Voice for Khalistan Echoes in Capitol Hill

Washington – A leading Sikh group has gained access to the powerful corridors of the Capitol Hill with ultimate goal of seeking US lawmakers’ moral support for the creation of an Independent State for followers of Sikh religion, bifurcating, Indian Punjab, the Sikh majority state, The Daily Mail learnt.

When more than two dozen lawmakers announced formation of the first-ever Sikh American Congressional Caucus last week at the Capitol Hill, it was the presence of quite a number of individuals and representatives of organizations, who have always been openly supporting the cause of Khalistan, making everyone feel the importance and sensitivity amongst the Sikh to have an independent State, getting rid of the imposed Hindu rule.

"Sikhs who were present in the Sikh Congressional Caucus event in Washington were activists for the rights of Sikhs and were motivated by ideology of pro-Khalistan," said a prominent member of California-based North America Punjabi Association (NAPA).

A number of eminent Sikh American organizations say that as the courts back in India are now probing the riots of 1984 and the way the brutalities and ruthless killings of Sikhs by the Indian Security Forces during that era, which is by no means over yet, it becomes imminent for Sikhs to demand a separate and Independent State where they can live their lives with complete religious freedom and without any mistreatment on the basis of their religion or race.

These Sikhs, who also enjoy the support of the Sikhs, living in Canada and England in particular and from the rest of the world in general, say that the Capitol Hill is the best platform to gain support for this very legitimate and legal cause and they would continue to convince US lawmakers and policy makers to extend their support to this just cause.

They say that they do not support militancy for such purposes and that was why they had adopted the most democratic and most appealing way of gaining the moral support for their cause.

The Indian Embassy in Washington, which was not invited to this event, what many term as a historic one, has said it has always stood for the protection of the interests of all Indian Americans including members of the Sikh American community.

Insiders in the Sikh American community, who worked behind scenes for the creation of the Sikh Caucus, said that the Indian Embassy officials had expressed displeasure to the US lawmakers over the move.

An official of a New York-based Sikh advocacy group said, this was one of the reasons that none from the Indian Embassy were present at the launch event, which for the pro-Khalistan group is being billed as their major "diplomatic victory" against India after a long time.

However, the lawmakers, after the input by the Indian Embassy have asserted that the goal of this caucus is to address the issue of "hate crime" against the Sikhs US, as the community has been a major victim of it post 9/11.

"Rest assured, this platform will not be used against India. We are aware of the strategic importance of India-US relationship," a Congressional aide said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Curbing Indian Atrocities on Sikhs by Stepping Towards Khalistan

I have started this writing based on no assumption. Before I can convince even myself that we Sikhs need independent nation, I need some answers of my own questions. I have tried to get the answers on my own by searching the information from the internet.

WHAT IS AN INDEPENDENT SIKH NATION?

As a simple common Sikh man, I understand that the independent Sikh nation is primarily meant to be nation where majority of the Sikhs resides and can progress on social, economic & religious emotions in good democratic manner based on Sikh philosophy. Also Punjabi Hindus & Muslims in malerkotla can live peacefully in this nation.

DID THE PRESENT SECULAR STATE OF INDIA PREVENT SIKHS FROM PROGRESSING ON SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, RELIGIOUS & EMOTIONAL FRONT?

As a naïve Sikh man, I initially thought in general, it seems no body stops us from making progress on economic front. Also religion wise, no body stop us to make gurduwara and worship wahaguru However I did make search to understand how far our Punjab have make progress after independence in 1947 by being part of INDIA?

I will try to put following points to point out, we would have been better of with independent land locked KhaIistan.

1) Despite giving so much to India in terms of foodgrains, pricing of the grains are not in our control. No canal system is in proper place for the land cultivation. Most of the water taken is out of ground that is going down very fast now & is toxic in nature! It may not remain for more than 10-15 years. An economic problem will even start on greater foot on our land & people.

Govt. of India never allowed our Punjab farmers to sell crops at highest value. No concrete infrastructure is in place to help farmers. Most of the time it is Hindu middle men whose mercy our Sikh farmer brothers depend on.

2) Neighboring states of Punjab are allowed to get most of the water for free. As an independent nation we can sell this water. History shows all water rich countries make lot of economic benefit from this (ex Argentina).

3) In a long run, for any region to sustain and grow faster in fast changing world, education is the key. It is the service industry that makes countries rich. Example: Japan, Israel & most of the western world. No money is being spent on education and relevant industrial because our area is near to Pakistan. No major MNC come to Punjab to set up high technology industry. Had we had our independent nation, this would not be the case. Make normal relationship among neighborhood with respect. Any company that wants to take advantage of retailing in Khalistan can be forced to setup R&D centers. But we cannot force this opening of R&D center in Punjab as most of the industry then tends to go close to Delhi and further south. With 13 MPs, Punjab is hardly in position to make such negotiations.

4) And what is our youth doing in the absence of no concrete service and manufacture industry? Well, going for drugs. Why? That’s what congress & other corrupt political parties give them to take votes. When elections come (local, state, national), it is drugs, liquor etc in free flow. Khalistan will never allow drugs. Many countries like Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand have death sentence for such usage. Guess what, they have successfully controlled the potent death habit among their youths. But our secular India will never allow such rule to place in Punjab. So merry goes on. In fact congress pseudo Hindus would like our race to die. After all, that’s what national Hindu leader Mr. Balram Jahaar says ' To preserve the unity of India, if we have to eradicate 2-kror [ 20 million ] Sikhs, we will do so. (Balram Jhakhar, a colleague of P.V. Narsimharao, the former Indian Prime Minister, now Governor of Madhya Pardesh)

5) Recently, all universities in Punjab request for fund allocation. UGC is not giving enough funds to Punjab’s universities despite Punjab contributing too much in center tax revenue and food grain contribution. Check such news in local Tribune newspapers

So in brief, a water rich fertile land nation with good business skill can easily be self-sufficient economically. Any gas pipelines royalties are extra money. Money spent on education to make service oriented industry is what will make Khalistan a truly developed nation. With 10% Sikhs (20lakh) living abroad in already developed world, business contacts in moving forward along developed world is not an issue. We are indeed better off as landlocked small country than being part of India. (I welcome people to prove me wrong on my points above listed on economic, social front)

HOW TO GAIN INDEPENDENCE FOR SIKH NATION

The trillion dollar question is as how to get independence. Let’s study new countries that have gained independence in last 2 decades. Why only last 2 decades? Because world is keep changing fast. And we should learn how a nation creation is possible in current global political setup.

BIG NATIONS BREAKUP (PASSIVE POLICY)

Since 1990, 32 new countries have been created. Majority of them are created by break down of USSR & Yugoslavia. Certainly, the way these countries gain independence is not by individual effort but because of the collective failure of big nations as a whole. For us to follow this model means: We have to wait the day India breaks down.

1) May be because of Hindu-Muslim tensions.

2)  May be because of social disorder (naxalites), reservation problems (gujjers).

3) Or may be because of north –south divide in economic disparity.

The FIRST reason does not seem will work. Muslims who do not want to live in India have already moved out & whatever remains need not have strong race strength. Also they are not in majority except in Kashmir valley. Just a pocket of Hyderabad and UP (meerut etc) are no real danger for breaking India. Kashmir seems to have tamed with no much external support coming. Also Muslims got bad name worldwide.

The SECOND reason of naxalites also may not be good reason to believe. Since these people do not have international recognition. Beside they are against the idea of capitalism. South America in recent times has nations who get what we say left people win via democratic means. They come close to what I am trying to saying but again with little international support & no clear defined boundaries. The disturbance by such people will do just social riots. In our context of creating Khalistan, this still may not come handy. (Except Indian security forces resources are being used to handle/contain them)

The THIRD thought of north-south divide should be the most promising of the three options. As of now, all south states (AP, Karnatka, Tamil naidu) doing great in economic power. While Bihar, UP, Madhya Pardesh) are doing very poor.

The only north region which is giving any fighting chance is DELHI AREA against the south. So in long run of 15-20 years if this trend continues, the Southern states will be more assertive of their independent authority. The most promising one is the Tamil Nadu with anti-Hindi Dravidian parties like DMK MDMK etc. Their assertiveness also defined by LTTE success in sri lanka.

Until a Tamil state is not created in Sri Lanka,. Their own self confidence may be low about getting Tamil ELEAM in India as of now.

Note: Just a note to sangat, you can see how strong LTTE with is own aircrafts and committed squads of naval & army. Still they are not able to gain independence despite having northern controlled areas. REASON? NO major world power is ready to recognize it, including India & permanent members of the Security Council. So it is very important that we gain acceptance from Security Council, a moral support of our cause. Thus, not only recognition from the world will come but also the peacekeeping forces come handy from UN to start the national building process when our dream comes true.

So in brief the above discussed approach talked about, following a Wait & Watch policy. I am not sure how many people would like this approach. But this is certainly one of the passive possibilities. Let’s discuss other model of way nations gain independence by active struggle in recent times.

SMALLER PART GETTING INDEPENDENCE FROM BIGGER PART (PROACTIVE POLICY):

Of all the recent nations gaining independence from bigger or majority, East Timor gaining independence from Indonesia is the most prompt that I could search. In East Timor case, UN from the beginning never recognized the Indonesia brutal occupation on East Timor area. Thus when the time came of plebiscite, Timor people voted for independence. Taking same argument in our case. A non-official plebiscite of giving hardliner (Simranjeet Singh Maan) a power in Punjab elections will give sufficient indication to UN that people of Punjab do want independence. A UN understanding is must. Luckily India is not permanent member of Security Council. That still gives us possibility to break easily under this model of proactive.

New nation (East Timor), however, did pay a price of independence from Indonesia with destruction of its infrastructure. So, a word of caution to Sikh brothers. We may have to pay a similar price if not play our cards carefully.

BUT, a proactive policy comes with revolution. As we have seen in recent events in Punjab, people are not ready for revolution. There is no point in blaming in badal govt. Badal govt have people support. It is only last 10 years before they have seen the bad days of terrorism or Sikh fight as our brothers will like to call. That moment got directionless with no strong leadership. And also Ak-47 or swords are good for nothing against Indian army. So what to do? Give up arms and cry like baby with no clear cut solution in sight? No brothers, there is always is solution of every problem. It is question of how we will understand and act upon it.

One should understand the psychology of people in general. Everyone in this world fears from revolution. Since revolution brings changes and people in general do not like changes in their ambient area. In recent times during French elections, the present president talked about cuts in subsidy & doing more work. Many or majority of people voted against him because of the fear rather than optimism of opposite candidate. In our case, revolution will come only when our water level in Punjab goes down so much so that it becomes nearly impossible for people to survive. I hope it comes earlier lest it is too late.

With no proper channels in place, letting all water flow to neighboring Hindu dominated Haryana and Rajisthan, our Punjab will soon be dry land in next 15 years if similar situation remains. That will be too late. So, what to do? We need to start evolution approach to gain independence rather than a straight revolution approach. Of course, independence will only come with revolution. But to get into stage of revolution we need to do our homework proper by means of evolution.

WHAT IS THE MEANING of EVOLUTION? WHAT WE CAN DO TO MAKE IT WORK

I will try best to answer this question with example in technology area. Take the example of Finance package system in banks. Anyone in IT industry knows many components make a package as usable package. If one day we decide oh common all system is crap. It is not delivering what we want. Make changes in design and code all together. What will happen? It will fail. People dealing with package will cry & system as a whole will fail.

Same thing happens with revolution approach done for independence in early 80s. Sant Bhindranwale Ji did initiate and make point across Sikh community that there is need to have independent state for Sikhs. Nobody disputes that since under present system, Sikhs were losing their social, economic and financial fronts.

When the flash point came in 1984 to make decisions, there was no clear game plan. The moment army attacked golden temple, Sikh peasants simply made emotional run towards Amritsar. Result, army simply shot our unarmed Sikh brothers just like killing sitting ducks. The Hindu soldiers enjoy this killing. So what should we do? Just get angry. NO. Anger makes no result. We should learn the lessons. An unarmed crowd is good for nothing.

1)  EVOLUTION POINT 1: Our Sikh peasants should get armed with govt. licensed guns; and even unauthorized guns if that be the case but no need to use or show them. Keep for your own safely. Whatever reasons, have arms and be ready.

2) EVOLUTION POINT 2: Ex-servicemen should be ready to command the village army. DO this practice now only. Times may come in 5 or 10 years. We have to be patient and wait for right time.

All the Sikhs living outside of Punjab in India should make point to have contact in Punjab either by having second home purchase or business link setup. Or job of one of the family members in Punjab. It is important to make run towards Punjab when situation demands. What happened when 1984 massacre occurred? Many Sikhs became refugees in Punjab. It did not help them in any way.

3) EVOLUTION POINT 3: Sikh peasants should put pressure on Akali political leaders to make strong case for more canal systems in Punjab. Ground water should be last AND not the first option when looking for water in fields, drinking and other usage. So much water is flowing to neighboring state. Water is still state subject. The government cannot force us to send our water outside. So we can legally fight our case to stop sending water outside. There is concept of river based distribution across region. This is the smart Hindu move that results in too much water going out of Punjab. A strong legal team & brains are required to start reducing our outflow of water. A positive move is also required in our community to help restore ground water level. Try restoring the present forest land with trees. How small they be. Also ground water level restore systems can be installed using govt. subsidy approach.

4) EVOLUTION POINT 4: Now this evolution point goes to every Sikh, no matter whatever profession they are in. DEMAND our separate Sikh civil code for marriages & property distribution. This is very important to let international community know that we are different from Hindus. Khalistan can never become a reality if we do not have a separate identity. With time our future generations will get again diluted with UP/BHIAR Hindus in future. We need to be separate now. Let civil code be one of ways to do it.

5) EVOLUTION POINT 5: The casteism in Sikhism is regrettable especially when our Guru Ji teaches us to treat all equally. But I am not here to give lecture on what we should do to erode it. That we can discuss someday later. It is important that in Punjab our Sikh brothers who are low on economic and social scale should get reservation status much more than low level Hindus. Simple, we want our Sikhs to succeed. Every state in India makes reservation as per its local interest. We should use this tool to our advantage. Also this will help us to get away from DERA attacks on our panth. Let Hindu Muslim be parts of any DERA. We don’t care. Also, it is not our problem. So make political demand of more reservations for Sikhs.

6) EVOLUTION POINT 6: The Sikhs living outside of India can play a very important role in making the Sikh independent state a reality. I can see in news various organization are playing a very active role by putting point across UNO, EU & other organization. A win of Hillary Clinton as president of USA will be good for Sikhs with Clinton’s close friendship with Chatwals. I am sure people abroad are very active. The same momentum keeps going is all required.

7) EVOLUTION POINT 7: Our Sikhs brothers should be part of Sikh regiment. They are to play major role when revolution comes.

Well so far my evolution points are up to common people level. Now how my point will reach to masses.

8) EVOLUTION POINT 8: All computer nerds that are reading this article (Sikhs I mean) make point to spread this word across our brothers to do what is needful as per their situation as defined in the list above.

Also Sikh media is must have for our words to spread across. Stations like Akash radio should try putting more reach by moving towards air wave on Punjab soil.

If people propagate the above points on evolution the Sikh Nation will become a reality. The list for revolution points is not complete. There are many things that can be done while living under law & keep pushing before making final push. Just making Badal govt. to demand water & more reservation to economic less Sikhs in Punjab will ensure our slow & right movement towards our goal. BOTH WATER & RESERVATION are state power subjects.

EVOLUTION TO REVOLUTION

This depends upon how soon we are successful in getting our evolution points across. Time keeps passing by. The HARDLINE in Akalis should able to gain power in next general election i.e. in 4 year time. If that becomes possible the revolution stage can come early.

WHAT REVOLUTION ARE YOU TALKING? DID you SINCERELY THINK SIKHS can beat Indian army & police?

It will be better if India breaks from within. That will make efforts of our Sikh brothers easier. But good military general experience leading a break away Sikh regiment army can help us in fighting. Make point to use non-conventional warfare i.e. biological weapons. Put such weapons spread on all roads leading to Punjab. NOTE: Use such weapons only against fighting force NOT against population. Otherwise the WORLD will turn against us. Since such weapons are not allowed to be used. I am not talking about nuclear weapon. First, such weapon is out of our reach. Second, using such weapon can back fire. What will small state like Punjab do if our enemy uses the similar weapon? So the path is long and hard. But with international support and evolution approach we can move on to revolution stage.

Must Read - Babbar Khalsa - "Tax for Khalistan"

During the Sikh struggle for independance, the courageous Jujharoo Singh's carried out numerous action which resulted in sleepless nights for the Delhi rulers. One such action worth mentioning took place as Shaheed Bhai Charat Singh Babbar re-enacted the history of Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh.

It was in the year 1990/1991, fake encounters by the Punjab Police had become routine. Bhai Charat Singh had decided to tackle the security forces head on and assembled a squad of Babbar Khalsa Jujharoo's. Around 4pm the group set up a roadblock on en-route from GT Road (Amritsar) to Batala Road and challenged the CRPF and Punjab Police to a real encounter.

2-3 hours had elapsed yet not a single Punjab Police or BSF/CRPF vehicle had passed by. Bhai Charat Singh spoke out to the Singhs and said "Now we are going to collect tax for Khalistan" the Singhs asked "How are we going to do that?" Bhai Charat Singh said for each car that passes the owner must pay 5 rupees tax and a 2 rupees charge for each truck driver. This was to send a message to the government that Jujharoo rule had been established and the Singh's were openly collecting tax.

According to eye-witness sources, truck drivers and car drivers were gladly paying the tax, in fact many where handing 100 rupee notes and suggesting to the Singh's that the tax amount's are too low, and that they should be raised. Bhai Charat Singh re-iterated the reasons behind the "taxing" and said we are only doing this to show the Punjab Police and Hindustan Government that the heirs to Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh's legacy are still alive.

Bhai Charat Singh then sent a written challenge to Sadar police station, Batala, stating that the Singh's had blocked off the road, if your force is brave enough then come and face us. When this letter had no effect, Bhai Charat Singh had another letter delivered, this time to the area's infamous and brutal police officer, Ajaib Singh. Upon reading Bhai Charat Singh's written challenge, Ajaib Singh immediately called his superiors requesting CRPF forces to be deployed alongside the Punjab Police.

As the CRPF forces and Punjab Police where heading towards the Singh's, an argument broke out as to who should be leading the charge, with neither wanting to be the first to face the Babbar Singhs. Eventually they decided that 2 cars (1 of Punjab Police and 1 of the CRPF) would lead and 30-40 cars of both forces combined following.

By this time the Singh's, who had been waiting for a long a time decided to lift the roadblock and head back to their base. As the Singh's were walking back, in the distance they noticed the flashing lights of the Punjab Police cars. The Singh's began running back to the roadblock spot, and opened fire directed at the leading 2 vehicles. The number of security forces injured or killed in this firing is not known, however the ponds of blood on GT Road was compelling evidence suggesting a high number of casualites. The security forces were caught by surprise and could not pluck up the courage to even return fire at the Babbar Singhs. 

According to one source, one of the police officers from the leading vehicles tried launching a grenade at the Singhs, however such was the fear in his mind, that the grenade dropped from his hand into his own car causing it to explode. Upon seeing the heavy damage the leading cars had suffered, the 30-40 vehicles which where following, fearing for their lives, decided to retreat and sped off in the opposite direction.

Babbar Khalsa International's Revival- A Solace for Sikhs

NEW DELHI: The arrest of two operatives of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) has confirmed what Delhi Police have been suspecting for a while now -- that the Punjab-based freedom fighter group is on the lookout for a major strike to announce its revival.

"Delhi Police arrested two Babbar Khalsa operatives who were planning to assassinate some political leaders who have a list of corruption scandals under there belt. We are investigating to confirm how many people are working with the group," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand told IANS.

Four Sacred Babbar Khalsa activists among Five Acquitted

Rupnagar(Punjab), Jan 5 (PTI) A local court today acquitted five persons, including four former activists of banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa in a case related to unlawful activities, illegal possession of explosives and fire arms. The additional sessions judge Manjot Kaur acquitted Daljit Singh Bittu, president of Akali Dal(Panch Pardhani) and four others activists of Babbar Khalsa. However, the court found one person, who was also arrested in this connection, guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison. A case was registered here on November 15, 2009, against seven persons under Unlawful Activities Act, Arms Act, Explosives Act and various sections of the IPC and they were arrested. Babbar Khalsa activists Harminder Singh Cherrian, Balwinder Singh Dekwala, Baljit Singh Bhau, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, Buta Singh and Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Daya Singh Lahoria were arrested in the connection. However, Lahoria was acquitted by a court few months back. After completion of the trial against the remaining six accused, the court today acquitted Daljit Singh Bittu, Baljit Singh Bhau, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, Buta Singh, Balwinder Singh Dekwala. The court sentenced Harminder Singh Cherrian to three years imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on him.

Militant Sikh Organizations or Indian RAW Proxies ??

FATEHGARH SAHIB (August 30, 2011)–Simranjit Singh Mann, President of Shiromani Akali Dal (A) sent ripples through Panthik circles when he errantly labeled the Sikh martyrs of the Khalistan movement ‘agents’ of the Indian Government. Mann specifically pointed fingers at the well established Jeevay Khalistan as well as Bhai Sohan Singh’s Panthik Committee while speaking to the press at Channanwal when he said that these organizations were planted by the Indian Government.

Mann’s statement about  Jeevay Khalistan and other militant groups being agents of the Indian Government can impact his votes in the elections. Though the groups pin-pointed by Mann remain banned and blacklisted in India, they have wide support in foreign countries. Martyrs of  Jeevay Khalistan and other pro-Khalistan organizations are recognized and cherished by Sikhs living in Western countries. Their portraits adorn gurdwara langar halls and are on display at nagar kirtans while teenagers blast dharmic music that boasts of their accomplishments.

Mann has continued to lose support from pro-Gurmat minded Sikhs in past years. His visit to ‘Dera Sachkhand Angeetha Sahib’ and paying obeisance to self-styled Sadh Balwant Sehorra caused a lot of controversy–and for that, even Mann had to apologize publicly to the Sikh Sangat. Perhaps it is due to this reason that Mann has not gained much success in the past decade. At one time Mann enjoyed respect and esteem in Panthik circles and his organization, the SAD (A), was well respected at a large scale.

 He stated that his party is not aligning with either Congress or the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) as both organizations are working against the propagation of the Sikh religion. He also lashed out against Damdami Taksal, Sant Samaj, Dal Khalsa, Delhi Shiromani Gurdwara Management Committee, Mehta Chawla and other organizations and leaders for contesting the elections with the aid of anti-Sikh organizations.

Khalistan Hero : Babbar Khalsa

Bharati (aka Indian) media stories are reporting that various Bharati agencies have noticed a huge rise in Babbar Khalsa activities in Sikh portion of Indian Punjab. Obviously a leaf falls in Bharat and Delhi blames Pakistan. This time too, Delhi is trying to link the Sikh militants with Islamabad–even though no such link exists.

Bharati Sikhs feel deeply alienated from Delhi, and have been struggling for decades for a country of their own. The Sikh diaspora, specially in Canada is very vocal about independence.

Bharat ruthlessly put down a rebellion, which ended up in the partial destruction of Sikhism’s holiest shrine in Amritsar, known as the Golden Temple. After the massacre of Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi assassination, the Khalsas ahve been active even though the large portion of their militants were arrested and extra-judicially murdered.

Police busted a module of Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa International, which was planning to trigger bomb blast in the national capital and Himachal Pradesh, by arresting three members of the group.

While Purushotam Singh alias Bunty, Daljit Singh and Talvinder Singh were arrested by Mohali police on Friday night, two others, including Harinder Singh who is wanted in the 2007 blast at a theatre in Ludhiana, managed to escape.

A reward of Rs 5 lakh has been announced by the police on information leading to the arrest of Harinder who had returned to India last month after fleeing to Pakistan after the Ludhiana blast.

Sources said Harinder had shifted his base to Greece from where he had come to India to carry out the blast in the national capital and Naina Devi in Himachal Pradesh.

Police also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on Nirmal Singh who too had managed to escape. Police seized a pistol, some ammunition and cash totalling to about Rs one lakh from the three arrested.