2201 C. Street N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Mr. Secretary,

We of the Sikh and Muslim communities of the United States want to strongly register our protest and disappointment at the recently named ambassador/envoy from the country of India to the U.S. It is a slap in the face to the US when one such as Siddhartha Shankar Ray is sent as an envoy.

Former Punjab Governor Sidhartha Shankar Ray represents the ruling party of India that has oppressed its minority populations for many years. Ray was appointed governor of Punjab by Rajiv Gandhi in 1986, during his governorship hundreds of Sikh youths were killed in contrived encounters with the police, and his administration organized a series of vigilante groups of criminals that launched a campaign of raping Sikh women and plundering Sikh households. Through the government controlled media, the Sikh nationalist movement was blamed for these atrocities.

For a country such as the U.S. whose laws and government represents freedom and respect for human rights to accept a person like Ray as an ambassador is an affront to all who have left their homelands in order to escape the tyranny that he both represents now and participated in, while he was in power.

It behooves the Secretary to note that World Renowned Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Asia Watch and the International Human Rights Organization (IHRO) have consistently and repeatedly reported on the horrors perpetrated by Government sponsored “Security Forces” in the Indian States of Punjab and Kashmir, Mr. Ray was one of the driving forces that closed the country to such agencies a policy that India adopted nearly a decade ago and a policy that is still in effect today.

In view of the above mentioned facts and in order to provide the justice for all freedom loving people it is imperative that Mr. Ray be denied diplomatic credentials. This action will show the world that the United States practices the ideals that all have come to believe represent its teachings.

Sincerely,

Editor’s Note: We appeal to our readers to use our sample letter as given for their own organizations. Please register your protest by sending a copy to your representatives and to the Secretary of State.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 9, 1992