National

“Need to analyse treatment of minorities”

CHANDIGARH: A congregation of scholars and leaders have underscored the need to analyse the treatment meted out to the minorities, especially the discrimination against the Sikhs since Independence, as these sections of the populace still awaited their tryst with destiny under a new dispensation.

Speakers at the seminar organised by the Dal Khalsa at Jalandhar, deliberated over the events during the last 60 years of post- British colonial rule in the subcontinent.

The resentment levels could be gauged that most speakers rued the decision of their forefathers who tied the destiny of the Sikhs with India, which miserably failed the community on the social, economic, religious and political fronts.

One of the resolutions passed on the occasion said, “Newspapers, magazines and television channels are filled with euphoria about the years gone by. There were reports mentioning 60 heroes of India, 60 books of India, 60 achievements of India and 60 sportspersons of India. Is this the complete picture? How about 60 incidents that could put India to shame? How about 60 religious, social and political activists who were detained under draconian laws like TADA and POTA?”

The Dal Khalsa presented a list of 60 incidents and cases of discrimination, which it held were testimony of hate, discrimination, repression and subjugation perpetuated on the minorities, irrespective of the political party in power.

Going beyond Punjab and Sikhs, the resolution pointed out that the media had forgotten the false sedition cases against leading human rights activists like Aurobindo Ghose, Amiya Rao and others in 1985 when they tabulated gross human rights abuses by the Indian security agencies during Operation Woodrose.

While bringing forth the grim memories of massacre of the Sikhs following the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, the Dal Khalsa resolution asked, “What about the Nellie massacre in Assam? Only the insane would ignore the blindings of under trials in Bhagalpur and the repeated genocidal attacks against Muslims, especially in Gujarat.”

Dal Khalsa chief, Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib appealed to the audience to support the organisation in their pursuit for the glory of the Khalsa and the re-establishment of Sarkar-e-Khalsa.

Another leader, Harcharanjit Singh Dhami said that the genesis of the Sikh problem was the betrayal of commitments and promises made by Congress leaders before the partition.

A radical leader, Kanwarpal Singh said that whenever the Sikh community sought its rights, it faced bullets, detention and hardships.

He said that freedom of expression and the right to dissent were always denied and the onus was shifted on to the Sikhs to prove their credentials that they were not traitors.

He said that installing individuals from minority communities at the higher ranking constitutional posts was only a ploy to deceive the world that the country was “secular”.

Former MP and diplomat, Harinder Singh Khalsa, former Punjab Minister and Secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Manjit Singh Calcutta, present SGPC member, Karnail Singh Panjoli, noted scholars like Gurdharshan Singh Dhillon and Karamjit Singh also participated.

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