A Letter to
President Bush
By Dr. Gurmit Singh
Aulakh
President
Council of Khalistan
Thank you for your support
to the cause of freedom for everyone in the world.
Freedom is essential and it is the birthright
of all the people.
As you prepare to visit India next month, I hope
you will press your support of freedom for all
while you are there.
Recently, in the state of Uttaranchal Pradesh,
Sikh farmers were forced out of their farms, which
were bulldozed, and they were thrown out of the
state. They received no compensation and have
no way to make themselves whole. Although outsiders
are allowed to buy land in Punjab, Sikhs cannot
buy land in neighboring Rajasthan and Himachal
Pradesh. This discriminatory policy prevents Sikh
farmers from making a living.
In June, at the observance of the Indian government’s
1984 military attack on the Golden Temple, a group
of Sikhs marched, then made speeches in support
of independence for Khalistan, the Sikh homeland
that declared its independence on October 7, 1987,
and hoisted the Sikh flag. For this they were
arrested. This follows the arrest of 35 Sikhs
in January of last year, when they made speeches
and raised the Khalistani flag at a Republic Day
event. Is speaking out and raising a flag a crime
in a democratic state?
We are pleased that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
apologized for the November 1984 massacre of Sikhs
in Delhi and other parts of India. More than 20,000
Sikhs were killed in that state-sponsored massacre
and it was good that Prime Minister Singh acknowledged
India’s responsibility for it. However,
the apology is all that has happened. No compensation
has been offered to the families of the victims
of this massacre or of any of India’s other
atrocities against the Sikhs.
Unfortunately, this is a part of a larger pattern
of repression of minorities, including Christians
and Muslims, among others, as well as the Sikhs.
The Punjab State Magistracy figures show that
since 1984, over 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered
by the Indian government. Another 52,268 are being
held as political prisoners by the Indian government’s
own admission, according to the Movement Against
State Repression. In addition, Amnesty International
reports that tens of thousands of other minorities
are being held as political prisoners. The Indian
government has killed over 90,000 Kashmiri Muslims,
over 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, tens of thousands
of Christians and Muslims elsewhere in the country,
and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits,
Manipuris, Tamils, and other minorities.
I know that fighting terrorism is very important
to you, Mr. President. India has sponsored cross-border
terror in the Pakistani province of Sindh, according
to the January 2, 2002 issue of the Washington
Times. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
which has been designated by the US government
as a terrorist organization, was created by the
Indian government, according to Indian journalist
Tavleen Singh in India Today, India’s premier
newsmagazine, and its leaders were put up in the
finest hotel in Delhi. The newspaper Hitavada
reported that India paid the late governor of
Punjab $1.5 billion to foment and support covert
state terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir. And Canadian
journalists Zuhair Kashmeri and Brian Mc Andrew
in their book ‘Soft Target’ show that
the Indian government was responsible for blowing
up its own airliner in 1985, killing 329 innocent
people.
The essence of freedom is the right to self-determination.
In 1948, India promised to settle the status of
Kashmir in a plebiscite. To this day, no such
vote has been held. At the time of India’s
independence, the Sikhs were promised their own
state, as we had from 1765 to 1849. Today, we
seek the right to self-determination.
India has undertaken a campaign of repression
and terror to suppress the legitimate aspirations
of the Sikhs and other minority nations within
its borders. As Steve Forbes noted in Forbes magazine,
India is likely to go the way of Austria-Hungary,
the Soviet Union, and other multinational states
that have collapsed because they were not one
nation. India is a polyglot of many nations thrown
together by the British for administrative convenience.
It has 18 official languages. Prior to the British
arrival, there was no entity called India.
Mr. President, America is the leading, dominant
country in the world. While we seek to have good
relations with all nations, including India, America
can also be a force for the freedom of all people.
By pressing Prime Minister Singh on these issues,
you can improve life for the people of the subcontinent
and help to bring peace, freedom, stability, dignity,
and prosperity to all. I respectfully urge you
to bring these issues to the fore when you visit
India next month.
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