Nelson Mandela recently proclaimed that only free people can negotiate. This statement seems tailor-made for Sikhs fighting for a homeland in India. The usual government ploy is to arrest a respected Sikh leader, wear him down physically and mentally and make him commit himself against the interest of the Panth. This serves, as has been proved innumerable times in recent memory not only to divide and rule but also to discredit brave and noble men among their followers.
Simiranjit Singh Mann or any other jailed Sikh leader cannot be in a position to negotiate on the behalf of the Sikh nation. Any talk which involves the future of the Sikhs will have to have adequate representation from all sections of the society especially from among those who are laying down their lives every day. Let no leader sell out the community. Only free Sikhs can negotiate. Let there be such freedom first.
In recent memory is the Longo wal Rajiv accord which was a paradigm of the kind of web of misinformation which Indian rulers can weave. The so called accord seemed to be reasonable but gave the Sikhs nothing. What was promised was also limited by numerous caveats. As expected, not one clause was fulfilled.
Sikhs are exhorted to negotiate with the government the same one which has not allowed any ministry in the state to run its full term. Will these negotiations produce the same result as Chandigarh which has been awarded to Punjab a number of times but was never given it? Or the river water, “settlements” in which the international conventions as well as the laws of the land were flouted to take the riparian rights of Punjab?
The 1946 resolution of the Congress said, “The Congress assures the Sikhs that no solution in future constitution will be acceptable to the Congress that does not give them (the Sikhs) full satisfaction.” Yet Sikh representatives refused to sign the constitution because it did not provide adequate safeguards and had adopted a unitary character instead of a federal one that had been promised. The Sikhs are treated as a subsection of Hindus and the Hindu family act is applicable to them in India.
The Gurdwara Sudhar Lehar for liberating the Gurdwaras from the clutches of corrupt priests who were subservient to the British lasted from 1920 to 1925 till the British capitulated. Gandhi sent a telegram, “First battle for India’s independence won. Congratulations.” 75% of the martyrs for India’s freedom were the 1557 Sikhs, who comprise 2% of India’s population. India got freedom, Sikhs did not.
The U.S. based Gadri Babas fought British colonial rule in 1914 while MK Gandhi was busy organizing medical relief to help the British,
Sikhism right from its inception has been fighting for the rights of all humanity. This brought it into confrontation with the established priestly class of Brahmins the ruling class of India today. It is the class of people which has Projected India as a free country while trampling the rights of its minorities. They have negotiated so many accords with the Sikhs but because the Sikhs were not free these were meaningless,
Any Sikh free or in jail, selling the Panth short of Khalistan will be unequivocally rejected. The Sikhs have one demand an independent nation Khalistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 15, 1989
