GLEN ROCK N.J.: Stating that “thousands of Sikh young men have been murdered by the Indian government in the struggle for an independent Khalistan,” the annual conference of the Council of Khalistan held on October 2930. In Glen Rock, New Jersey, called for a Shantmai morcha (peaceful movement) to liberate Khalistan, the independent Sikh nation declared by the Sikh leadership on October 7, 1987.

Resolutions passed by the conference urged “freedom fighters in Khalistan’ to “reorganize under the flag of the Khalsa Raj Party and reinvigorate the movement for Sikh freedom,” and called on the Akali Dal to “unite under the banner of an independent Khalistan; include the Western Sikh leadership in its policy making process; and initiate a Shantmai morcha for the prompt liberation of Khalistan.” One resolution beseeched the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the high trustee of the Sikh religion, to “declare [Punjab police chief] K.P.S. Gill and [Punjab Chief Minister] Beant Singh Tankhayas [excommunicate them]; boycott the Indian government completely; raise the slogan of ‘India Quit Khalistan’; and initiate a Shantmai morcha for the liberation of Khalistan.” | “Tam very pleased by the strong. Statement the delegates to this conference made,” said Dr. Gurmit) Singh Aulakh, President of the! Council of Khalistan, “These representatives of the Sikh nation have| shown the way to Sikh freedom by rejecting the Indian regime’s phony ‘elections’ and clearly calling for a movement {o liberate Khalistan by peaceful, democratic, nonviolent means. It only remains for the leadership within Khalistan to follow the lead established by the Sikhs gathered here. The time has come for a peaceful mass movement for the liberation of Khalistan.” Dr. Aulakh’s “leadership in the Panthic cause for the liberation of Khalistan” was formally acknowledged in a resolution adopted by the delegates to the conference. Commenting on the conference’s call for the excommunication of KP, S. Gill and Beant Singh, conference chairman S, Gurdial Singh said, “Those who shed the blood of the Sikh nation in the service of ‘our enemies are traitors who have forfeited their credentials as Sikhs. I hope that one day they will be led to repent of their treason and return to the embrace of their Sikh brothers.”

Article extracted from this publication >>  November 11, 1994