by: Sajjan Singh Bhangru
To the World conference on Human Rights, Vienna, Austria. Mr. President, I am a victim. My nights are violated when 1 was denied permission to visit my home land Punjab, to’ see my aging father. I consider the denial of my visa as minor compared to the gross Human Rights Violations committed against my people. The Sikhs of Punjab have been denied their basic Human Rights, According to the declaration on the elimination of all forms of in toleration and discrimination based on the Religion and Belief (Article 1) “Everyone shall have the night to freedom of thought, conscience and Religion.” It was June 5,1984, Mr President, when Darbar Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, one of the sacred shrines of the Sikhs, filled with thousands of worshippers, was attacked with full force, by the Indian Army. Scores of other Gurdwaras (places of worship) also were attacked. The Indian Government had a message for the Sikh nation either submit to the mainstream or be eliminated. Two days after the “Operation Blue Star,” the code name for the Army assault, the Sikh Archives, including precious handwritten documents by our Gurus, were destroyed to wipe out our glorious heritage. Thousands of Sikh men, women and children were killed and tens of thousands arrested. To this day, repression against the Sikh Nation is continuing and over 100,000 men, women and children have disappeared. The problem of the Sikh nation dates back to the partition period, when the Sikhs were promised by the Leaders of the Congress Party, that the Sikhs will have full autonomy. Mr Jawahar Lall Nehru declared in July, 1946, speaking at the Congress Committee at Calcutta, that: “The brave Sikhs of Punjab are entitled to special consideration, | see nothing wrong in an area and a Set up in the North wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom” Mr. President, Mahatma Gandhi said in Delhi and I quote: “Sikh friends have no reason to fear that the (Congress Party) will betray them. For the moment it does so, the Congress would not only thereby seal its own doom but that of the country too. Moreover, the Sikhs are a brave people.”
When the constitution of India ‘was being drawn up, Sikh representatives refused to sign in protest, because assurances given to the Sikhs were not honored. Again, President, when the rest of the country was being divided into Provinces along Linguistic lines, Punjab’s demands was overlooked. The Sikh nation had to resort to peaceful agitation, resulting in over 200,000 arrests. Mr. President, finally in 1966, Mr.Nehru’s daughter and successor formed a truncated Punjabi speaking state, where the Sikhs were a slight majority. The Sikhs, although dissatisfied, turned what was left of Punjab into the country’s granary by dint of hard work, supplying most of the country’s food grain, but discrimination against the Sikhs continued. Repressive laws have been introduced to subdue the movement for independence, Illegal detentions, rapes, torture and fake encounters are documented by Amnesty International, Asia Watch and other Human Rights Organizations. The reign of terror is the rule of the day in Punjab. We ask this distinguished body for justice to remove the sufferings of the Sikh Nation. We request the following.
1, that the U.N, take steps to assure that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights be honored in Punjab, for the elimination of torture.
2Z.Extrajudicial killings, rape.
Disappearances and custodial deaths must end in Punjab.
- Draconian Laws such as Terrorist and Disruptive Areas Act and National Security Act, must be withdrawn immediately.
- Human Rights Organizations such as Amnesty International, Asia Watch and others must be provided access to investigate all
Human Rights violations.
- The right to information must be respected and a full accounting must be provided for all persons killed from the time of the “Blue Star Operation” and since then.
- All political prisoners must be released immediately.
- World bank and I.M.F. loans must be tied to performance in the area of Human Rights.
- This civic duty of involvement, dictated by the chronic outbreaks of inhumanity on our planet, can end only when a permanent Court of justice is set up under the auspices of the United Nations, in the name of all their peoples, to protect the nights of persecuted groups like Sikhs.
9, all the people have the right to self-determination and therefore the United Nations Organizations must initiate moves to set up 4 committee to arrange for a plebiscite for the establishment of a Sikh Sovereign state. Khalistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 16, 1993
