Gen OP Malhotra

Governor of Punjab

Dear Governor:

While paying tributes on March 231991 to Bhagat Singh Raj Guru and Sukhdey for their sacrifices in the cause of India’s freedom you “called upon the people to take pledge to preserve the ideals of the martyrs…” further you “defended the killings of militants at the hands of the security forces.” And said that “there was no option before the government.” (Tribune March 241991).

It does not behove a head of the State to make in public these statements which are legally wrong and unconstitutional. India is said to be a representative democracy. One of the cardinal principals of this form of government is the right to equality. Article 21 of the Constitution provides “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”

What is the fault of the Sikhs? Are they not citizens of India? Are they not subject to the laws of the State the same way as others are in the country? It appears that Sikhs have no rights and State has the absolute right to kill anyone at any time as evidenced in Nathuke-Burj on February 261991. It is one of the few events reported by the media. Countless similar incidents have taken place and gone unreported. Thousands of innocent Sikh men women and children have been murdered tortured and maimed. If you are thinking that Sikhs have no rights equal with the majority community you are right. All the minority communities in India now know it very well! That is why minorities in general and Sikhs in particular have taken upon themselves to protect themselves from the oppressive rule. The Sikhs are up in arms not only in accordance with the principles of Bhagat Singh and his associates but more so in the tenants of Sikh Gurus who laid down their lives fighting against the oppressive rulers of their times. Be it Wajida Zakaria Lakhpat Mannu Jahangir or Aurangzeb. The boys whom you call militants are freedom fighters carrying on the mission of Sikh Gurus and that of those martyrs whose sacrifices you celebrated on March 23-1991.

I agree whole-heartedly with octogenarian Sant Singh Sekhon that “if the congress party believes that it can achieve peace in the Punjab by subduing the Sikhs then it is suffering from a massive hallucination. It is possible that the militant Sikhs might be subdued temporarily and peace would seem to return but it will be elusive. I have seen many revolutions in my lifetime the Russian Revolution of 1917 Indian Independence in 1947 and Chinese Revolution in 1948. I have heard of the atrocities of Mussolini but I believe the people’s movements always triumph

Your cowardly acts to muzzle the press do not surprise those who believe in and breathe in freedom. It were those totalitarian actions which forced famous Urdu poet Allama Iqbal to proclaim

“Yeh dasture-zabandandi kaisa teri mahfil mein Yahaan to baat Kame Ko tarsti hai zaban meri”

By your arbitrary acts you will not be able to silence the voice of the Sikhs fighting for freedom.

Inclosing General Malhotra the only way this problem can be solved is if you pack lock stock and barrel and leave Khalistan. The only issue to be negotiated is the boundary. Let a bilateral commission be set up lo democrat that. Thereafter let people i in the sub-continent live in’ peace. By doing so you will be saving thousands of innocent lives for one life lost is one life lost too many

Amarjit S. Buttar

Vernon CT

Treasurer-W.S.0.

International –

DHANBAD BIHAR: Five villagers were shot dead and seven others ‘injured in broad daylight Monday allegedly by activists of a new separatist group at Tirtand in Giridih district of the backward northern Indian state of Bihar.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 19, 1991