Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon, Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer and Dr, Harbakhash Singh Sandhar
Addressing the Fourth World Conference on Women under the sponsorship of the United Nations, the first lady of the United States, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, said that “freedom means the right of people to assemble, ‘organize and debate openly, it means respecting the views of those who may disagree with the views of their government, It means not taking citizens away from their loved ones and jailing them or denying then their freedom or dignity because of their ideas and opinions. The first lady further said that I tis no longer acceptable ‘to discuss women’s rights as separate ‘from human rights. Her critics acknowledged that Mrs. Clinton hit the ball out of the park (1).” Despite the ‘grotesque efforts of the Chinese government and others, the conference picked up momentum and credit gocs to Hillary Rodham Clinton (2). State Department officials accused China of stepped-up religious persecution and other widespread human rights abuses in the uneasy Himalayan region of Tibet (3).
‘What Mrs. Clinton and the State Department officials have said is applicable to the Sikhs human rights violations and religious persecutions by the Government of India headed by P.V. Rao, and his predecessors since August 15, 1947. This was the time when the British government partitioned the Sikh nation and gifted away one part to Jawaharlal Nehru, a friend, of the British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, despite knowing, that the Sikh leader Master Tara Singh had expressed his fears the Sikhs about being placed under the Hindu rule and had demanded Khalistan as recorded in the diary of Sir Jenkins (4), The demand for a sovereign Khalistan or the Sikh nation has been repeated several times by the Sikhs’ political, religious and student organizations. Kashmiris also lost their independence in the partition of 1947, Later India became a signatory of the Human Rights Charter of the United Nations. Despite accepting and respecting the UN charter of human rights, the so-called largest democracy (or Brahmins’ a mocracy) of the world became the worst violator of human rights in Southeast Asia, India has been doing what the former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, testifying before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Department has said that it is following the policies of the pro-independence period, pre15th August, 1947 or of British imperialism of the 1940s (). Although India’s Hindu leaders gave all assurances to the Sikhs that “After India achieves freedom, no constitution shall be formed by the ‘majority community (Hindus) unless it is freely acceptable to the Sikhs” (Motilal Nehru, Mohandas Karamch and Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, 1929). Another example of the assurance is that “The brave Sikhs of the Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area and a setup in the North wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom” Jawaharlal ‘Nehru’s statement of July 6, 1946, All India Congress’ Annual Session, Calcutta). Assurance was also given that “In the divided (Indian) Punjab, special constitutional measures are imperative to meet just aspirations and rights of the Sikhs (4). Within seven weeks following the independence of India, its leaders gave a surprise gift to the Sikhs. This was in the form of a circular which stated that “the Sikhs as a community are lawJess people and are menace to the law-abiding Hindus in the Province (Punjab). Deputy Commissioners should take special measures against them” (Chandu Lal Trivedi, Governor of Punjab, October 10, 1947). Sardar Kapur Singh, a member of the Indian Civil Service, became the first victim of the Hindu India’s policy, particularly of the Kashmiri pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, towards the Sikhs (6). The Sikhs were termed Hindus in the Constitutional Act of November 26,1949, which made India a Republic. This wasa deliberate act of finishing the Sikhs with the peace preaching or a mild poisonous policy of Brahmins of the predominantly Hindu India. However, the Indian constitution Act was rejected by the elected representatives of Sikhs and it bears ‘no signature of the Sikh representatives of their acceptance. The Sikh intelligentsia considered it as a death warrant for the Sikh nation. Sikh organizations, such as All India Sikh Students’ Federation, Sikhs’ political party Akali Dal, later became known as the Shromani Akali Dal, and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee rejected India s constitution Act. The Sikh representatives, because of the denial of Nationhood status, declared the Constitution unacceptable in the Indian Parliament (November 27, 1949). Sardar Kapur Singh, Member of Parliament and National Professor on Sikhism said “I have no option but to oppose the Punjab Reorganization Bill. Like Curate’s egg, I thought it might be edible, but only as a matter of courtesy, as it is devoid of zonal qualities and since its purification is far gone, it is really unfit for human ‘Consumption (September 6. 1966).
The Sikhs were not even allowed a religious congregation in the memory of their martyrs. Their leader, Master Tara Singh, was arrested on Feb. 19, 1949, at Narela railway station to prevent him from participating in the congregation in Delhi. Another Sikh leader, Sardar Darshan Singh Pheruman, gave his life in a fast until death in order to send a message to the Indian administration that the Sikhs are fed up with the administrations’ policies and that the Hindu rulers should fulfill their promises given to his community. Sardar Pheruman was of the opinion that his community had no future within the Indian Union and under the Indian constitution. Before his fast, Sardar Pheruman said that the Sikhs’ future is not secure without their own sovereignty, Khalistan ( ‘As such, the Indian administrations’ history is full of discrimination, prosecutions and persecutions of Sikhs (7,8) The persecutions, state terrorism, and human rights violations against the Sikhs not only intensified but also reached its climax after the suspension of civil liberties by Indira Gandhi in 1975 and following her “Operation Bluestar” of June 1984. Under this operation, Indira Gandhi’s administration employed the cream of Russian and British trained intelligence advisors, military divisions consisting of armored, heavy artillery and infantry units, air force, gunboat helicopters and navy units. To carry out this sinister operation, all means of communication in Punjab were suspended to finish the Sikhs, in an undeclared war, In addition, other military operations which followed against the Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan, are Wood rose, Mund, Black Thunder 1 and 2, Final Assault, and the manmade floods in Punjab, to name a few. According to Dr. Singh’s recent compilation, the number of Sikhs killed by the Indian administrations range from 1 to 1.2 million between the period of 19811991. The total figure of the Sikhs butchered by India since its independence is estimated to be more than 1.5 million (7).
In this undeclared war on the Sikh nation with orders from the then Home Minister or Minister of Interior, P.V. Rao, India killed Saint soldier Jamail Singh Bhindranwala, Bhai Subheg Singh, Bhai Amrik Singh and 50,000 innocent Sikhs, India’s Prime Minister and then Home Minister, P.V. Rao, has to answer the following queried he find Saint soldier (Sant) Jarnail Singh Khalsa (Bhindranwala).
Bhai Subheg Singh, Bhai Amrik Singh and his followers coming out of the Darbar Sahib Complex, subsequently crossing the boundaries of Sri ‘Amritsar, Punjab, entering Haryana and Delhi, and launching an attack on the Indian parliament or nation? Who mobilized the Indian army, navy, air force units, paramilitary, and special forces? Rajiv Gandhi, ordered a massacre of Sikhs in November, 1984 to revenge the assassination of his mother. Sikh properties worth a billion dollars were destroyed, women gang raped, houses looted, and law enforcement agencies were looking on as silent spectators, Diplomats arrived in India to pay their last respects to Indira Gandhi, but not one of them uttered a single word against their host on the Sikh carnage, Since Rajiv became Prime Minister of India and to date, the policy of Indian administrations to
remains to be indiscriminate killings, staged encounters, witch hunts of Sikh youths 12 to 40 years old, humiliation, rapes of women by gangs inspired and encouraged by the Hindu politicians and Rajiv’s chronic, burning them alive, looting, torture, harassment, desecration of the Sikh holy shrines and Guru Granth Sahib, and denial of justice, under the draconian laws passed by the parliament. More than 70,000 Sikhs have been jailed without legitimate or specific charges. India’s policy is to wipeout the Sikhs’ language (Punjabi and the script Gurmukhi), religion and culture, when one eliminates all these three, one succeeds in eliminating a community (10). Why is India doing it? The answer is that the Sikhs’ are a separate religion, culture and nation or quam, and they have been a nation even before the British created an India for their own administrative purpose. This was one of the reasons that India had to attack the Darbar Sahib Complex, the Sikh nation and its Reference Library and Archives in June, 1984. India had to destroy the ‘Akal Takht, the seat of the Sikh polity and the throne of the Almighty. Other reasons are that the Sikhs are not idol worshippers and beggars, they believe in one God and do not worship monkeys, snakes, rats, elephants, cows, and pigs like the Hindus (11), they discard the Hindu sacred threat (Juneau), believe in the welfare of the human race, take their guidance from their Gurus’ teachings, compiled in Guru Granth Sahib. Women are equal partners, the use of the al cool and the Cutting of hair is prohibited, and they recite Raj Karega Khalsa, Aaki Rahe na Koi (Sovereign shall rule and no one should be hungry). All these facorsare the greatest threat to the Brahmins ‘supremacy in particular, and to the followers of the Chankaya and Manu doctrines,
Shortly after Operation Bluestar of June, 1984, the government in Indian Defense Gazette No. 153, Bat Cheet, issued instructions to its military personnel that ‘amritdhari,’ or initiated, ‘re dangerous people, pledged to commit murder, arson and acts of terrorism, The Indian administration issued orders to their armed personnel that any person with a black or saffron (kesri) colored turban, wearing a Kirpan should be shot on sight. According to Narang, “what is this maligning that goes on television night after night? What is happening under the name of security in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh? Sikhs are being asked tore move their turbans to see if there are grenades inside. 1 mean they take things (to a) ridiculous length. One friend of mine recently travelled from Dehradun to Delhi, He was searched 21 times during the journey. Will such things make one feel part of the country (12). Acts like this are the gross abuse of the Sikhs’ civil liberties and their humiliation.
The Indian government. employed Brahmins (which form only 5% of 910million of population rewarding them with 67% of the administrative posts;13) and criminals S.S. Ray, former Chief Minister of West Bengal commonly known as the Butcher of Bengal and Punjab; presently Ambassador of India in the United States, as Punjab’s governor. Under Ray’s directions villages were burnt to suppress the Naxalites movement in West Bengal, To accomplish his task, Ray and the services of J.P, Ribero as Chief of police, The Ray and Rebeiro duo Were dispatched to Punjab to suppress the Sikhs’ movement for sovereignty, where the latier openly advocated thepolicy of ‘Bullet forBullet.” The person who filled in for Rebeiro as the Director-general of Punjab, was K.P.S. Gill who had been imple cated in murders in Assam, aided recently killed Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh also known for murders in Punjab (14). Surinder Nath Malhhotra succeeded $.D. Sharma (presently President of India) as Governor of Punjab, The trio, Beant Singh, Surinder Nath and K.P.S, Gill, had the custodian of Akal Takht Sahib, Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke, killed, With the blessing of P.V. Rao, the above mentioned criminal politicians ‘and police officer maintained an un accountable fund worth Rupees 4500 crores (or US $1.5 billion) to breed terrorism in Punjab and bear the entertainment expenses, promotions and rewards to police officers and informers, between 198494 (15).
In order to add fuel to human rights abuses, persecution of the Sikhs. brand them are terrorists in the eyes of their fellow countrymen in foreign counries, and setup the hatred campaign against the Sikhs, the Indian government and its Research and Analysis Wing, an intelligence agency, downed Air India Flight 182, which took off from Canada, on June 23, 1985 off the coast of Ireland (16.17).
India’s administrations commonly use torture to ract admissions of guilt from the Sikhs. This has been tested unsuccessfully on Sardar Simranjit Singh Mann, an eye witness to the destruction of Darbar Sahib Complex, and thousands more. Sardar Mann has been implicated in Indira Gandhi’s assassination. He was charged under the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) on Jan. 5, 1995, when he asked a congregation of 50,000 to raise their hands in support of an independent and sovereign Khalistan, All in the congregation raised their hands and responded with the slogan in accordance with the Sikh tradition. Had Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan based in Washington, DC, not intensified his efforts and exerted the strongest lobby on the United States Congress, and had the Congressmen not written to P.V. Rao concerning the violations of Mann’s civil liberties, there was no doubt that. Sardar Mann would have been killed while in jail (18). Although he has been released on bail, cases registered against him under the TADA are still pending, India has denied passports to Sardar Simranjit Singh Mann and others who are struggling and demanding a sovereign and independent Khalistan by peaceful means. It has denied bail and even medical treatment to the ailing veteran Sikh leader Dr. Sohan Singh, along with Bhai Kanwar Singh Dhami and his wife, Bibi Kulbir Kaur (19). The practices of torture used are hot iron, hot iron rod piercing, heavy wooden rollers, eye gouging, slashing of flesh and filing the wound with salt, stretching. of legs in opposite directions, hanging upside down. electric shocks.
pushing hot chilies in the rectum, taking torture victims away from hospitals and bring them back after ensuring death, breaking limbs, slashing tongues, crippling for the rest of life it left alive, pulling hair and beard, and making initiated women to drink human excrement or police officer Govind Ram’s amrit (8.20). The Sikhs’ experience with Hindu India’ administrations has been nothing but cheating by the latter. The Sikhs are now ‘slaves of the Fascist Hindu people’ (4).
To meet the international pressure relating to human rights abuses, India ‘created disown Commission appointing a retired Justice Mishra, a Brahmin, as chairman, Justice Mishra is 00 record as saying that he has no jurisdiction to interrogate military and police personnel (An interview seen on BBC, March 12. 1994 in Hong Kong). However, Justice Mishra did not tell the interviewer that these were the people who were committing the worst human rights violations we history in India. How would Justice Mishfa, as a Chairman of the Human Rights forum to be held in Edmonton. Alberta, Canada in November, 1995 defend the record of his masters siting in New Delhi related to the abuses of civil liberties? In the author’s option, it is an insult to world democracies like Canada. Germany the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France, along with other peace-loving countries, todiscuss Human Rights issues of the world under his (Indian representative) chairmanship. How will Justice Mishra answer to Hon Dan Burton, Member of Congress, that once again the Indian Government has shown its blatant disrespect for basic human rights, by abducting Mr. Jaswant Singh Khalra, the general secretary of the Human Rights Wing of Shromani Akali Dal on Sept. 6, 1995, by police from his home in Amritsar, after his visits to North America and the United Kingdom (21)? Mr. Khalra had been instrumental in exposing the fact that 25,000 Sikhs have been cremated in Punjab, Khalistan, and then listed as unidentified while their families continues 10 await word about them, according to the Hon Dan Burton. The ‘superintendent of police in the Tam Taran district of Punjab, Khalistan, has been quoted as saying “We have made 25,000 disappear. It is easy to make one more disappear.”
It is strongly urged to the community of nations, the United Nations, with special reference to the democracies of the world, that the Sikhs” case of religious persecution, cultural genocide by India, attacks on the Sikh nation be considered as political. To find an amicable, honorable, peaceful, and just solution, the world body and the champions of democracies should censure India for Human Rights violations of the Sikhs and other minorities and force India to withdraw its armed, civil and intelligence personnel from Punjab, ‘Khalistan, India must. vacate Punjab immediately, the Punjab of August 15, 1947, and return all Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab, Khalistan. The world body should accord recognition to Khalistan and other nations who have been struggling to free themselves from the yoke of India’s slavery. There is no doubt that by doing so the peace will return to Southeast Asia. The freedom of which Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at the Fourth World Conference on Women in China should not be denied to the
Sikhs of Punjab, or any people on the face of the earth. Amen. (References supplied upon request).
Article extracted from this publication >> October 6, 1995
