Twenty four years ago, on June 03, 1984, the then Prime
minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi of the Nehru Dynasty,
ordered a massive Indian army attack, on Sikhism's holiest
site (its sanctum sanctorum) the Akal Takht Sahib, located
in the Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar. The holy shrine was
packed at that time with pilgrims observing the anniversary
of the martyrdom of Siri Guru Arjan Sahib, the fifth Guru of
the Sikhs. For Sikhs, the memory of that murderous June 1984
Indian army attack, nay a brazen act of state terrorism,
during which thousands of innocent Sikhs were murdered, is a
'diary', written in blood and engraved on their hearts, they
carry about with them where ever they go.
The June 1984 brutal military
action was synchronized with assaults on thirty seven other
holy Gurdawaras located in the Sikh homeland of Indian
Occupied Punjab. Thousands of Sikh pilgrims - men, women and
children - who had congregated for prayers, on the
anniversary of Guru Arjan Sahib’s martyrdom, were brutally
gunned down inside the Darbar Sahib complex, under a
complete news blackout enforced in the Punjab. The Akal
Takht, the Sikh seat of sovereignty, was destroyed in the
attack. The historical Sikh Reference Library and Museum
were also systematically looted, and the priceless artifacts
carted away in government trucks to a still secret location,
and the building housing them was burned to the ground. The
artifacts have not been returned to this day! As a Sikh
writer put it. "The Indian army went into Darbar Sahib (also
called Golden Temple Complex in the West) not to eliminate a
political figure or a political movement but to suppress the
culture of a people, to attack their heart, to strike a blow
at their spirit and self-confidence." Another Sikh author
has also aptly put it by saying that, "The Darbar Sahib is
the Vatican, the Mecca, and the Jerusalem of the Sikhs. The
Indian Army's brutal pre-planned attack on the heart of the
Sikh faith was an attempt to defame and humiliate the entire
Sikh community. The Indian Government's consistent attempts
to humiliate Sikhs have not succeeded. Today, we stand
before God as a community committed to peace and justice.
The Sikh community's appeals of transparency,
accountability, and restitution to the Indian Government
have been ignored as not being in the interest of peace.
Justice for Sikhs in India has been denied."
In his 1984 book “Army Action
in Punjab: Prelude & Aftermath” (New Delhi: Samata Era
Publication, 1984, pp. 46-48) C.K.C. Reddy, a fair-minded
Hindu, writes that, “The whole of Punjab and especially the
Golden Temple Complex, was turned into a murderous mouse
trap from where people could neither escape nor could they
seek succor of any kind…The way the dead bodies were
disposed of adds to the suspicions regarding the number and
nature of the casualties...The bodies of the victims of
military operation in Punjab were unceremoniously destroyed
without any attempt to identify them and hand them over to
their relatives…So even the courtesy and honor customarily
shown to the dead soldiers of the enemy was not shown to our
dead countrymen, since those killing them were our own
soldiers. Because the government had decided to exterminate
these victims physically they ceased to exist as persons
deserving any honor of human dignity. We lack even the
civility of the British imperialists, who after the (April
13, 1919) Jalianwala blood bath instituted the Hunter
Commission to make a thorough enquiry into the events.
The (Delhi) government, after the operation, on the other
hand, did every thing in its power to cover up the excesses
of the army action…The most disturbing thing about the
entire operation was that a whole mass of men, women, and
children were ordered to be killed merely on the suspicion
that some terrorists were operating from the Golden Temple
and other Gurdwaras. There had been no judicial verdict of
guilt against definite individuals who had been taking
shelter in the Golden Temple." End quote.
Another Hindu writer, Ram
Narayan Kumar, has observed (in “Reduced to Ashes” - Volume
One - Asia Forum for Human Rights, Kathmandu, Nepal, May
2003, pp. 75) that, "On the strength of constitutional
features, India claims to be the largest functional
democracy in the world where wide-spread human rights
abuses, systematic persecution of estranged communities and
suppression of political dissent cannot occur. However, the
experiences of the Sikhs in Punjab show that as a demonized
community targeted for abuse by the authorities, they had no
protection from the leaders of the supposedly independent
institutions, including the judiciary, either in shielding
their fundamental rights against imminent violations or in
obtaining acknowledgement and legal restitution of wrongs.
Freedom of discourse remained an empty promise which even
the higher judiciary joined the chorus to turn the page and
obliterate the victims' memory on the grounds that a public
discussion and scrutiny focusing on past abuses and the role
of institutions would undermine the interests of peace and
social order."
That June 1984 wanton act of
armed aggression permanently hurt the psyche and laid the
foundation of a Sikh buffer state (Khalistan) in the mind of
every Sikh. Twenty four years have gone by, since the June
1984 Indian Army attack on Akal Takht Sahib, but that dark
event has left a long permanent shadow 'engraved in
concrete' on the inner soul of the Sikh nation. Nothing can
eraze that. Nothing! "Time makes more converts than reason"
is a well known truism. Indeed, time flies over us, but
leaves its shadow behind. And the shadow is the state of
Khalistan, as far as Sikhs are concerned. No wonder on a
bright and sunny Saturday, on April 26, 2008, thousands of
Sikh Americans attending the colorful 21st Vaisakhi Sikh Day
Parade, in New York’s Madison Avenue Park, saw and heard
Akal Takht Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti endorse the Sikh
right of self-determination to seek a democratic
water/food-rich buffer state of Khalistan in South Asia.
The June 1984, Indian Army
attack was by no means undertaken as a result of a law and
order situation as Indian dezinformatsiya keeps repeating.
That is a lie and typical Indian disinformation. The Indian
ruler in June 1984, Prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, a
Brahmin, and the daughter of the first Indian prime
minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, wanted to break the
spirit and political will of the Sikh community, a besieged,
but defiant, people - a muscular minority captive in India -
who take pride in their 500 years history of tolerance,
equality, piety, justice, military muscle and generosity and
who DO NOT and will not accept a social/economic order which
calls for a morally repugnant oligarchic dynastic Caste
System geared for the needs and ambitions of a miniscule
Brahmin (4% of India’s population) minority, as a
fundamental pillar of society.
In the final analysis, the
Khalistan movement, for a democratic Sikh majority buffer
state, has gained strength and acquired international
dimensions, since June 1984, with unwavering support of the
three million strong pro-Khalistan Sikh diaspora, and is
receiving sympathy from freedom-loving individuals of every
nationality. Since June 1984 a fire burns in every Sikh's
‘belly’ to create an independent, sovereign, democratic and
egalitarian Sikh buffer state of Khalistan. Passage of
twenty four years since the June 1984 attack has not reduced
the burning desire of the Sikhs for that buffer state -
Khalistan - which will stretch from the River Jumna in the
East to the Pakistan border on the West, Kashmir in the
North and China on the North East and act as a bridge of
peace and commerce between the seven 'Stans' (Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakistan) of Central Asia and the countries
of South Asia. To part company with the unjust,
Caste-ridden, oligarchic India, and its morally repugnant
Brahmin-caste-dominated rulers, has become the national goal
of the 26 million strong Sikh nation.
The prediction that a Sikh
state will be established in South Asia was made by none
other than the greatest Sikh of the 20th Century, Shaheed
Sant Jarnail Singh Bhimndrawale, who foresaw this
development prior to his martyrdom on June 06, 1984, when he
fell bravely defending the Akal Takht Sahib during the armed
assault conducted by Indian Army soldiers equipped with
tanks, artillery, helicopter gun ships etc., and other
deadly instruments of war. His prediction was that, “the
foundation stone of Khalistan will be laid on the day the
Indian army attacks the Darbar Sahib.” (Please also read the
Khalistan Calling, dated June 11, 2003, headlined, "Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhinranwale declared a martyr in Darbar Sahib
function," by clicking at the following link:>
http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/home/khalistancalling/2003/june11.aspx
<)
According to a report, by
Varinder Walia, in the Tribune of June 3, 2008, the Indian
rulers are so scared of the memory of Shaheed Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, 24 years after his death, that
they have placed the Chairman of the Kashmir Hurriyat
Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, under house arrest in
Srinagar. The government wants to prevent Geelani from
attending a joint inter-faith conclave, (>
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080603/punjab1.htm#1
<) of Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, organized by the
nationalist pro-Khalistan Dal Khalsa, to be held on June 4,
2008, in Amritsar, on the 24th anniversary of the Indian
army attack on Darbar Sahib, a cowardly action sometimes
also called Operation Bluestar. According to the HINDU
newspaper Geelani in a statement has, ‘accused the Jammu and
Kashmir government of caving into pressure from the Centre
in preventing him from going to Amritsar to attend a seminar
organized to commemorate Operation Blue Star.’ Mr. Geelani,
who is under house arrest for the past three days, said at a
news conference that the Union government could not stop the
“people from demanding right of self determination be it in
Punjab or Kashmir.” Geelani condemned his detention, saying:
“the State government has taken dictation from New Delhi and
stopped me as they know that I would talk about genuine and
just rights of people.” (>
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/04/stories/2008060455731300.htm
<)
On the twenty fourth
anniversary of the June 1984 'Ghallughara' we bow our heads
in respect and salute the memory of Shaheed Sant Jarnail
Singh Bhinranwale and the thousands of Sikh martyrs, who
sacrificed their lives for the Sikh nation, so that future
generations may be able to enjoy the 'glow of freedom' in a
democratic independent and sovereign buffer state of
Khalistan. Each one of us should vow to carry on the mission
of the martyrs and make the following prophesy, come true
with ‘people power’:-
"DILLI Takht Par Bahaygee;
Aap Guru Kee Fauj; Chattar Chulayn`gay Sis Par; Barri
Karaygee Mauj."
TRANSLATION:-
"The Guru's Sikh Army will sit
on the Delhi throne (currently occupied by the Brahmins) and
there will be peace, justice and prosperity for all."
