LONDON: Dismissing V.P. Singh’s Independence Day speech at the Red Fort, Delhi, as a “manifestation of carrot and stick tactics”, President Sewa Singh Lalli of Khalistan government in exile warned the Indian prime minister that the peoples of Khalistan and Kashmir can no longer be taken for a ride with these tactics.

The Indian prime minister had said in his speech that his government would win the “peace loving Punjabis and Kashmiris” with love and the militants of these lands with the force of arms—but they would not be allowed to secede.

“What he meant to convey to. these peoples was that India would retain her stranglehold on Kashmir and Khalistan at any cost— be it the carrot of sweet talks or the stick of armed forces, “Mr. Lalli commented, “but he overlooked the fact that these tactics work on the beasts of burden, not the human beings, once they decide to determine their own future.”

Continuing, he said that, by exercising restraint in spite of the betrayals, exploitations, excesses and atrocities of the Indian rulers over the past 43 years, the Sikhs and the Kashmiris had proved that they were peace loving peoples—but the rulers of India, mistaking their restraint and peacefulness for cowardice and weakness, were emboldened to treat them like cattle.

“And now, that the brave and self-respecting peoples of Punjab and Kashmir have despaired of these rulers’ capability of adopting a reasonable attitude—and decided to exercise their right of self-determination—the Indian fascists have come up with the carrot and stick tactics to create divisions in their ranks and perpetuate their stranglehold over them, “Mr. Lalli said.

“But they forget that these tactics work with donkeys, not humans, “he added.

He warned the Indian rulers that the peoples of Punjab and Kashmir will not rest till they have achieved their right of self-determination—that no carrot will detract, and no stick will divert, them from their just struggle.

“The parting is bound to come about,” he concluded. “It is in the interest of India to let this parting be with a kiss rather than a kick.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 24, 1990