WASHINGTON,D.C.: In an operation that has become all too familiar, the Indian government has simply arrested top Sikh lead crs in anticipation of their upcoming November I peaceful march to New Delhi.

On Oct.20 Sikh leaders including Gureharan Singh Tohra, President Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee, Prakash Singh Badal President Akali Dal (Badal); and Surjit Singh Barnala, President Akali Dal (Barnala) and many others were rounded up in the state of Punjab, They have been arrested indefinitely.

Sikh leaders had unanimously decided to launch a peaceful march to New Delhi from November 1 in order to protest the Sept 15 sacrilege of the Sikh Holy Scriptures by the Punjab police at the historic Gurusar Gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Gujjarwal, Punjab.

On Sept.15, police raided the Gurusar Gurdwara and interrupted an Akhand Path (continuous reading) of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Holy Scripture). Police entered the gurdwara and indiscriminately beat people and stopped the reading of the Sikh holy scriptures, Gurbachan Singh, a 75 year old man, died as a result of a police beating inside the gurdwara.

Sikh leaders had attempted to submit a memorandum to Indian President Shankar Dayal Sharma immediately after the police sacrilege but were stopped ostensibly because they were carrying Sikh ceremonial swords. This is despite the fact that they had met previous Indian Presidents with their swords.

The arrest of the Sikh leaders planning to protest the gurdwara sacrilege bears an eerie connection to the current Indian siege of the Hazratbal Mosque in Srinagar, Kashmir. It seems religious shrines have become the foci of govern mental oppression against religious minorities.

In a press note, Dr.Gurmit Singh Aulakh, Council of Khalistan said “On one hand the Congress government is aggressively demanding an apology from the BJP for the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque, on the other hand it re fuses lo apologize for its own sacrilege of Sikh gurdwaras and rationalizes the attacks on mosques in Kashmir. The arrest of Sikh leaders and the current siege of the mosque may very well be a prelude to war with Pakistan over Kashmir. India wants to arrest Sikh leaders whom it knows will side with Pakistan in case of war.”

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 29, 1993