Posted on 08/12/2002 9:40:52 AM PDT by TBP
Indian Police Fire at Peaceful Sikh Protestors
India Again Shows It Is Not a Democracy
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 5, 2002–The Times of India reported on August 1 that police in Malout fired on a crowd of peaceful protestors, injuring many of them. Several have been admitted to Civil Hospital, Malout. Eight protestors were arrested. The police used tear gas on the demonstrators. Two people suffered bullet wounds, according to the article.
The demonstrators were protesting against a so-called religious function organized by the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan which was aimed at undermining the Sikh religion and slandering the Sikh gurus, according to the Times of India.
"Like the attack on the Golden Temple, this incident shows that there is no place in India for Sikhs," said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan. Khalistan is the Sikh homeland declared independent on October 7, 1987. "The Indian government is dedicated to wiping out the Sikh religion," he said. "Nations that do not have political power perish. The only way to ensure that the Sikh religion can survive is to liberate Khalistan as soon as possible," he said.
"This attack shows that India is not a democracy, despite its pretensions," said Dr. Aulakh. "Democracies don't attack minorities and minority religions. Democracies don't commit genocide."
Indian security forces have murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, according to figures compiled by the Punjab State Magistracy and human-rights organizations. These figures were published in the book The Politics of Genocide by Inderjit Singh Jaijee. India has also killed over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, over 80,000 Kashmiris since 1988, and tens of thousands of other minorities.
A report issued last year by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) shows that India admitted that it held 52,268 political prisoners under the repressive "Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act" (TADA) even though it expired in 1995. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984. There has been no list published of those who were acquitted under TADA and those who are still rotting in Indian jails. Additionally, according to Amnesty International, there are tens of thousands of other minorities being held as political prisoners. On February 28, 42 Members of the U.S. Congress from both parties wrote to President Bush to urge him to work for the release of Sikh political prisoners. The MASR report quotes the Punjab Civil Magistracy as writing "if we add up the figures of the last few years the number of innocent persons killed would run into lakhs [hundreds of thousands.]"
In November 1994, the Indian newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian government paid the late governor of Punjab, Surendra Nath, $1.5 billion to organize and support covert terrorist activity in Punjab, Khalistan, and in neighboring Kashmir. The book Soft Target, written by Canadian journalists Brian McAndrew and Zuhair Kashmeri, shows that the Indian government blew up its own airliner in 1985 to blame Sikhs and justify further repression. It quotes an agent of the Canadian Security Investigation Service (CSIS) as saying, "If you really want to clear up the incidents quickly, take vans down to the Indian High Commission and the consulates in Toronto and Vancouver. We know it and they know it that they are involved." On January 2, the Washington Times reported that India sponsors cross-border terrorism in the Pakistani province of Sindh.
Christians have been victims of a campaign of terror that has been going on since Christmas 1998. Churches have been burned, Christian schools and prayer halls have been attacked, nuns have been raped, and priests have been killed. Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burned alive while they slept in their jeep by militant Hindu members of the RSS, the parent organization of the ruling BJP. Earlier this year, over 5,000 Muslims were murdered by Hindus in Gujarat, according to The Hindu. These attacks were planned by the government, according to human-rights organizations, and news reports quoted a police officer as saying they had orders not to intervene to stop the violence.
"India's efforts to eliminate the Sikh religion are doomed to fail," Dr. Aulakh said. "This terrible act of police brutality shows that India is neither secular nor democratic, and it is time to launch a Shantmai Morcha to liberate our homeland, Khalistan, so that the Sikh Nation can finally enjoy the glow of freedom that was promised to us in 1947. Sovereignty is our birthright, and self-determination is the cornerstone of democracy. It is time for self-determination for all the peoples of South Asia."
Democracies only need to concern themselves with majority support not with minority rights.
In pre-colonial days, India was no more a "nation" than Europe was during the same period.
Not even the right to live? Surely you jest.
I read almost the exact same words in the Hindustan Times in a different article last week. So, at least somebody is pumping this info out.
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