Recently, after the killing of two Sikhs in Pakistan India made a huge hue and cry and propagated that it condemns this barbaric act of killing Indian Sikhs.
However, Pakistan maintained that they were Pakistanis and an estimated 10,000 Sikhs lived in the NWFP and in the tribal belt, particularly Aurakzai agency. India is talking about the killing of Sikhs in Pakistan. This accounts to interference into the internal affairs of Pakistan. It is also worth mentioning that India is talking about the area where the military operation is going on to flush out foreign militants and their local supporters to restore peace. So what is happening to minorities is not on the order of the government but of some extremist elements. Above all what is most important is that India has serious concerns about the minorities in Pakistan, which are Pakistanis. There are evidences about the violence and oppression against minorities in India. Indian government itself is a source of violence. May be it forgot 6 June 1984 but not the Sikhs of Punjab who lost their loved ones. Recently, some members of the Sikh community told that Indian ruling congress is intentionally ignoring plight of Sikh families, who has lost their dear ones in Indian Army’s Golden Temple Operation in 1984. India in fact is a country of Hindus, caring only about their welfare even at the expense of other minorities. The government of India even involved in the organized killing of Minorities. As far as Sikhs are concerned they are never treated as patriotic citizens of India and always mistrusted. Indian government tried several times to purge Sikh identity and merge them into Hinduism. Since independence Sikhs remained mistrusted and are being discriminated and treated as aliens. During British rule Gandhi and Nehru promised the Sikhs to have full rights and freedom over Punjab. They stated that Sikhs would have the rights to rule Punjab without any interference from the government and that no laws would be passed without discussing them with Sikhs. Gandhi said, “You (Sikhs) take my word that if ever Congress or I betray you, you will be justified to draw the sword as taught by Guru Gobind Singh”. As soon as the British left India Sikhs were fired from their jobs and declared as traitors of India. Even in the Indian constitution, Sikhs were declared ‘Hindus with long hair’. Gandhi betrayed Sikhs and told them that if they cut their hair and give up their faith and joined the Hindus, they would be given full right and hired at the jobs. After independence when Nehru was asked to fulfill his promise of creating a separate Punjabi state, he brushed it off by saying “circumstances have changed now”. After independence the Indian government continued its efforts to wipe out Sikhism from Indian soil. For this purpose it employed different techniques such as killing of innocent Sikhs, undermining their language and their economic superiority, damaging their religious literature and their cultural values, introducing repressive laws for the community and guaranteeing their low representation in Indian army as well as government services. The Indian government tried to undermine Punjabi, the language of Sikhs, several times. In 1951 census Hindi was preferred over Punjabi. The ruling Congress party issued an advertisement in newspapers asking non-Sikh residents of Punjab to return to Hindi as their mother tongue, even though Punjabi had been their mother tongue since ages. Almost all the Punjabi speaking Hindus declared Hindi as their mother tongue during the census of India in 1951 and 1961. Similarly, the Congress government even opposed the formation of Punjabi State in total contrast to the commitment to demarcate India on a linguistic basis made by the Congress party in 1929, 1946 and 1947. The Hindus burnt the Sikh religious literature several times and committed the acts of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the Gurdwaras on the behest of government. To quote a few instances from history, in 1983, the State Reserve Police and the Central Reserve Police were directed by the government to attack Gurdwaras on the slightest pretext. During the year, Gurdwara Sahib Sisganj, Delhi, Gurdwara Imli Sahib, Indore, Gurdwara Sahib, Churu, Rajasthan, Gurdwara Sahib Chandokalan, Haryana and Gurdwara Sahib, Chowk Mehta, Amritsar were attacked. In June 1984, on the orders of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Golden Temple and 37 other Gurdwaras were attacked by all sections of the Indian Armed Forces and other security agencies, killing thousands of Sikhs, desecrating the holy premises, vandalizing heritage records and artifacts. During the attack on Golden Temple, the Sikh Reference Library was vandalized by the Indian Armed Forces and the looted material has not been returned to this day. After the attack on Golden Temple, Baat Cheet the Indian Army Gazette No. 153, 1984 published, “Any knowledge of Amritdharis, who are dangerous people and pledged to commit murders, arson and acts of terrorism, should immediately be brought the notice of authorities. These people might appear harmless from outside but they are basically committed to terrorism. In the interest of all of us their identity and whereabouts must always be disclosed”. In November, 1984, Sikhs were attacked in 87 towns and cities in 'secular' India. According to estimates by human rights organizations at least 10,000 Sikhs were virtually butchered or burnt alive. Officially, 3,700 Sikhs were killed in a matter of 48 hours. More than 200,000 Sikhs rendered homeless. More than 358 Gurdwaras were desecrated and destroyed. Justifying this official pogrom against the Sikhs, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi shamelessly proclaimed, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.” Since 1986, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been debarred from officially entering Punjab for documenting human rights violations. This ban still continues. Apart from above mentioned atrocities, efforts were made from time to time to damage the economy of Punjab, especially Sikhs. In this context, in 1966 the Punjab Reorganization Act was passed. Sections 78, 79 and 80 of the Panjab Reorganisation Act placed the irrigation and hydel-power projects of the Panjab geographically in Himachal Pradesh. These provisions also gave exclusive overall control of these projects to the Central government. It was in total contravention of Article 246 of the Indian constitution and universally accepted riparian principles. Similarly, as the Punjab and Sind Bank was understood to be the bank of Sikhs and Punjabis, when the bank reached the zenith of its glory, in 1980, the bank was nationalized and brought under the direct control of the government of India. Sikhs faced racial discrimination even in the Indian Armed Forces. In 1971 the Defence Ministry under Jagjivan Ram, took a policy decision, to recruit army personnel on the basis of population rather than merit. Due to which the percentage of Sikh participation in the Indian Armed Forces was gradually reduced to a meager 2 percent. Similarly, the government compelled Sikh officers, both in the Defence and Civil services to renounce their Sikh identity (i.e. Kesh and Kirpan) if they desired promotions and possible retention in their services. Repressive laws were introduced to harm Sikh community. In 1987, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 was passed. This act violated all norms of criminal jurisprudence. Every safeguard guaranteed by the Constitution, all international standards of human rights laid-down by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were violated by this Act, even though India is a signatory to both these declarations. The Sikhs suffered the consequences of TADA. Thousands of Sikh youth were detained, tortured, and killed both in Panjab and in other Indian states. In 1988, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced the 59th amendment to the constitution of India, withdrawing the right to life of the people of Punjab and enabling more discriminatory laws against Punjab. In 1991, Brigadier Sinha of the Indian Army publicly declared that the only way to subvert the culture of the Sikhs was to rape and humiliates Sikh women. On 6 September, 1995, human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra, who had unearthed gross human rights abuses in the district of Amritsar about individuals who had disappeared involuntarily was tortured and killed extrajudicially. On 20 March 2000, coinciding with the visit of US President, Bill Clinton, 35 young Sikhs were killed in Chittisingpura, Kashmir by state vigilantes. This has been proved without doubt but the state has not taken any action so far. In the year 2007, while the blasphemous activities of Sirsa dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim have been allowed to continue, in complete violation of legal provisions, sedition charges have been foisted against Sikh leaders. The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs "worse than genocide." According to a report by the Movement against State Repression (MASR), 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political prisoners in India without charge or trial. Twenty-five years after the massacre of thousands of Sikhs in India the country's government has failed to bring to justice those responsible. Sikhs ruled an independent and sovereign Punjab from 1710 to 1716 and again from 1765 to 1849 and were recognized by most of the countries of the world at that time. No Sikh representative has ever signed the Indian constitution. Indian rulers should understand one thing that persecution can not annihilate the Sikhs and they will never become Hindus even if they are denied their due rights. There is a need that Indian government must respect the minority rights and stop its brutalities and atrocities against them. Otherwise the saying of Franklin D. Roosevelt that “No democracy can long survive which does not accept as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of minorities” would come true of India.
However, Pakistan maintained that they were Pakistanis and an estimated 10,000 Sikhs lived in the NWFP and in the tribal belt, particularly Aurakzai agency. India is talking about the killing of Sikhs in Pakistan. This accounts to interference into the internal affairs of Pakistan. It is also worth mentioning that India is talking about the area where the military operation is going on to flush out foreign militants and their local supporters to restore peace. So what is happening to minorities is not on the order of the government but of some extremist elements. Above all what is most important is that India has serious concerns about the minorities in Pakistan, which are Pakistanis. There are evidences about the violence and oppression against minorities in India. Indian government itself is a source of violence. May be it forgot 6 June 1984 but not the Sikhs of Punjab who lost their loved ones. Recently, some members of the Sikh community told that Indian ruling congress is intentionally ignoring plight of Sikh families, who has lost their dear ones in Indian Army’s Golden Temple Operation in 1984. India in fact is a country of Hindus, caring only about their welfare even at the expense of other minorities. The government of India even involved in the organized killing of Minorities. As far as Sikhs are concerned they are never treated as patriotic citizens of India and always mistrusted. Indian government tried several times to purge Sikh identity and merge them into Hinduism. Since independence Sikhs remained mistrusted and are being discriminated and treated as aliens. During British rule Gandhi and Nehru promised the Sikhs to have full rights and freedom over Punjab. They stated that Sikhs would have the rights to rule Punjab without any interference from the government and that no laws would be passed without discussing them with Sikhs. Gandhi said, “You (Sikhs) take my word that if ever Congress or I betray you, you will be justified to draw the sword as taught by Guru Gobind Singh”. As soon as the British left India Sikhs were fired from their jobs and declared as traitors of India. Even in the Indian constitution, Sikhs were declared ‘Hindus with long hair’. Gandhi betrayed Sikhs and told them that if they cut their hair and give up their faith and joined the Hindus, they would be given full right and hired at the jobs. After independence when Nehru was asked to fulfill his promise of creating a separate Punjabi state, he brushed it off by saying “circumstances have changed now”. After independence the Indian government continued its efforts to wipe out Sikhism from Indian soil. For this purpose it employed different techniques such as killing of innocent Sikhs, undermining their language and their economic superiority, damaging their religious literature and their cultural values, introducing repressive laws for the community and guaranteeing their low representation in Indian army as well as government services. The Indian government tried to undermine Punjabi, the language of Sikhs, several times. In 1951 census Hindi was preferred over Punjabi. The ruling Congress party issued an advertisement in newspapers asking non-Sikh residents of Punjab to return to Hindi as their mother tongue, even though Punjabi had been their mother tongue since ages. Almost all the Punjabi speaking Hindus declared Hindi as their mother tongue during the census of India in 1951 and 1961. Similarly, the Congress government even opposed the formation of Punjabi State in total contrast to the commitment to demarcate India on a linguistic basis made by the Congress party in 1929, 1946 and 1947. The Hindus burnt the Sikh religious literature several times and committed the acts of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the Gurdwaras on the behest of government. To quote a few instances from history, in 1983, the State Reserve Police and the Central Reserve Police were directed by the government to attack Gurdwaras on the slightest pretext. During the year, Gurdwara Sahib Sisganj, Delhi, Gurdwara Imli Sahib, Indore, Gurdwara Sahib, Churu, Rajasthan, Gurdwara Sahib Chandokalan, Haryana and Gurdwara Sahib, Chowk Mehta, Amritsar were attacked. In June 1984, on the orders of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Golden Temple and 37 other Gurdwaras were attacked by all sections of the Indian Armed Forces and other security agencies, killing thousands of Sikhs, desecrating the holy premises, vandalizing heritage records and artifacts. During the attack on Golden Temple, the Sikh Reference Library was vandalized by the Indian Armed Forces and the looted material has not been returned to this day. After the attack on Golden Temple, Baat Cheet the Indian Army Gazette No. 153, 1984 published, “Any knowledge of Amritdharis, who are dangerous people and pledged to commit murders, arson and acts of terrorism, should immediately be brought the notice of authorities. These people might appear harmless from outside but they are basically committed to terrorism. In the interest of all of us their identity and whereabouts must always be disclosed”. In November, 1984, Sikhs were attacked in 87 towns and cities in 'secular' India. According to estimates by human rights organizations at least 10,000 Sikhs were virtually butchered or burnt alive. Officially, 3,700 Sikhs were killed in a matter of 48 hours. More than 200,000 Sikhs rendered homeless. More than 358 Gurdwaras were desecrated and destroyed. Justifying this official pogrom against the Sikhs, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi shamelessly proclaimed, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.” Since 1986, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been debarred from officially entering Punjab for documenting human rights violations. This ban still continues. Apart from above mentioned atrocities, efforts were made from time to time to damage the economy of Punjab, especially Sikhs. In this context, in 1966 the Punjab Reorganization Act was passed. Sections 78, 79 and 80 of the Panjab Reorganisation Act placed the irrigation and hydel-power projects of the Panjab geographically in Himachal Pradesh. These provisions also gave exclusive overall control of these projects to the Central government. It was in total contravention of Article 246 of the Indian constitution and universally accepted riparian principles. Similarly, as the Punjab and Sind Bank was understood to be the bank of Sikhs and Punjabis, when the bank reached the zenith of its glory, in 1980, the bank was nationalized and brought under the direct control of the government of India. Sikhs faced racial discrimination even in the Indian Armed Forces. In 1971 the Defence Ministry under Jagjivan Ram, took a policy decision, to recruit army personnel on the basis of population rather than merit. Due to which the percentage of Sikh participation in the Indian Armed Forces was gradually reduced to a meager 2 percent. Similarly, the government compelled Sikh officers, both in the Defence and Civil services to renounce their Sikh identity (i.e. Kesh and Kirpan) if they desired promotions and possible retention in their services. Repressive laws were introduced to harm Sikh community. In 1987, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 was passed. This act violated all norms of criminal jurisprudence. Every safeguard guaranteed by the Constitution, all international standards of human rights laid-down by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were violated by this Act, even though India is a signatory to both these declarations. The Sikhs suffered the consequences of TADA. Thousands of Sikh youth were detained, tortured, and killed both in Panjab and in other Indian states. In 1988, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced the 59th amendment to the constitution of India, withdrawing the right to life of the people of Punjab and enabling more discriminatory laws against Punjab. In 1991, Brigadier Sinha of the Indian Army publicly declared that the only way to subvert the culture of the Sikhs was to rape and humiliates Sikh women. On 6 September, 1995, human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra, who had unearthed gross human rights abuses in the district of Amritsar about individuals who had disappeared involuntarily was tortured and killed extrajudicially. On 20 March 2000, coinciding with the visit of US President, Bill Clinton, 35 young Sikhs were killed in Chittisingpura, Kashmir by state vigilantes. This has been proved without doubt but the state has not taken any action so far. In the year 2007, while the blasphemous activities of Sirsa dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim have been allowed to continue, in complete violation of legal provisions, sedition charges have been foisted against Sikh leaders. The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs "worse than genocide." According to a report by the Movement against State Repression (MASR), 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political prisoners in India without charge or trial. Twenty-five years after the massacre of thousands of Sikhs in India the country's government has failed to bring to justice those responsible. Sikhs ruled an independent and sovereign Punjab from 1710 to 1716 and again from 1765 to 1849 and were recognized by most of the countries of the world at that time. No Sikh representative has ever signed the Indian constitution. Indian rulers should understand one thing that persecution can not annihilate the Sikhs and they will never become Hindus even if they are denied their due rights. There is a need that Indian government must respect the minority rights and stop its brutalities and atrocities against them. Otherwise the saying of Franklin D. Roosevelt that “No democracy can long survive which does not accept as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of minorities” would come true of India.
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