The Sikh nation has been roused to national consciousness and now claims territory in which it may be able to live in peace, free from political pressure and interference and to develop in accordance with its own ideals and urges. The Sikhs are numerically a small nation, about six millions, and of these about four and a half millions reside in the Punjab. The four million odd Sikhs have experienced that to live with honour and self-respect has been rendered impossible for them by their neighbors. The Muslims who wish to dominate the Punjab, have attacked the religion, culture and the civic and political rights of the Sikhs through the Muslim dominated Government of the Unionist Party which ruled over the Punjab for 9 years from 1937 to 1946. The ‘Sikhs feel that under Muslim domination they would find life intolerable as they found it earlier under the Moghuls, and so they have expressed their will not to go into the projected Pakistan of the Muslim League conception, nor to remain inside the frontier of the present Muslim dominated Punjab.
The Hindus, on the other hand, have tried to absorb the Sikhs. They have let loose a terrific volume of propaganda to coerce the Sikhs into facing the separate and historically evolved features of their nationhood, and have tried to make them lose their Sikh consciousness. A small people such as the Sikhs are, find that in the face of this double attack, one from the Muslim side and the other from the Hindu side, their very survival is threatened in these times when the technique of propaganda is so well developed, and the pressure of majorities tells so heavily upon the existence of the minorities. So, in sheer alarm of being suppressed and disintegrated, the Sikhs have for the first time made a demand for being given a territory in which they can live safe from attack, and where they can maintain their national existence and self-respect. The Sikh case for self-preservation has so far gone by default in not being clearly and properly presented. It is a very serious issue. A small people hardy, self-reliant, superb in character, splendid in ideals is in a danger virtually of being effaced. An appeal is made to the nations to take up the cause of the Sikhs and to arbitrate and arrange things so as to guarantee the Sikh a tolerable existence in the corner of the globe which he has occupied for centuries, and which is his by right of domicile, association and development. The problem of doing justice to the Sikhs is a very urgent problem. The Sikhs are a highly energetic and virtile people whose contribution in war and peace is many times their numerical strength. If you look for a people resourceful, fearless, self-sacrificing and highly self-respecting, here you have one. The Sikhs have fought and withstood the mighty power of the Mughals; they have stuck to the faith of their ancestors in face of the bloodiest religious persecution the world has known; they have fought a handful of them, against heavy odds in the 18th and 19th centuries, and not only protected the lives and honour of the people of India from Afghan violation but also established a powerful rule dispensing good Government in accordance with the standards prevailing at that time. In British times the Sikhs have won the highest praises and none higher than they for their prowess in the field. They have truly lived in the spirit of the prophecy of their Guru, who said that he had made them into hawks, who would fight and aspire high. They are a people, who produce, in spite of their small numbers, the major part of the rich harvests of the Punjab. The Sikhs are by far the best agriculturists in India and the most enterprising colonists. They have established more schools and colleges than the Muslims who are numerically so many times the Sikhs. They have overthrown, the first in India, a corrupt priesthood, a degenerate aristocracy and the obsolete medical apparatus of social life, such as purdah and other baneful customs. They are a people among whom the vices of civilization are at the minimum, a people among whom: there are no beggars, no prostitutes, and no parasites and among whom the state of general physique is much higher than among any other people of India. They are extremely liberal and tolerant in their outlook and have never persecuted for religion in the days of their rule, It is to preserve this fine people from effacement that appeal is made to recognize their status as a nation and to admit their claim to a land which is already in their possession as its principal inhabitants. Not to admit their demand’ would be the height of injustice; it would be to imperil their very existence as a people. Such an act would have the effect of forcing a bitter, desperate fight for existence on the Sikhs against those under whose rule they might be sought to be placed.
The Sikhs are getting everyday more apprehensive that the question of their future might be thrown overboard and Great Britain and the majority parties in India might proceed to arrive at a settlement without recognizing the Sikh claim for a home. They have seen too many instances of proud and sensitive nations being dismembered and gradually grown extinct for lack of political strength; and in order to avoid the fate of such, have made a strong determination to press for a state for them.
It might be answered by those who oppose the Sikh claim to a state, that the day of small states is over, and small territories must agree to become parts of larger wholes and ultimately of a World Federation. Such an argument is a subtle way of side of side tracking the Sikh claim by presenting it in a wrong light. The Sikhs have no aggressive intentions towards anyone. They would be only too willing to enter any world or smaller federation, which might be established for the achievement of the development and progress of mankind. But they must have sovereignty exactly of the kind as the other nations in such a federation would have limited by the consent of all. If the Soviet Union can be powerful in spite of giving self determination to all its component nationalities, there is no reason why the projected establishment of a future union of India, Asia or the world should be made the ground for denying to the Sikhs what after all has been given to a large number of nationalities though unhappily a number still remain which are suppressed under the name of communities, colonies, trusteeships etc.,
Some people in our country talk of safeguards, guarantees and weightage to protect the cultural and other rights of the minorities. The Sikhs have no illusions about the value and fate of such ‘safeguards’ given by a powerfully organised majority. They can be violated at will, and the minorities are helpless at the mercy of the majority, which with its resources, can always disrupt and disunite the minority, and render it incapable of concerted action. Therefore, the Sikhs have decided once for all not to rely on any ‘safeguards’ guaranteed by whatever power.
Modern political theory has recognized in practice the principle of providing national States to the various nationalities, After the first world war the great Austrian, Turkish and Russian empires were broken up, and a large number of national states created in order to give an opportunity to the various nationalities composing Europe to live in accordance with their best interests and traditions. Some of the new national states thus created were: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria. On an estimate it is found that whereas in the prewar Europe of 1914 there were altogether 23 states, the Treaty of Versailles divided Europe into 65 States. The Jews were promised a national home in their sacred land, Palestine. The underlying idea of all these changes and declarations was to give to every nation a fair opportunity to determine its own destiny and to live in accordance with its best interests. The Sikhs demand nothing more than self-determination; nothing more than that the conscience of the world be with them in implementing their declared will.
There are other instances of the boundaries of the states and provinces having been changed in the interest of giving self-determination and living space to various nationalities. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic is a confederation of National States, each with its own language, culture and traditions, developing free from outside interference, along the line of the genius of its people. The Sikhs have a culture as said earlier, a way of life and attachment for their hearths and home in the Punjab, a feeling of deep reverence for their sacred shrines which are scattered all over this land. All these various features of their national life need to be protected and preserved, and the only way to do so ‘is to allow to the Sikhs a homeland and a state in the areas where they are already settled.
What areas do the Sikhs claim as their homeland and state? The answer to such a question is ‘very simple and need not cause any detailed controversy. The Sikhs do not claim for themselves any are, like the Jews claiming Palestine, where they are as a matter of fact not settled, and into which they are to be introduced as immigrants and intruders. The Sikhs, on the other hand, make a very fair and equitable claim. In the interest of self-preservation and in order to escape the fate of a helpless people gradually effaced from the face of the earth through the pressure persecuting majorities, they demand the right to establish themselves as the governing group, along with other groups in a democratic system, in such areas as they are already occupying and which have a vital relation with Sikh History and upon which the Sikh character is stamped. The question will naturally be asked, is there a Sikh Zone or a Sikh land, and if so, where? The answer is, “Yes, there is one, and it is a broad and compact area of which the Central Punjab is the nucleus.”
The Central Punjab, with the Divisions of Lahore and Jullundur, with parts of the Ambala and Multan Divisions, with the area comprised by the Sikh States and Malerkotla and with certain of the Hill Areas in the North and Northeast is what may be called the “Sikh Zone”. The great teachers and martyrs, the great heroes and nation builders of this area have been the Sikh Gurus and the Sikhs. This area has been developed by the Sikhs through agricultural enterprise; the landowners and property owners of this area are Sikh; the literature and language of this area is Sikh; about more than 80% of the total Sikh population of the Punjab is centered in this area.
The traditions, culture and the most characteristic features of this area are unmistakably Sikh, as anyone can see. The history of this area for the past three centuries, is the history of the Sikhs. There is a chain of sacred Sikh Gurdwaras studded throughout this area, and standing at its frontiers, almost girding it around, and proclaiming it to be the Sikh cradle and homeland. Towards one end of it, in the north is Gurdwara Babe di Bir in Sialkot, towards the west is Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion; towards the southwest is Mukatsar, where Guru Gobind Singh fought his great battle against the Moghul; towards the east is Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh’s own Capital, and in the extreme south is SisGanj in Delhi, the place of martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadar, the father of Guru Gobind Singh. In the heart of this area are the Harimandar or Golden Temple of Amnitsar, the Mecca of the Sikhs, and the Akal Takht the Seat of Sikh authority. A little apart are Tarn Taran and Bhai Pheru and hundreds of other sacred Sikh shrines. Right in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab are Dehra Guru Arjan, the place where the fifth Guru became a martyr, and the Gurdwaras of Baoli Sahib and the Janam Asthan, the Gurdwara of the sixth Guru, the Shahid Ganj and so many other Gurdwaras.
It is in this land, which by virtue of proprietorship, development, historic associations and religious sanctity already belongs to the Sikhs, where the Sikhs wish to find a safe home, free from interference. The Sikhs own more than a quarter of the one hundred thousand square miles of the land of the Punjab. Inside this area which is their homeland, most of this land lies. The Sikhs are claiming, in asking for this area, no more than what belongs to them even by the right of private property.
Never was there a more fair, just and tenable claim. Will this fair claim be admitted? This is for the conscience of the civilized world to determine and support.
One thing before closing down. The Sikhs are, as said earlier, a liberal minded, tolerant people, for the gospel of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh teaches them that. The minorities which will be left within the proposed Sikh State, have nothing to fear. The Sikhs will protect the essential valuable elements of their cultures and while giving them freedom and a prosperous economy, will lead them to experience rich, happy and contented life.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 9, 1990
