DES MOINES,IOWA: Guru Nanak Dev’s birthday celebration became multicultural and inter religious when a large number of Americans and other non-Sikhs joined in. The Americans were from different groups which included church organizations, Amnesty International and notably several neighbors.

The function was sponsored by the Iowa Sikh Association and held at Mehar Singh’s house in Urbandale. About 100 people at tended. The four hour event included Kirtan, presentations and Langer. Americans enjoyed the Punjabi food, tea and “Krah Prasad.”

The Des Moines Register, a leading newspaper published an informative announcement inviting people to join the celebration.

Dr. Harpal Singh Bal, President of the Iowa Sikh Association out lined the philosophy and teachings of Guru Nanak. The Governor of Iowa, Terry E. Branstad, signed a proclamation and declared Guru Nanak’s birthday on November 13, 1989, “Sikh Heritage Day.” The proclamation was read at the function and was well received by the gathering.

Mike Messina, President of Amnesty International Midwest Chapter, spoke on the “gross violations” of very basic human rights of the people, especially the Sikhs in India. He regretted that Amnesty International is not allowed to visit India to investigate its charges. Indian Government of Rajiv Gandhi is afraid of being exposed and showing its “true picture” of the so called world’s largest Democracy where its own citizens are continuously killed by its own government for political ends. Mr. Messina told the social gathering that he liked Guru Nanak’s philosophy and teachings. He said that they had protested peacefully against the army entering the Golden Temple in Amrit ¢ armed Sikhs, Most were 1 few months, but several Sikh leaders were still in detention at the end of the year. Kuldip Singh Arora, the ‘Amritsar correspondent of the United News of India press agency, was detained in April accused of meeting Sikh militants inside the Golden Temple, He was released uncharged in June, but other journalists were subsequently detained under the NSA, including Mohinder Singh of the daily Akali Patrika, who was arrested in July and remained in detention at the end. of the year.

In November the Director General of Police in Punjab said that 3,082 “suspected terrorists” had been arrested in the state during 1988, Of this total 2,257 were still being held without trial on 24 October, he said, and only one had been tried and convicted. In March and September, the authorities released without explanation 40 and 138 respectively of the 365 Sikh detains who had been held without trial for over four years on charges of “waging war”, . Many were believed to be prisoners of conscience arrested in June 1984 when security forces stormed the Golden Temple, although they had taken no part in the actions of armed Sikh militants who had earlier retreated to the Temple.

Dozens of death sentences were imposed and there were at least four executions. At the end of the year those under sentence of death included Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, two Sikhs convicted in connection with the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. There were widespread doubts about the guilt of Kehar Singh, who was convicted on a charge of conspiracy to murder.

Mehar Singh thanked the audience for joining Guru Nanak’s birthday celebration and pleaded for their help for the Sikh struggle for freedom. “Indian government is violating the teachings of Guru Nanak by violating the human rights of the people. The Sikhs stand for the human rights of all human beings,” Mehar Singh said in his concluding speech. Amnesty International has been very concerned about the disturbing situation in Punjab. He read the following text from Amnesty International’s 1989 report relating to the Sikhs:

“Several thousand critics and opponents of the government, including many prisoners ‘of conscience, were held without charge or trial in preventive detention or under laws directed against “terrorist” activity. There were widespread reports of torture and allegations that some prisoners had died in custody as a result of torture, Dozens of people were sentenced to death and at least four executions were carried out, in one case despite widespread doubts about the guilt of the convicted man. There were reports of extrajudicial killings by police, especially in areas where opposition groups resorted to violent action.

Political violence increased in Punjab which, since May 1987, has been under direct rule from the capital, New Delhi, the period of direct rule having been extended under the specially enacted 59th Amendment to the Constitution. More than 2,000 people were reportedly killed in 1988 by armed Sikh groups active in Punjab and neighboring Haryana, among them leading politicians, officials and unarmed Hindu and Sikh civilians.

In Punjab, the NSA permitted up 10 two years’ detention without charge or trial and in the rest of India up to one year. Detention orders were reviewed by an Advisory ‘Board whose decisions were binding on the detaining authority such reviews starting after six months in the case of Punjab and afire three months in the rest of India.

Those detained in Punjab under the NSA for “activities prejudicial to the security of the country”, included several hundred supporters of the Unified Akali Dal (UAD) who were arrested in May after.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 8, 1989