Gobind Ram was blown to smithereens as must all evil in its perennial but hopeless battle against the good. Gobind Ram was in many ways symbolic of the Indian government’s policies vis-a-vis Punjab. Brutal repression paralleled perhaps only in Hitler’s Nazi Germany has been let loose on the hapless and innocent people. Gangs of hardened criminals roam the land with police patronage to create mayhem and terror which is then blamed on Sikhs who are fighting a just and righteous battle for freedom. Little wonder then that just the mention of Amnesty International shuts the Indian government up like a murderer caught with the smoking gun.
Gobind Ram took pleasure in personally torturing women and children to earn the ignominious name of “butcher of Batala”. He made himself particularly obnoxious with his comparisons to himself with the tenth Sikh Guru who has the same first name. There are many more Gobind Rams in Punjab, only they do not maintain such high profiles. We do not hear of them but ask the 15,000 Sikh youths in Punjab lock ups without charge, they will tell you Gobind Ram was not an exception. But then what can one expect in a police state. This will be the fate of the Sikhs till ‘such time an independent Sikh state is not established.
The media in the west is today calling Nicolae Ceausescu the most voracious vampire known and the Rumanian regime as the most intrusive. Coincidentally, Ribeiro who is now in Rumania can tell you another story of another land where things are no better. The west must wake up to what is happening in Punjab before thousands more have to die. The sporadic resistance and revolt of 1985 has grown into a mass movement. Ribeiro realized this when he exclaimed in despair, “we must win over the people otherwise this is an exercise in futility.” He too wanted an end to state terrorism.
The images of dogs eating half charred bodies and the proud Akal Takht in shattered ruins are indelibly etched on the minds of all the Sikhs living today. Even if they heal these wounds will leave ugly scars. We must not have our future generations see these scars. Are we ensuring this for our children?
Sikhs must ask themselves again — is it too much to ask for freedom from tyranny, from economic deprivation, from second class citizenship in a land where they are the most productive? Some shortsighted people say Gandhi is gone and we must give the new government a chance. This is like a farmer whose crops once destroyed by hail thinks that this will never happen to him again. Maybe on an outside chance there will a reasonable government in Delhi for the next 20 years. Would you have your children or grandchildren suffer the same indignities? We should think not. Never again must we allow an attack on our holy shrines; never again must our women be brutalized by the likes of Gobind Ram and the lumpen elements of Delhi.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 19, 1990
