FOREWORD the Need to Prepare a Clear and Comprehensive Document
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FOREWORD The need to prepare a clear and comprehensive document on the Punjab problem has been felt by the Sikh community for a very long time. With the release of this White Paper, the S.G.P.C. has fulfilled this long-felt need of the community. It takes cognisance of all aspects of the problem-historical, socio-economic, political and ideological. The approach of the Indian Government has been too partisan and negative to take into account a complete perspective of the multidimensional problem. The government White Paper focusses only on the law and order aspect, deliberately ignoring a careful examination of the issues and processes that have compounded the problem. The state, with its aggressive publicity organs, has often, tried to conceal the basic facts and withhold the genocide of the Sikhs conducted in Punjab in the name of restoring peace. Operation Black Out, conducted in full collaboration with the media, has often led to the circulation of one-sided versions of the problem, adding to the poignancy of the plight of the Sikhs. Record has to be put straight for people and posterity. But it requires volumes to make a full disclosure of the long history of betrayal, discrimination, political trickery, murky intrigues, phoney negotiations and repression which has led to blood and tears, trauma and torture for the Sikhs over the past five decades. Moreover, it is not possible to gather full information, without access to government records. This document has been prepared on the basis of available evidence to awaken the voices of all those who love justice to the understanding of the Sikh point of view. The long-awaited document tracing the history of the treatment meted out to the Sikhs has been prepared by a noted Sikh scholar. Dr. Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon. He has earned the gratitude of the entire Sikh community for putting in tireless efforts for a period of over two years to accomplish this stupendous task. For him, it has been entirely a labour of love, which he believes, is its own reward. Gurcharan Singh Tohra President. S.G.P.C., Amritsar. PREFACE The Sikhs are essentially a God-fearing community with strong and irrevocable commitment for social and spiritual elevation of all people, without any distinction of caste or creed. They stand for a plural world society-tolerant, open, progressive and free. Throughout the entire span of their eventful history, they have struggled and fought for universal causes and have courted martyrdoms to uphold the values of truth, justice and freedom. They spearheaded India’s struggle for freedom, with more than 85% sacrifices. In 1947, the Sikhs decided to throw their lot with the majority community on the explicit understanding of being accorded the constitutional status of co-sharers in the political destiny of free India. But their hopes were belied when, in free India, the ruling party refused to accept them as equal partners in the new political set up. Under the facade of democracy, secularism, and nationalism, the Indian state started usurping the political rights of the minorities. The decision to adopt a highly centralised constitution, imposing the rule of the permanent cultural majority over the minorities, was a violation of the oft-repeated stand of the Congress to adopt a federal constitution for free India. Reluctance of the Government to concede the demand for a Punjabi speaking state, based on the principles of equity and justice, revealed its communal approach. Even the creation of the Punjabi speaking state, after the Akali Dal had put up a long and protracted struggle for almost two decades, was a mere eye-wash. Discriminatory provisions (78-80), ingeniously introduced in the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, were aimed at eroding the political status of the new state and denuding it of its economic resources. Punjab that was already truncated at the time of partition, was further divided into three rival states. It was deprived of its capital and valuable Punjabi speaking areas. Tragic twists and turns given to the problem through arbitrary and unilateral awards, deceptive accords, repeated amendments of the Constitution, enactment of special laws and unbridled repression let loose on the Sikh community in the name of fighting terrorism form a sordid tale, around which a dark curtain of disinformation has been created to conceal the truth. The focus of the Dharam Yudh Morcha was on the economic deprivation of the state. But the government was not willing to concede what was rightfully and legitimately due to Punjab on the basis of equity and equality. During the so-called negotiations, the Akali leaders were out- manoeuvred by the functionaries of the ruling party. There is enough evidence to prove that the Government enacted a farce in the name of negotiations as it had started full-scale preparations to mount an armed attack on the Darbar Sahib. Evidence has also leaked out that so many acts of violence in the pre-Blue Star period were committed at the behest of the ruling party. Explosive situation was deliberately engineered by the government in order to sidetrack the real issues and justify its horrendous attack on the Darbar Sahib. Massacre of the Sikhs, in November 1984, was another dark tragedy that gave a big blow to the credibility of the Indian state in relation to its secular and democratic professions. The real culprits of this tragedy were no other than the political masters in Delhi, who have been exonerated of any wrong-doing, all these years. The politically manipulated and blatantly partisan Commissions of enquiry have failed to identify and punish the guilty. Even after the gruesome events of 1984, the Indian government did not relent and persisted in its brutal onslaught against the aggrieved Sikh community. Wrath of the Indian security forces was particularity directed against the Amritdhari Sikhs. The very existence of the Sikhs as an independent vibrant community was threatened. It was under extreme provocation, after all avenues of seeking justice were shut against them, that the aggrieved Sikh youth took to armed resistance against tyranny and injustice. Blood thirsty deeds of the Indian security forces would have turned even a man like Gandhi into a rebel, who, once stated that if a government turned satanic, sedition was his religion. The Sikh youth, who rose in self-defence against state tyranny, were dubbed as terrorists, fundamentalists and traitors. Government resorted to unbridled repression, taking no cognisance of the sense of hurt, humiliation and injustice from which the community had suffered. As the government had no intention of choosing an alternative political line, it resorted to a large scale dissemination of malignant propaganda that it was only a law and order problem. In a self-righteous authoritarian milieu, the security forces freely resorted to inhuman tortures, fake encounters, custody deaths and ‘disappearances’, substantial evidence of which has recently come out. Covert operations of the police, conducted with the help of the vigilante groups and other underground squads, further compounded the problem and helped the police officials to assume more and more authoritarian control. Murky details of the collusion between criminals and the government agencies, some of which have conic out and more of which are likely to come out, have brought to light the nefarious game played by people in the high seats of authority. Punjab today bears the character of a colonial regime. Laws that apply to the State are quite different from the laws that apply to the rest of the country. Genocidal oppression of the Sikhs beggars description. Many have fled the country. Others have been made to ‘disappear’. There are thousands of Sikh families waiting agonisingly for the return of their near and dear ones. Thousands are still languishing in jails. Punjab’s economy is in a shambles. Faced with the overwhelming evidence of five decades of betrayal, discrimination, injustice, hostility and repression, the Sikhs have been left with no alternative except to demand a viable place for themselves where they can preserve their language, culture and heritage. I have tried to prove myself worthy of the task assigned to me by the S.G.P.C. My attempt has been directed at presenting a complete perspective of the problem-ideological, historical, socio-political and psychological. Subject is vast and intricate and new dimensions continue to be added to the problem. A single volume cannot contain a complete catalogue of all the atrocities and killings of genocidal proportions. The story is not even half told, my sincerest efforts notwithstanding. Dated: 2 October, 1996. Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon Chairman, Department of Evening Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh. CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1 2. Sikhs and Sikhism 8 3. Historical Background: Pre-Partition Promises 23 4. Post-Partition Scenario: Monumental Betrayal of the Sikhs 38 5. Struggle for Punjabi Speaking State 51 6. Loot of Punjab Waters: Punjabi Suba Sabotaged 73 7. Dharam Yudh Morcha: Causes 94 8. Dharam Yudh Morcha: Prelude and Aftermath 140 9. Farcical Negotiations: Akali Dal Deceived and Out-Manoeuvred 212 10. Attack on the Heart of Sikhism 234 11. A White Paper on a Hideous Record 283 12. The Massacre of Sikhs 303 13. Siege of the Sikhs: State Terrorism in Punjab 335 14. A Case for Autonomy 390 15. Sikh Polity 399 Annexure 422 Index 445 1 INTRODUCTION ‘Thou shoudst not decide, until thou hast heard what both have to say.’ Aristophanes. A spate of false propaganda, prejudiced reporting, distortions and one sided versions of the Punjab Problem have filled the columns of newspapers. As a result most people in India and abroad have not formed a correct assessment of the problem. Biased versions circulated by the Government controlled media have led to all sorts of misunderstandings and misconceptions in the public mind.