CHANDIGARH: The five member Panthic committee (Dr. Sohan Singh) and its four supporting underground militant organizations have announced that they will boycott future Punjab elections in the same manner as they did the recent poll.

“We will not only boycott the elections but also enforce the boycott”, said a statement received here on behalf of the Panthic Committee members, Dr. Sohan Singh, Bhai Satinderpal Singh, Bhai Harmandar Singh Sultan wind, Bhai Shahbaz Singh and Bhai Daljit Singh Khalsa, Bhai Paramjit Singh Panjwar (KCF), Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhingh wala(KLF), Bhai Daljit Singh Khalsa (SSF) and Bhai Rachpal Singh Chhandra(BTKF). The Punjab elections were examined from various angles at a secret meeting held in the Doaba area. A report on the assessment of the Punjab situation prepared by Sikh intellectuals sympathetic to the militant struggle was also read out. The role of certain political parties which had taken part in the elections by posing as sympathizers of the militants was also analyzed.

The meeting felt that any government formed under the Constitution would be nothing more than the “local agent of the Delhi darbar”. Those who said that they would contest the elections by taking a “false oath” of allegiance to the Constitution and then adopt are solution on “Khalistan” in the assembly were wrong. Certain persons were also laboring under the misconception that they would be able to fill the vacuum created by a boycott by the Sikhs through votes polled under the protection of the police and the army, Parties like the BJP.

Communists, Congress (I) and certain “misled” Sikhs could come together on this issue. They seemed to be eyeing the Hindu votes in the cities and suburbs. The statement asked Hindus to respond positively to the call for poll boycott.

The panthic committee wanted to pave the way for a mass movement for “complete independence and autonomy”. In this connection, it appealed to Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann, and bodies like the BKU, Paigham group, Punjab Human Rights Organizations, Desh Punjab Students Union, employees and labor organizations to respond to the boycott call.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 19, 1991