants allegedly staying there. They were later joined in by men of the C.R.P.F. and the Punjab Police to make a total strength of more than 2000 men.

In the course of the operation the security forces killed seven persons including six Sikhs engaged in the construction of a Gurdwara in the village to perpetuate the memory of the Sixth Sikh Guru Guru Hargobind. None of them was armed. Nor any one fired a shot at security forces. Two of them Baba Kabul Singh and Balwinder Singh was killed while they were travelling by a Tata 407 Kar Seva vehicle to Aladinpur village to meet the ailing 90 years old Kar Seva Baba Basta Singh. The driver Kashmir Singh fled towards the Gurudwara and was killed along with three other devotees engaged in the construction.

In addition the only militant Staying in the village Major General Gurbhej Singh Bheja consumes cyanide and died after he was hunted down the P.H.R.O. report quoted the Army Commanding Officer as recording.

The P.H.R.O. report stated that-no encounter took place in the village and the security forces suffered no casualty. The killings of all the Sikhs were wholly un-necessary although the security forces claimed to have seized certain ammunition from Major General Gurbhej Singh.

Thrust of the P.H.R.O. report is on the aftermath of the killings involving the gang rape and molestation of women looting of the villagers property and these two organizations had the blessings of the panthic committee Bhai Panjwar added that the Khalsa Panth was passing through a very critical phase and was surrounded on all sides by enemies He said the parting of ways did not have any element of acrimony. They were separating not to fight between themselves but to carry forward the fight for the Khalistan the statement added.

Bhai Panjwar frankly admitted that political activities of late had come to a standstill and the reorganization was aimed at reactivating political activity.

Observers feel that the three factors listed by the panthic committee which led to the parting of ways between the two main sections of the once powerful militant coalition are only a part explanation. There appear to be deeper reasons for the development.

It is to be noted that militant groups suffered heavy casualties in the past few months especially since Chandra Shekhar took over Are alisation seems to have grown that the underground militant movement alone to the exclusion of an over ground democratic movement not only sympathetic to the underground but actually and effectively guided by it has its limitations.

The decision of the B.K.I. to float Shiromani Babbar Akali Dal though resented by others was designed as step in the direction of meeting the challenge on the political front although observers feel the Babbars over ground group has not succeeded in catching the Sikhs imagination so far presumably due to a lack of effective leadership as also due to the want of thrust in respect of political matters.

The Panthic Committee and its associate groups will also have to give deeper thought to the need for a supplementary over ground movement to function not in collaboration with but in conflict with Delhi many observers of the Sikh scene predict. Obviously neither the A.I.S.S.F. (Manjit) nor the Akali Dal (Mann) has succeeded in filling the void due to the fact that both vied with each other to curry Delhi’s favour and to get itself installed in power for the sake of power in the traditional Akali mould.

Unfortunately the panthic committee itself gave the impression at one stage that it patronized Mann Akali Dal and its kowtowing with the Chandra Shekhar government when certain circles misled it into believing that the Prime Minister was willing to take on Khalistan. Delhi of course had its own strategy in view. But the drift gave legitimacy to the A.I.S.S.F. (Manjit): to try its own hand at realpolitik. It formed a coordination committee which went to Delhi after a phase of hesitancy.

The panthic committee and others are now paying for the drift in the face of a clever stance of dialogue adopted by Delhi. Except for one or two minor groups none opposed the drift. The minor groups were of course not taken very seriously.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 7, 1991