CHANDIGARH: The Akali Dal (Mann) president Simranjit Singh Mann and the SGPC chief G.S Tohra said here that the Panthic bodies would respond to the Centers invitation for talks provided militants were also a party and the only issue to be discussed was an independent Sovereign Sikh state.

The Panthic leaders who were answering questions at a news conference said they would not entertain any other item for discussion. Referring to the Chandigarh and river waters issues Mann and Tohra said they did not consider them as inter-State disputes because Chandigarh being a part of Punjab was a “recognized fact” and the stand taken by the Kamataka Chief Minister Bangarappa on the river waters “has opened our eyes.”

In a written statement distributed at the news conference they said the void in South Asia could and must be filled by an independent sovereign Sikh state to act as “buffer between the Hindu and the Muslim civilizations.” They appealed to the United Nations member countries of the Security Council western democracies and Japan to canalize their efforts in this direction. They requested the Commonwealth of Independent States of erstwhile Soviet Union to stop the transfer of rocket technology to India as the latter had steadfastly refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. They also condemned the ban on the LTTE and said the government must stop hunting for scapegoats.

The statement said the three centers of unbridled authority in Punjab the Beant Singh government the Punjab police and the occupying army must be abolished. “The Sikh nation aspires for safety from the security forces of India and independence from apartheid and slavery of the brown colonial masters” it said.  

On the demands of the Punjab farmers the two leaders said that all produce of the Punjab Agro-industrialists must fetch a price determined by the free inter-play of market forces and not in the drawing room of the agriculture minister “who represents the state of Punjab but not its people.” Giving a new slogan to the farmers they asked them to store as much wheat as they could to grow less food-grain and to grow cash crops. They expected a large number of Panches and sarpanches to resign to strengthen the boycott the political system.

Asked if the Hindus had responded to their call to them for supporting the demand sovereign Sikh state Tohra said only two vernacular editors of Jalandhar had opposed the call and others by remaining silent “have given their consent.” Questioned about the map of the Sikh state of their conception they said it would be a Punjabi speaking area. Asked if it would have areas of Pakistan including Lahore their answer was that these areas had been mortgaged by Mahatma Gandhi in 1947 and could not be claimed.

Answering another question Mann and Tohra said the Panthic bodies would attain their political goal with the support of “Lok Shakti” in a peaceful movement.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 29, 1992