LUDHIANA: Punjab Sikh Lawyers Council (PSLC) has called upon the people of Punjab to unanimously elect honest Sikh activists as their sarpanches and panches who have been opposing the slate repression. Those who had submitted their resignations from their pas is 10 express resentment at the highhandedness of the security forces in Punjab, should get preference.
The PSLC activists Mohinder Singh Grewal, H.S.Dhillon, Bhupinder Singh Somal and Surinderpal Singh Suri in a statement here said: Panchayats are a traditional, democratic forum of self-governance and collective leadership as envisaged in Sikh history. Guru Gobind Singh himself drew upon this institution in the form of Panj Piaras.”
As such, they said, it has nothing to do with the Indian Constitution, and it is legitimate to use this forum to build a massmoyement against State oppression and to lend support to the stmuggle in Punjab which is aimed at securing human freedom, dignity and basic rights to the people which, of course, includes the right to self-determination.
The lawyers activists described the importance of panchayats as an institution which had, in the recent past, lent credibility to the cause of the struggling Sikhs on whose call most of the sarpanches and panches had resigned the struggling seats in the state and also mobilized the village masses against police atrocities.
The unanimous election or victory of protagonists of the Sikh struggle and human rights movement will create its own momentum to pave the way for securing the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right, the people can freely determine their political Status as has been the case in the erstwhile Soviet Union.
The Sikh lawyer’s body also called upon the Panthic Committees and its associate organizations and the Babbar Khalsa International to ask their sympathizers to help unanimous panchayat election to frustrate the government’s designs of dividing the Punjab rural society which is the backbone of the Sikh struggle.
The International Homan Rights Organization (IHRO) supports panchayats to function as grassroots democratic institutions and welcomes the forthcoming elections to the panchayats in Punjab,” : said D.S.Gill in a statement here.
“Panchayats in Punjab are a democratic institution. They have been in existence since time immemorial. The Indian Constitution and the Panchayats Act only recognized the historical fact and codified this institution. Even Gur Gobind Singh drew upon this historical Institution and advanced the concept through “‘Panj Piaras.~ Panchayats consisted of impanel elders with a judicial bent of mind who could be expedited to perform their duties without fear or favor. The IHRO urged the public to strengthen the traditional concept of impartiality by avoiding party politics during the ensuing elections. Additional qualifications of sarpanches and panches should be their commitment to rule of law and opposition to police atrocities. No police tout should get any support from any quarter.
The IHRO stressed that as far as possible, the panchayals should be unanimously chosen. “Where contest becomes inevitable, support should be extended to honest persons belonging to various segments of society and u should be ensured that that opp. S human nights are defeated the Statement said.
their support to panches and sarpanches who have commitment to human freedom, dignity and basic nights of the people and not confuse panchayats as an institution with Indian Constitution or the Indian State.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 8, 1993
