It was a happy day for Sikhs when last week, extradition proceedings against two young Sikhs were thrown out by a New York court.
S Sukhminder Singh Sandhu and S Ranjit Singh Gill fondly known to us Sukhi and Kuki have come to symbolize the struggle of the Sikhs against the ruthless and unscrupulous state of India. These two innocent young men were victims of Indian machinations to crush the Sikh community the world over into submission. Everyone now knows how the Indian govt used lies, deceit, bribery and it even bombed an Air India jet killing 329 people on board just to discredit Sikhs as terrorists in the eyes of the world. Uncounted thousands of Sikhs have paid the ultimate price in the past decade and the coldblooded murders are being carried out even as you read this.
These two highly educated, intelligent and sensitive Sikh boys have only their nationalistic pride to blame for their predicament. Being All India Sikh Students Federation (now more appropriately named the Sikh students Federation) leaders they were obvious targets. They fled to the US just as the jaws of India’s murderous killing machine were snapping shut on them. The Indian govt pursued them here, had them arrested and wanted them extradited so that the unfinished business of having them eliminated was completed. The judicial system in India is often used for political ends, for example, Kehar Singh was hanged in the Indira Gandhi case without a shred of evidence against him.
These two brave young men have in noble silence endured over three years of incarceration. If the Indian govt could do this to Sikhs in America, half way round the globe, one can gauge how much effort it must be exerting to crush Sikhs in India. Sikhs are as safe in India as Jews were in Hitler’s Europe. Just as the Sikhs as a community, these two youths have been gravely wronged. They have been punished by India before being tried.
The sordid and infamous Judy Russel affair and the Indian govt suppressing and falsifying evidence boomeranged as eventually must all evil and falsehood in the face of truth. This was a small but significant victory in the Sikh struggle. All Sikhs wherever they may be need to remember that any one of them could have as easily been in S Sukhminder Singh or S Ranjit Singh’s place. In the eyes of the Indian govt every Sikh is an enemy to be destroyed. Even those Sikhs being used by India at this time need to remember that they are only being used to destroy their own roots and will be cast off like old shoes when they are no longer needed.
Our fight against oppression and injustice will succeed ho matter what the odds and how long it takes. The world is gradually awakening to the plight of the minorities in India. Also, more and more in India are standing up to the bullies who have for millennia exploited and degraded them as “inferior” human beings. Some untouchable castes are treated worse than animals ‘by Brahmins who are supposed to be the custodians of all knowledge.
There is a lesson for us in Sukhiand Kuki. Like them we need to hold on 40 our faith, persevere and be patient,
The W.S.0 Sikh Cultural Society, indeed all the Sikhs of North America need to be congratulated for this success, But we need to remember that there still lies a long and arduous climb ahead.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 5, 1990
