By Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan

VIEWED historically the South Asian subcontinent has never been one country and its inhabitants have never been one nation.

The subcontinent, like Europe, is composed of several geographical units, each separated from the other by natural barriers like rivers, mountain ranges and deserts.

The inhabitants of these geographical units, like the Europeans, speak different languages and have diverse cultures, economies and traditions.

Even politically, the subcontinent, like Europe, has always been composed of several units based on geographical, lingual, cultural and economic features.

Of course annexations and conquests have brought about temporary unification of some parts of the subcontinent time and again, but this has always been only a transient phenomenon, lasting as Jong as the balance of power remained in favour of the conqueror. As soon as the conqueror became weak or the conquered became strong, these unifications vanished in thin air.

But this has been happening everywhere on earth. In the final analysis, conquests have never created nations, nor have annexations ever created countries—in South Asia, Europe or elsewhere. Sooner or later, conquests and annexations have been vacated and the original countries and nations have regained their separate identity.

For the first time in recorded history, it was during the reign of Ashoka that most of the subcontinent became one political unit, but this unification ended with the death of Ashoka. Similar unification was attempted by the Muslim rulers time and again during their thousand year rule in the subcontinent, but accomplished only by the sixth Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb. Soon after him, this unification, too, ended—and the subcontinent reverted to the traditional Maharajahs, Mehtars, Jams and so on.

That some of these local rulers did profess allegiance to the Moghul emperors does not in any way mean that their countries were merged or their peoples became one nation—any more than the British Empire ever became one country or the British subjects ever became one nation It was only during the British period that most of the subcontinent was merged into one political unit British India and its people began to be described as Indians instead of Punjabis, Fathans, Rohilas, Poorbis, Bengalis, Marathas , Deccanis and so on.

This arrangement lasted for some ninety years, the longest period in recorded history ~ but failed to achieve the fusion of the “British Indians” into one people. Even the British rulers tacitly conceded, in their Communal Award of the seats in the legislature, that “Indians” were a collection of peoples, not one people.

Had the British not been forced by the aftermath of World War II to withdraw from the subcontinent in a hurry, they would surely have devised a fairer political settlement than splitting the British India into India and Pakistan, and leaving the princely states free to accede to either or remain independent.

While this settlement secured a sovereign state for the Muslims of the subcontinent, other peoples were abandoned to the mercy of the new masters, the Brahmins.

It is necessary to distinguish between “Brahmin” and “Hindu”. While the latter term included all followers of the Hindu religion, the former is a distinct racial entity, whose socioeconomic interests clash with the other followers of the religion, It will be illuminating to recall that the undisputed leader of the Indian National Congress during the freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi, was excluded from power because he was a non-Brahmin and championed the interests of nonBrahmin Hindus as well as the religious minorities in India. For the latter “affront”, he was assassinated soon after independence.

It was the Brahmins who inherited power over India from the British. Without wasting time on niceties, decorum or principles, they immediately set about establishing their hegemony in the region.

Through state sponsored and orchestrated riots, they started terrorising the religious as well as racial minorities; forcing millions of Muslims to flee to Pakistan; humiliating and harassing Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and others; and reducing the low caste Hindus to virtual slavery.

Simultaneously with this terrorism within, they embarked upon adventures of conquest without. They invaded and conquered Goa, Deiu, Daman, and Trichinopoly, that had never been parts of British India, on the ground of proximity to India. They annexed Hyderabad in spite of its ruler’s decision to remain independent, saying that a free Hyderabad would be a thorn in India’s flesh. They invaded and. annexed Junagadh, Man wader and Mangrol when their rulers decided to accede to Pakistan, saying that the decision was contrary to the wishes of the Hindu majority in those states. They invaded and occupied Kashmir when its ruler decided to accede to India, even though the Muslim majority of this state was openly opposing. They tried to annex the Rann of Kachh on the plea of proximity to Rajasthan — and would have done so had Pakistan not stood up and resisted. They tried to annex East Pakistan under the pretext of liberating it from Pakistan — and would have succeed if the United Nations were not cognizant of the war over it. They have repeatedly attempted to reconquer the parts of Kashmir liberated by the people of Kashmir prior to Indian invasion, and have failed because of the resolve of the Kashmiri people to hold on to their right of self-determination. They conquered the northern states of Sikhism and Bhutan when they declined to accede to India. They are constantly engaged in intimidating and harassing the traditionally independent Nagas, Mizos, Gurkhas, Tamils, Sikhs and other peoples inhabiting the Indian borders with the neighbouring countries; engineering unrest in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Tibet and Pakistan.

Quite recently they have managed to gain military presence in Sri Lanka. With the Maldives too small to annoy the “big brother” and Bangladesh too much preoccupied, with the Indian inspired political strife at home, to pose any serious challenge to them, the Brahmin rulers have achieved domination over the Bay of Bengaline are constantly harassing the Pakistani ships to accomplish the same~ in the Arabian Ocean.

All these adventures are inspired by the political bible (Shastra) by the ancient Brahmin divine, Chanakya, which sanctifies receipt, treachery and aggression to achieve domination over the next door neighbours.

They have been accomplished with military hardware and technology acquired from the super Powers —Communist as well as capitalist —by misleading both with fallacies and temptations. To the West the Brahmin rulers of India say that a militarily strong India would block the expansion of Communism southwards. To the Soviet bloc they offer the Prospect of access to the hot waters of the Indian Ocean.

But the past record of their conduct clearly shows that promises and principles are not sacred to them, that they do not hesitate to renege when doing so suits them. The contradictions in their stance over Junagadh and Kashmir, and their changing attitude towards the Sri Lankan Tamils, should suffice to illustrate the point.

The Soviet leadership, duped by the Indian promises, is fast transforming the Brahmin ruled country into a formidable menace. With the Soviet help, India has acquired a fleet of nuclear submarines, set up factories to manufacturing military aircrafts, arms and ammunition — and is fast improving its nuclear capability, initially acquired from the West under the pretext of peaceful intentions.

And the indications are that the Soviet Union, frustrated in its designs in Afghanistan, has decided to let India do its dirty work as her proxy. India’s military presence in Sri Lanka, her formidable naval buildup, her “big brother” role in the Bay of Bengal, the repeat performance of political unrest in Bangladesh and the harassment of Pakistani shipping in the Arabian Sea, all point in one direction — domination over the sea routes linking East and West via the Indian Ocean.

As the unrest in East Pakistan, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, has been proved to be engineered under the Agartala Pact between India and the disgruntled elements in East Pakistan, the present unrest in that country has all the hall marks of a similar “Pact” —all indicating that an invasion of Bangladesh is immanent.

With this accomplished, India — and through her the Soviet Union— will be commanding the strategic routes of the Indian ocean , It is only the continuing struggle in Khalistan that keeps India from taking the final step of invading Bangladesh and installing a puppet Government. It does not take a lot of imagination to comprehend and forecast the consequences of such an eventuality.

Whether the Brahmins will then pursue the Chanakyan doctrine and bite the hand that is feeding them, or will continue to be the faithful proxies of the Soviet Union, is immaterial for our study. For us it is enough to realize that India will have become an uncontainable menace for the region — and the free world at large.

Now is the time to stop India from further mischief.

Tomorrow may be too late.

The only two countries of the region who can do so are Pakistan and Khalistan. Together, and with adequate support from the free world, they can stop India from expanding into Bangladesh and dominating the Indian Ocean. The people of these two countries have demonstrated that they can neither be cowed nor beaten by the Indian might on its own. Jointly, they can stop the unholy Indo Soviet alliance from its designs in the region.

All they need is moral and political support from the freedom loving people — and adequate supply of military hardware.

This, surely, is not a big price for ensuring the freedom of the region from the Indo Soviet stranglehold.

If the free world is to avert the dangers to world peace posed by this alliance, it needs to support, morally, politically and materially, the Sikhs of Khalistan in their struggle for freedom and the Muslims of Pakistan in their resolve to block the onslaught of communism.

The two claims on support of free world are interlinked. The liberation of Khalistan will not only deter Indian aggression against Pakistan and Bangladesh, but will also facilitate the liberation of Kashmir and help the freedom movements of the Tamils, the Nagas, the Mizos and other small nationalities of the subcontinent —— rendering the Indo Soviet axis ineffective in the region. The eventual liberation of all the people of South Asia from the Brahmin domination will strengthen, not weaken, the region. The Brahminic “unification” of these people through coercion can be compared to the Nazi unification of most of Europe earlier this century. That was a threat to world peace and a source of weakness for Europe. This is a threat to world peace and source of weakness to the region. The liberation of European people from Nazi strange leg hold paved the way for a positive cooperation in the form of EEC, European Court of Justice, NATO and so on. The liberation of Khalistan, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Kashmir, and other nation states will pave the way for a positive cooperation on similar lines.

Yes, United States of South Asia, comprising the sovereign states of Pakistan, Kashmir, Bangladesh, etc., will be stronger than the Brahmin dominated India — and will not pose the threat to world peace, inherent in an India tampered with the fascistic political doctrine of Chanakya.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 20, 1988