Remembering the Golden Temple Massacre, June 3-6, 1984

Sikhs Must Have Freedom in Sovereign Homeland

From June 3-6, 1984, the Indian government brutally invaded the Golden Temple and 125 other Gurdwaras around Punjab.  Over 20,000 people were killed in these attacks, including such Sikh leaders as Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was the strongest spokesman for Sikh rights and Sikh freedom.  More than 100 young boys, ages 8 to 13, were taken outside into the courtyard and asked whether they supported Khalistan, the independent Sikh homeland.  When they answered with the Sikh religious incantation “Bole So Nihal,” they were summarily shot to death.  The Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scripture, handwritten in the time of the ten Sikh Gurus, was shot full of bullet holes by the Indian military.  Sant Bhindranwale warned that if the Indian government invaded the Golden Temple, it would “lay the foundation stone for Khalistan” and it did.

How can this happen in a democracy?

U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Cal.) has said that for the minorities such as Sikhs and Kashmiris “India might as well be Nazi Germany.” 

A Pattern of Repression Against the Sikh Nation

·         Over 250,000 Sikhs murdered since 1984.

·         52,268 Sikh political prisoners, according to the Movement Against State Repression

·         35 Sikhs arrested for raising the Sikh flag and making speeches on January 26

·         More than 50,000 Sikhs disappeared in Indian government’s secret cremations.  Their remains have never been given to their families.

·         Indian government paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police to kill Sikhs

·         Gurnihal Singh Pirzada, a senior officer in the IAS, arrested after allegedly being seen at a meeting of gathering of Punjab “dissidents.”  Pirzada denies attending such a meeting, but points out that it would not be illegal if he did.

·         Jaswant Singh Khalra kidnapped by police and murdered in police custody after exposing Indian policy of arresting Sikhs, torturing them, murdering them, cremating the bodies as “unidentified.”

·         Gurdev Singh Kaunke, former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, highest Sikh religious leader, murdered by police official Swaran Singh Ghotna, who has never been punished.

·         The Indian newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian government paid the late Governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, the equivalent of $1.5 billion to foment and support covert state terrorist activity in Punjab and Kashmir.

This is the state of freedom in Punjab, Khalistan under Indian rule.

THE REPPRESSION CONTINUES WHILE INDIA PROCLAIMS ITS SECULARISM AND DEMOCRACY

Half a million Indian forces have been sent to Punjab, Khalistan to subdue the freedom movement there.  Another 700,000 are deployed in Kashmir. They join with the police in carrying out the kinds of atrocities described on the other side of this flyer.  India calls this “protecting its territorial integrity.”

In March 2000 in the village of Chithisinghpora, 35 Sikhs were massacred. Two studies of this massacre, one by the International Human Rights Organization, based in Ludhiana, and the other conducted jointly by the Punjab Human Rights Organization and the Movement Against State Repression, concluded that the massacre was the work of Indian forces, a conclusion supported by reporter Barry Bearak in the December 31, 2000 issue of the New York Times Magazine.  In another village in Kashmir, Indian troops were caught red-handed trying to set fire to several Sikh houses and the local Gurdwara.  Sikh and Muslim villagers joined together to stop this atrocity before it could be carried out.  This past January, 35 Sikhs were arrested for raising the Sikh flag.

Sikhs ruled Punjab as an independent, secular country from 1765 to 1849.  Sikhs have never accepted the Indian constitution.  At the time of the transfer of power, Sikhs were equal partners who were to receive sovereignty along with Muslims and Hindus.  When the Indian constitution was adopted in 1950, no Sikh representative signed it and no Sikh representative has signed it to this day.

On October 7, 1987, the Sikh Nation formally declared its independence from India, naming their new country Khalistan.  Since then, Khalistan has been under illegal occupation by the Indian government and its forces. 

Unfortunately, Sikhs are not the only victim of India’s brutal tyranny.

·         India has murdered over 300,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 90,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of thousands of other minorities

·         Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were brutally murdered by being  burned to death while they slept in their jeep by a mob of Hindu militants affiliated with the militant, pro-Fascist Rashtriya Swayamsewak  Sangh (RSS) who chanted “Victory to Hannuman,” a Hindu god.

·         An American missionary from Pennsylvania, Joseph Cooper, was expelled from the country after being so severely beaten by RSS goons that he had to spend a week in the hospital.

·         In January 2003, an American missionary and seven other individuals were attacked

·         Christian schools and prayer halls have been attacked and destroyed.

·         A Christian religious festival was broken up by police gunfire.

·         In March 2002, between 2,000 and 5,000 Muslims were brutally murdered in Gujarat.  India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), an official body, found evidence in the killings of premeditation by members of Hindu extremist groups and complicity by Gujarat state officials.  A police officer confirmed to an Indian newspaper that the massacre was pre-planned by the government.

·         The most revered mosque in India, the Ayodhya mosque, was destroyed by Hindu mobs affiliated with the BJP and a Hindu temple was built on the site.

·         The states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa have all passed bills barring religious conversions.

DEMOCRACIES DON’T COMMIT GENOCIDE.

Support Self-Determination in South Asia

The right to self-determination is the essence of democracy.  Please urge your representatives to support self-determination for Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the nations seeking their freedom.  Demand a free and fair plebiscite on the question of independence and an end to foreign aid to India until human rights are respected.

This material is circulated by the Council of Khalistan, which is registered with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as an agent of the Council of Khalistan, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab.  The material is filed with the DOJ where the required registration is available for inspection.  Registration does not indicate approval of the contents by the U.S. Government.