LOS ANGLES, Ca.: Justice Ajit Singh Bains, former Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court and Chairman Punjab Human Rights Organization received a standing ovation for his scathing indictment of the government policy of killing Sikh youths in fake encounters and enacting draconian laws that make a mockery of human and civil rights of the individual, Justice Bains was speaking in the concluding session of the two day conference on “Punjab Crisis: Possible Paths To Resolution” sponsored by the University of California, Los Angeles, committee on South and Southeast Asia of International Studies and overseas programs. The conference was chaired by Prof. Stanley Wolpert of the History Department.
Justice Bains briefly traced the history of the Sikhs from the time ‘of Guru Nanak to the present day. The Sikh history, he pointed out, offers an unending chronicle of struggle against injustice and tyranny. He read out a paragraph from the prophetic letter written by late Prof. Puran Singh to Sir John Simons on October 21.
1928, In the letter Prof. Puran Singh says, “In conclusion I would request you not to be so small as to be partial in any way to any community and not to be so large as to give over India in the hands of ‘one powerful community and thus reduce the other minor communities to eternal slavery even under democratic institutions. By cutting up the country into Muslim provinces and Hindu provinces you would be only introducing a slow citing consumption of a civil anarchy which could kill the weaker communities. Where the Hindus prevail, Muslims shall suffer and where the Muslims prevail, the Hindus shall suffer. And as I have already said virile communities like that of the Sikhs may risk fighting to death to ask for a purely Sikh province”.
The conference opened on the afternoon of Saturday with welcome address by Prof. Wolpert. Since the keynote speaker, Mr. ‘Amarinder Singh, leader of the Unified Akali Dal legislature party in Punjab Assembly, could not come, Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah read out two letters written by the Dal leader one to the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and the other to the Punjab Governor, Mr. SS.Ray. The letters, besides mildly blaming the government for treating the Sikhs unjustly, made an impassioned appeal for the establishment of his party’s rule in Punjab.
Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora in his address demanded a review of Indian government’s policy towards Punjab. Policy of drift was in operation; he said and blamed the police, C.R.P.F. and BS.F. For indulging in unlawful acts He condemned the black laws and the fake encounters. He cited the instance of Durga Singh who was arrested from the hospital in the presence of Prof, Darshan Singh about whose health he had gone to ‘enquire but the next day, the newspaper carried the report of his death in an alleged encounter. He ‘was shown to be killed while crossing into India from Pakistan, He said Ranjit Singh Rana was also similarly murdered by the police, He said that as a reaction to the fake encounters, there could arise disaffection in the army, thus seriously jeopardizing India’s defence potential, Already rumblings ‘of disaffection could be heard as in the case of 27 Lancers. He, how ‘ever, called for an end to violence on both sides and sought solution of the problem within the constitutional framework of India.
Justice SS, Narnla’s 18 point prescription to resolve the problem was also red out, the panel discussion afire his lecture was a tame affair as questions were either sidetracked or altogether ignored.
The morning session of October 25 began with Mr. LK. Gujral, former Minister of Information and Broadcasting, government of India who did an excellent job in misinterpreting history. He put the blame for the Punjab problem squarely on the shoulders of the Akali Dal but pleaded for Hindu, Sikh unity and harmony. After his speech Prof, Bhagawan Dua, Prof. Paul Wallace and Prof, Sujit Man Singh expressed their views. Prof, Duaand Prof. S. Man Singh superficially examined the problem. Prof. Wallace on the other hand made very keen observations.
Prof, M.K. Rasgotra, India’s former Foreign Secretary in his afternoon address blamed the foreign the Punjab problem, He called for immediate transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab and also allocation of the full share of the river waters. He also demanded release of Jodhpur detainees and punishment to those responsible for anti-Sikh riots; He said Violence on both sides should be stopped for six months to pave way for a meaningful dialogue. But the solution, he said, has to be ‘within the framework of the Indian constitution.
The panelists that spoke after him included Prof. Rajin Anand, Dr. Marwah, Prof SAR Desai, Dr. Harbans Singh Sraon, Justice Bains, Yogi Bhajan, Ranbir Singh Sandhu, Dr. Ravi Kalia, Kabir Bedi, Baljeet Malik and Dr. Kapany.
A resolution was moved from the floor demanding release of the Jodhpur and other detainees and condemning State terrorism, Operation Blue Star and Delhi massacre. But it was not pressed in view of the decision that no resolution or recommendation was to be made at the conference, however, on asking whether anybody had any objection to any clause of the resolution, no one objected thus giving a silent consent to the resolution.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 30, 1987
