Sikh Massacre:Unforgetable
By Javed Iqbal
Sikh Nation is a sovereign nation and is determined to reclaim its lost sovereignty. Since the annexation of Sikh state by the Britishers in 1849, many new geopolitical realities came to pass locally and around the globe.Khalistan is one of the outstanding issues the Sikh community of the subcontinent regards as legitimate struggle. From grandeur of Sikh rule in the subcontinent to bitter memories of Operation Blue Star and desecration of Akal Takht in 1984 (which resulted into a mutiny in Indian Military) Khalistan has remained a dream for the Sikhs of India as well as their strong Diaspora around the entire globe.
Mr Sajjan Kumar,who was allegedly involved in perpetuating massacre of Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of India and promulgation of Sikh Congressional Caucus in the US are new trend setters in Indian polity where revival of Khalistan movement in India and within Sikh Diaspora may be taking place with more vigour albeit with softer face.
With awareness of their glorious past and dynamic culture, the new Sikh generation has effectively used social media and international forums to voice their views in galvanising the Khalistan movement; that is why SJS Bhindranwale is their hero and Sujjan Kumar the ultimate villain.
The Sikh youth has found solace through the medium of social media as well as other social organisations around the world to carry out a struggle for Khalistan, the Sikh community in Canada, US and UK has been very active in galvanising support for the cause of an independent state where Sikhs could live with peace and honour. With fertile lands and an enterprising community Khalistan could become an independent and thriving state in the region and could also act as a bridge between Pakistan, India and the prospective state of Jammu and Kashmir.
It may be interesting to mention about hundreds of social networks run by Sikhs and their Diaspora in India and entire globe. The Sikh youth castigated by the Indian government and RAW have migrated online to vent their views on the Khalistan issue. Few examples are the Khalistan.net,Sikh Freedom.com,Sikh Lionz.com and the Roadtokhalistan.net, these nets give a complete history, culture and struggle of this great community, urging the international community and Sikhs all around the globe to rally for their genuine cause.
A strategy of struggle for making Khalistan a reality is also tabulated for the benefit of the youth. The news of Oct 2012 attack on a retired three star Indian General Brar in London was not properly highlighted or investigated by Indian or British media for obvious reasons;, General Brar led a ruthless 1984 operation against Sikh freedom fighters right in the heart of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and was stabbed in what may have been a targeted attack by Sikh youth in the UK.
Sikhs are being killed in fake encounters.
There is disappearance of Sikh youth in Punjab. Indian government has killed from 1 to 1.2 million Sikhs and about 70 thousand Sikhs are in jail. Here are some of the methods of torture, humiliation and atrocities used by Indian Government against the Sikhs.To interrogate the Sikhs, a round log of wood is placed on their legs, and after putting heavy weight on the log it is rotated on the legs.
• Chilly powder is sprinkled in the eyes and sex organs of the Sikhs.
• Sikhs are hung upside down from the ceilings till they became unconscious.
• The body joints are battered.
• Electric shocks are administered to the genitals making most of the youth impotent
• Sikh women, during interrogation, are hurt in their sex organs. Filthy abuse is showered on them.
• Violence is inflicted on the parents in presence of their sons and daughters and vice-versa.
• Brothers are forced to beat sisters and vice versa. violence is inflicted on adult girls after stripping them naked and their sex organs are damaged. They are sexually assaulted, pregnancies are terminated of the expectant females.
• Crotchets are pulled apart.
• The victims of inhuman violence are made to sit naked in winter, and under the sun in summer, kept sleepless for days in solitary cells.
• Sikhs are subjected to severe beatings and filthy abuse in the presence of their village folks.
• Dead bodies of Sikhs killed in fake encounters are not handed over to their parents to conceal marks of excessive violence
• The state manipulates tailored post mortem reports from the doctors, and burns the dead bodies of the Sikhs after falsely declaring them unclaimed.
• All sorts of excesses are made on the parents of underground Sikh youths.
• Indiscriminate atrocities are committed on the parents of the underground youth of the area where some militant action takes place.
• Atrocities are committed without caring for one’s age, health, life or death. If someone luckily survives such brutal excesses, it is well and good But if one dies while under “interrogation”, then such a dead body is taken out, pierced with some bullets, and a news item is sent that a dreaded terrorist has been shot dead in an encounter
• Houses of underground Sikh youths are demolished, their belongings are looted, crops destroyed, their tube well motors are taken away, and they are prevented from sowing crops.
• Even animals of the families of underground Sikh youth are subjected to police anger. After summoning the families to the police station, villagers are told not to take care of the animals of the families of the underground youth. Generally the animals starve to death.
• False cases are registered against innocent Sikh youths, later they are let off taking fat bribes.
• Reporters giving true reports are arrested, an undeclared censorship is imposed on them to stop them from exposing police atrocities.
• Peaceful protests by the Human rights organizations are prohibited.
• Press is used to launch vicious and false propaganda against the Sikhs.
• Hardened criminals are inducted into Sikh movement to help in arresting the Sikh revolutionaries and sabotage the movement. Such criminals are inducted to tarnish the fair name of the Sikh revolutionaries are now called the “Black Cats” in the Punjab. Under SSP Izhar Alam, such criminal gangs were named the “Alam Sena.” Besides, such police sponsored bands of criminals also operated under the name of Panthic Tiger Force and “Red Brigade.” The director general of the police himself admitted about the “Black Cats” bands. In his interview to the India Today on Sept. 15, 188, KPS Gill had announced without an iota of shame that the security forces in Punjab cannot do anything without the help of secret bands (Black Cats).
• Thousands of innocent pilgrims, children, females, aged people, who got encircled in the Golden Temple during Operation Bluestar were made to die through starvation and thirst. The whole of Punjab was converted into a vast jail by clamping curfew on the entire area. The army bulletin branded all Amritdhaaree’s as terrorists.
• Indian army desecrated the Gurdwaras and committed such atrocities on the Sikhs that even the soul of Ahmed Shah Abdali might have felt ashamed of.
• The targets of army guns were none else but religious persons, devotees, pilgrims, ladies, old people, children or some militants whom the Indian government deemed as terrorists.
• No neutral observer was allowed to take stock of the situation.
• The injured during the attack on the Golden Temple were subjected to extreme partiality. Whereas every assistance and facility was made available to the injured army personnel, there was no such provision for the wounded belonging to the other side.
• The number of prisoners taken was rather small. There is ample scope for doubt that the Indian army had thought it better to eliminate the thousands of people seized in the Golden Temple instead of taking them prisoners or having to provide them with medical assistance.
• No need was felt to perform religious rites for the dead pilgrims and devotees.
• Before consigning the dead bodies to flames, no effort was made to identify them. No relatives were informed.
• No dead bodies were handed over to the next of kin. In such a situation only the dead or those wishing to be dead could be present at the last rites.
• All dead bodies were placed in heaps and then con- signed to flames. IT was never insured that among the dead there could also be some Muslim devotees. To cremate is against the tenets of Islam.
• No need was felt to give a list of the dead to the Red Cross or any other International Agency
• Despite such atrocities, no commission was appointed to go into this dark episode. Even the British, the foreign rulers, had cared to appoint the Hunter commission to inquire into the Jallianwalla Massacre which was of a much less magnitude on the other hand. The Indian government, on the other hand, took all steps to hide the excesses of the army.
In the struggle for the reclamation of lost Sikh sovereignty and demarcation of geopolitical boundaries, the Sikh Nation wants to assert its intent that Sikhs want to live in peace with their neighbors Pakistan and India. The geographical boundaries of Khalistan will include current East Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pardesh, part of Rajasthan and small part of Uttar Pardesh. River Ravi on the west and river Jamuna on the east will be some of the boundary lines between Khalistan & Pakistan, Khalistan & India respectively.
In the north, part of Himalayan range and in south, part of Thar Deset will make the geographical boundaries of Khalistan. Sikh nation of Khalistan will be a theocratic- democratic state where the social contract between the citizens and state will be based on the solemn commitment that “state will protect all rights including the religious rights of all citizens and all citizens in turn will defend the boundaries and constitution of Khalistan”. Sikh ethos and ecumenical principles will make some of the fundamentals of Khalistan’s constitution.
We do a day-to-day monitoring of things. Security is being stepped up as required,” Jalandhar Inspector General of Police Sanjiv Kalra said. In the last two months, Punjab Police have found explosives, grenades and weapons outside vital installations at various places in the state. Several kilograms of explosives were found Jan 19 outside an Indian Oil LPG bottling plant near Nabha town in Patiala district. Two grenades were found five days later outside an Indian Air Force (IAF) establishment at Zirakpur near Chandigarh. A car laden with explosives was found last month outside the IAF station at Halwara in Ludhiana. Two people were arrested in Patiala on Sunday. Eight kilograms of explosives and 40 gelatin sticks were recovered from them.
Though the secessionist movement for Khalistan was absolutely defeated in 1993, there remain a handful of terrorist outfits chiefly supported by NRI Sikh groups who continue to propagate the ideology of Khalistan. One of the most prominent among them is the BKI, among the oldest and most organised Khalistan terrorist groups. It is headed by Wadhawa Singh, who is reportedly hiding in Pakistan. Mehal Singh is the deputy chief of BKI. Both of them are among the 20 terrorists whom India wants.
In Northern India is both a cultural ethnicity and a spiritual identity. Because of that-there are a lot of issues that you face in the Punjab related to politics, society and culture. Those of us who have become Sikhs in the West already have a cultural and political identity. However, Sikhs in the Punjab have political, social and economic challenges to face. Because of that, you connect very strongly with Guru Gobind Singh’s message of standing up to tyranny and becoming sovereign over your own life. We firmly believe that when people are willing to live in tune with the Will of God, then all these social, political and economic injustices will automatically come back into balance. But as long as people do not live surrendered to the Will of God, the imbalances will continue. If it God’s will that the Sikhs have an independent state, then all you need to do is meditate and learn how to surrender yourself to God’s Will and by His hand, without any effort from your ego, it shall happen.
