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The World Sikh Organization was created on July 28, 1984 as sequence to the invasion of the Golden Temple complex, Amritsar, by the Indian Army, and the continued genocide of the Sikhs. The organization was established to coordinate and pool the resources of the Sikhs and their organizations, worldwide, so that Sikhs could present themselves as an international community to face the enormous challenge posed by the Government of India.

The New York convention resolved unanimously that the persistent and deliberate attempts of the majority community in India to exterminate the Sikh Nation, have compelled the Sikhs to strive for the establishment of an independent sovereign State of Khalistan.

With this clear cut mandate, the organizers of the New York World Sikh Convention of July 28, 1984 had entrusted the task of drafting the constitution to S. Bakhshish Samagh from Canada and Dr. Sukhmander Singh from the United States of America. In view of the importance of this project, a Steering Committee was formed with an enlarged membership to draft the constitution. The enlarged membership included Dr. Gurcharan Singh and S. Baldev Singh, New York and Dr. Sulakhan Singh Dhillon and S. Gurcharan Singh Dhillon, California and S.R.S. Dhaliwal as Attorney.

The draft of the constitution was initially discussed in the Steering Committee for framing the constitution on November 2 and 3, 1984 in New York, where some alterations were incorporated. The meeting of the Constituent Assembly was to take place on December 9, 1984 at Ottawa, Canada, but due to the failure to receive the draft constitution, the United States delegates, in a meeting held in Chicago on November 23, 1984 unanimously recommended that the meeting of the W.S.O. Constituent Assembly should be held around the second week of January 1985 to enable all concerned to examine and send comments on the draft constitution, through their delegates. Therefore, the meeting of December 9, 1984 was postponed until January 12 and 13, 1985. At the request of the Zonal Committee in Los Angeles and due to the fact that nine participants were from California, it was decided to hold this meeting in Los Angeles.

The meeting began as scheduled on January 12, 1985 in the Hall of the Local Hospital in L.A. Soon after Ardas, some young people from the Bay Area in San Francisco insisted upon attending the meeting of the Constituent Assembly and in spite of repeated requests from the House, refused to withdraw from the Hall. To avoid disturbing the patients in the hospital and in order to carry out the important work of framing the constitution in a calmer atmosphere, the House resolved to shift the venue of the meeting to a quieter location.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that once the discussion started; each and every word of the constitution was analyzed, debated and then unanimously passed. It was indeed gratifying that almost every member of the Constituent Assembly had come fully prepared with his notes and amendments. As might be expected in any such assembly, there were some members of the committee who disagreed with certain articles of the constitution via the aim of striving for Khalistan and the need for having grass root support for the W.S.0. However, their arguments were discussed and then discarded by the House.

After the constitution ‘was passed, other items on the agenda were discussed. An ad hoc Governing Council, consisting of eight members, was elected by the delegates of respective countries. The following people were elected for the Governing Council by the American, Canadian and British delegates in separate meetings:

U.S.A. — (1) Prof. Ka ramjit Singh Rai, Chicago; (2) S.J.S. Sethi, Houston.

Canada — (1) S. Raghbir Singh Samagh, To

ronto; (2) S. Virinder Singh Lamba, Edmonton. U.K. — (1) S. Kesar

Singh Mand, London; (2) S. Satwant Singh Suman, UK.

The President and Secretary General were to continue as ex officio members.

The financial accounts of the W.S.0. In the U.S.A. were circulated to the delegates. With regard to the Canadian accounts, it was explained that the current account has been converted into Money Market accounts to earn higher interest, but practically no expenditures have been incurred from the account so far.

Another important decision taken by the General Assembly was to hold new elections of the delegates. For this purpose, W.S.O. membership for the Societies and individuals shall be open up to April 30, 1985. A new category of membership has been added to the existing ones. Any Sikh can become an associate member of the W.S.O. by paying a fee of $10 per year. Any person or society registering after April 30, 1985 shall be eligible to vote only for the next term. The new elections for the delegates will be held in the month of May 1985. Exact dates for the elections will be announced at a later date. Only those persons who are members of the W.S.O. shall be eligible to contest elections to its various offices.

The Governing Council of the W.S.0. Wishes to express its gratitude to the members of the Zonal Committee of Los Angeles for their hospitality, particularly to Bhai Manmohan Singh, Dr. Amrit Singh, S.L.S. Cheema and S.D.S. Bhasin.

 

Office of the

Secretary General

 

 

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Article extracted from this publication >> March 1, 1985