[Towards the end of May 2014, Sardar
Gurpreet Singh, in consultation with others, decided to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the 1984 army attack on Darbar Sahib in Amritsar May 23, 2014 . It accepted
the above suggestion and asked three people to draft a resolution, one of which
would be finalised for use. One group of two persons was asked to send
invitations immediately so that an appreciable number of people may be able to
attend at a respectable notice. A preliminary list of invitees was prepared.
May 28, was adopted as the date for the next of meeting to discuss the draft
resolution.
On the next meeting day it became known that the list of invitees
prepared in the last meeting had not been collected from the venue of the last
meeting. The advantage of sufficient notice sought by immediate action was thus
lost. A respectable gathering was thus a remote possibility. No permanent body
could be hammered out of a casual meeting attended by people invited at random.
One person did not prepare the draft resolution and also did not attend
the meeting on the 28th of May. What transpired at the meeting to
discuss two available drafts was stranger still. One very enlightened member
who came for the first time was of the opinion that nobody should be blamed for
the attack on the Darbar in the resolution. He described how his positive
suggestion had resulted in an institution coming up in Faridkot. On reading the
draft presented by me, another member had serious misgivings. He was the same
member who had earlier not collected the list to send out invitations. His
objections were as follows: 1) social system depicted in the shastras and Vedas must not be
criticised: “Chare ved hoe sachiar”
was quoted out of context. 2) The ‘Hindus’ must not be indicated as one cause
of Sikh suffering. It was pointed out that the term “Hindu” has not been used
in the resolution. Then it was said that it must also not be implied. Nobody
would hold all Hindus responsible. Everybody would like to blame aliens from
Mars or Saturn, but that defies all established facts pointing to a clash of
cherished ideals. 3) The ruling Badal family clique in the Punjab ,
must not be mentioned, the truth notwithstanding, as that would tantamount to
opening “another front.” Should the despicable role of collaborators be glossed
over just to avoid notionally opening a new front? Is it a new front? 4) The
press must not be castigated for neglecting to reflect the truth as a certain
section of it had been objective. When another important member supported these
parts of the resolution, the person objecting to them, then said that no
representative gathering must be held but just a press conference by some ten
people or so must constitute the entire commemoration. The permanent body that
was expected to be the main achievement of exercise, stood aborted again.
Another objecting person found the above mentioned portions to be quite
in order but felt that mention of the Sant and to the Akali Dal must be briefed
into one paragraph instead of the first five paragraphs. Yet another person
recommended that all that is negative must be taken out as the impact of
positive thinking is great, I could not figure out how that was relevant to the
present situation which is steeped neck deep in negativity in human affairs.
There were one or two more observations by the same person aimed at avoiding a
conflict and so on. Someone was angry that there was no mention of Khalistan.
If all that was recommended for exclusion was excluded, no case for an
open enquiry could be made. There would also be no justification for a
permanent organisation to cooperate with the Diaspora bodies to pursue the
matter.
I found that none of the objectives planned to be achieved, was being
achieved. Discretion was the better part of valour and I accordingly withdrew
the resolution that I had drafted. I will not hide what I felt. I was shocked
that even our best informed people lacked clarity although there has been a
flood of information on the subject in the last three decades. We are the
victims who should be shouting from rooftops, but we were treading so
cautiously. When such know-alls interfere, the genuine Sikhs get confused and
find safety in keeping quiet. A resolution of this nature is primarily for the
people adopting it. Some of us were afraid to admit the truth even to
ourselves. I am reproducing the drafted resolution below for the discerning
reader to make an objective assessment of what hinders the people’s work. Why
our intellectuals develop feet of clay at the crucial moment? Of course!
Reproducing the resolution is merely an academic exercise now.]
Resolution
We, representing almost all the noted religious and social institutions
of the Sikh people in the Punjab, gathered in a convention at Chandigarh to
commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Indian army’s attack on the Guru’s
Darbar at Amritsar, resolve to propagate the authentic Sikh views about the
wanton attack in order to draw world public opinion against the atrocities
committed upon the Sikh people (mere 2% of India population), to invite the
justice loving people all over the world, the relevant institutions to help in undoing
the consequences of the Fascist, arbitrary rule of the brute hegemonic
permanent cultural majority (PCM) in India that ever increasingly threatens the
very existence of rival cultures, other nations and minorities.
We are aware that the Sikh people, believing in universal ethical
values, are upholders of the egalitarian, democratic, non-sectarian, universal
social order based on equality and justice and that these beliefs are an
integral part of the faith of Nanak to which the Sikhs have proudly contributed
to for the last five hundred and fifty years. The Sikhs pray daily for the
welfare of all beings and recognise that all human beings are equally entitled
to unlimited spiritual and worldly progress. This faith alone makes us viable
as a people who have every right to exist in the Akalpurakh’s kingdom.
After careful serious deliberations on the circumstances leading to the
events of June 1984, we come to the following conclusions:
1). The ultimate purpose of the attack was to wipe out the Sikh culture
which totally rejected the hereditary caste system, system of beliefs created
to exploit the toiling millions by a handful of ‘high born.’ The Sikh Reference Library containing
priceless manuscripts pertaining to the Sikh culture was burnt down in the
fashion of medieval barbarian invading hordes on June 7 1984 . We are aware that the Sikh faith
constitutes the antithesis of the culture of the permanent cultural majority.
It has created a society outside the varnashramdharm
prescribed by the Manusmriti (Manavdharamshastra), around which the culture
of the PCM has evolved since times of the Rigveda,
propagated as the ‘oldest book of mankind’.
2). The perpetrators of the diabolical crime in June 1984 were equally
keen to arrest the quickly decreasing support to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, that
had ruled India since 1947, and needed to enthuse the PCM by acting in its
behalf for destroying an antagonistic culture.
3). There is ample evidence to suggest that the June attack was planned
even before the Akali agitation had commenced in the Darbar Sahib complex at
Amritsar on July 21, 1982. It is also factually correct that the agitating
Akali Dal at least four times accepted the peaceful solution to the agitation
that they had worked out in consultation with the accredited representatives of
the Indian government. The government abjured its own proposals every single
time. It clearly had violent solution in mind.
4). Except in the self serving political assertions of opponents, no
unlawful activity was attributed to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale, there was
no First Information Report (except one for delivering an intemperate speech)
registered against him. In the only one criminal case in which he was detained
as conspirator before the actual perpetrators were known, he was released after
questioning indicating that he had been falsely implicated. His name was not
included in the list of the wanted people supplied to the shrine management (Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) in 1984 by the government. Yet he was the person
to kill whom the army invaded one of the holiest spots of humankind.
5). Support to the political concept of Khalistan was falsely attributed
to Sant Jarnail Singh, by the Indian government. The Sant was a preacher of the
Sikh faith and headed an old seminary dedicated to training preachers. He was
not a member of any political party that furthered the cause of Khalistan. The
concept itself is amorphous and remains so to this day, propagating which has
been held to be perfectly legal. Three credible accounts of those who met the
Sant in his last days affirm that he did not prescribe to any political concept
but longed to return to his preaching and teaching. His only demand was that
the government concludes an honourable agreement with the Akali Dal and release
all political prisoners.
6). By a certain government sponsored machination, the Sant in January
1984, was pushed into taking shelter in the Akal Takhat though he had been
hitherto residing in the traveller’s inn (Guru Nanak Niwas) attached to the
shrine which was at a considerable distance from the Akal Takhat. This job was
accomplished with help from the Babbar Khalsa outfit which was then controlled
by Harchand Singh Longowal, through the agency of Bibi Amarjit Kaur, the widow
of the martyr Fauja Singh.
7). At least forty-two other important shrines were simultaneously
attacked by the military without even the fig leaf of an excuse. As late as in
February 1984, Harchand Singh Longowal, the president of the Akali Dal and his
associate Bibi Amarjit Kaur had claimed in an interview to the press that their
‘followers’ were responsible for all the killings that had taken place in the
Punjab for which ‘credit’ was being given to Sant Bhinderanwale by the press. A
number of times Harchand Singh Longowal asserted that killings in the Punjab in that period were being done by the underground
policemen who issued forth and returned to the sanctuary of police stations.
8). Aim of the invading forces was to cause a spectacular bloody
massacre with a view to terrorising the Sikhs (‘so that every Sikh is afraid of
his own shadow’ confirmed the chief secretary to the Punjab
government). The para-military forces had been in virtual occupation of the
Darbar Sahib complex since July 1982 and had outposts within a seeing and
shooting distance of the usual places from which Sant Jarnail Singh functioned
normally and could have gunned him down anytime. They chose not to do so
because the aim was to make the killing of the Sant a crippling blow to the
Sikh people as a whole and to put an end to the preaching of the seminary he
headed. For effect the event in which the entire Indian armed forces attacked
less than a hundred armed volunteers, was described as the ‘third Sikh battle’
by some writers, alluding to the two battles against the British. It was this
situation that the authorities were working to bring about.
8). The Indian media, never known for conforming to the highest
standards of objectivity has often been found wanting in fearlessly defending
the rights of a people pitted against the highhandedness of authority. In the
case of the Sikhs and the Punjab , it
capitulated willingly to the whims of the PCM and became an accomplice in the
brutal suppression of a legitimately proud nation by not exposing frequent
police brutalities. Over the years cogent evidence has emerged to show that the
government of India made
full use of the media to defame the Sikhs in India
and at least in Russia , England , USA ,
Canada and Australia India
9). All through history there have been social and political groups that
have defied the hegemonic, oppressive caste society in the hope of preserving
their independence, culture and human dignity. The PCM, always red in tooth and
claw, has invariably found violent suppression to be the only solution to deal
with such groups. The followers of Buddha flourished everywhere, bringing
peace, learning and spiritual elevation to the rest of Asia but were dubbed as
anarchists, atheists and disturbers of social order and were wiped out from India
10). Further complicating the situation
today is the fact that the century old Sikh political party, the Shiromani
Akali Dal, has been usurped by the self seeking collaborators’ family with
cooperation from the state. The Badal family has converted the entire Punjab into a fiefdom. Its stranglehold extends to the
governance of Sikh shrines where the family has been implementing the diktat of
the rival culture to dilute the Sikh identity, to destroy Sikh values and to
dissolve the sovereign nature of the Sikh faith. Our youth is being hooked to
drugs pedalled by the government of the family. The jails of the Punjab have become veritable supermarkets for drugs sold
by them. Seventy-five percent of the jail population of the Punjab
is consequently on drugs today. This is part of the total elimination plan that
the family has been tasked to perform in return for subordinate political power
and an opportunity to amass untold wealth illegally. All these issues are in
public domain and have been widely discussed in the media.
11). The Sikhs have been seeking justice for the innocent myriads killed
in the army attack and subsequently. Several times election manifestos of the
important political parties in the Punjab have
promised to redress the grievance by ascertaining facts through an independent
inquiry. Some of us assembled here, have presented our concern on the issue to
at least four previous prime minister. Another prime minister has publicly shed
tears in the parliament while mentioning an event of the Sikh massacre.
Political leaders in abundance have shed crocodile tears over our plight.
Countless have paid respects at the assaulted shrine to express mute sympathy
and veiled, unproductive regret. A few have been vocal. The impunity continues,
grievances remain un-redressed and injustice marches on triumphantly. In the
prevailing circumstances we await the repeat of the event of indiscriminate
massacre when and if the political fortunes of the party in power demands human
sacrifices again.
12). Institutions of democracy have
totally failed us. The biggest failure is that of the Supreme Court which while
knowing full well about the extent of prevalent impunity has not only failed to
tear the thick veil, but has considerably contributed to its thickening. Stance
of the judiciary has come as a deep disappointment to those who seek justice as
an end in itself and as the chief regulator of amicable human relations
particularly in pluralistic societies. In the year 1998, after an agonising
wait, some concerned citizens, including a retired judge of the Supreme Court
of India, retired generals, civilians, writers and human rights activists,
organised a People’s Commission to probe the violence in the Punjab .
Three retired judges of high courts of Punjab, Delhi
and Maharashtra , one Sikh and two non-Sikhs,
were appointed on the penal. Only the inaugural sitting could be held on August
8, 9 and 10, 1998 as the state raised hue and cry and judicially thwarted the
process.
13). Thus surrounded on all sides by
enemies keen to see our back in history, we want once again to spring up from
the ashes as we have done four times in our short history. It is because we
feel that our scripture and the values it preaches have, like other faith
groups, something very vital to contribute to human welfare, to the spiritual
health of all nations and the vision of an eternal peace that must prevail
amongst all.
14). Army attack on the Darbar Sahib, Amritsar
15). The matter has acquired certain
urgency since the political party (Bhartiya Janata Party) wedded to wiping out
the minorities and other nations has gained absolute majority in India at the
May 2014 elections. It is controlled by the fascist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh,
whose ideology regarding the Sikhs has been outlined by their ideologue Nana
Deshmukh in a document dated November
10, 1984 . He justifies the massacre of the Sikhs on the ground that
they claim not to be Hindus.
Therefore, as our survival is in peril,
we appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council and all human rights
bodies the world over, to liberal regimes concerned with the preservation of
human dignity for its own sake and above all to the enlightened citizens of the
world who deem justice to be the most prominent attribute of Akalpurakh (God)
to ignore which is to lay the foundations of perpetual bloody strife among
humans, to help the Sikh people of the Punjab in making the world aware of
their plight by supporting the call for an international inquiry to establish
the disabilities imposed upon the Sikh people and to seek to avert the intended
genocide of one of the most productive of nations by causing an independent
inquiry to be held in the matter of invasion of the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar in
June 1984.
Eventually, the convention was held
on 1st June, 2014 and the following resolution was adopted:
RESOLUTION
Sikhs all over the world this week are observing the
30th anniversary of the Army attack on “Darbar Sahib” (Golden Temple Geneva covenants, of which the
Indian State
While the havoc wrought at the Amritsar
complex by the Indian armed
forces found some mention initially the world over, what transpired elsewhere in Punjab was totally overlooked. A plethora of
substantial human rights violations, backed in most cases by locally available
evidences, spoke of killings, disappearances, tortures of Sikh population and
rapes of Sikh women as well as of mass cremations and mutilations. Reports
poured in even from the adjoining states, as also from Pakistan Indian State
There is no knowing of what really happened even after
30 years of the original operation. Very little, information was revealed about
the initial action at Amritsar Amritsar
No wonder this evidently ‘old’ issue
rises time and again and inevitably finds a ring of freshness because there is
a certain moral force behind it that needs to be addressed and resolved.
Failure of the Indian
State Sri Lanka
This convention feels entirely
justified in calling upon the world public opinion to devise ways to
ensure that credible international investigation is carried out into the entire
gamut of issues in Punjab . There can be no
closure of the Punjab issue without truth and
justice.
The stuff in the blogs blows out my mind.
ReplyDeleteShailendra Singh Sequoia