Congratulations to Sikh Nation on Guru Nanak’s 542nd Birthday

Congratulations to Sikh Nation on Guru Nanak’s 542nd Birthday

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 24, 2011 –November 10 marks the 542nd Parkash Ustau (birthday) of Guru Nanak, who founded the Sikh religion.  Sikhs from all over the world will gather in Nankana Sahib, now in Pakistan, to celebrate.  Last year, over 15,000 Sikhs attended the celebration, including 3,000 from India.  Even more are expected this year.  If the India-Pakistan border at Wagah were open, hundreds of thousands of Sikhs from Punjab would  come.  But that can only happen when the Sikh Nation frees Khalistan, the Sikh homeland that declared its independence on October 7, 1987.

Guru Nanak spoke out against repression.  He called Babar (invader from Afghanistan) jabir (tyrant) and accused him of forcibly taking people’s wealth.  Guru Nanak was even imprisoned.

The Sikh Nation is required to fight repression, injustice, and discrimination.  The Gurus did it.  They gave their lives for the freedom of others.  Guru Teg Bahadur was beheaded in Delhi to stop the forcible conversion of Kashmiri Pandits (Brahmins) to Islam.

Sikhs have been persecuted by the Indian regime.  According to former Member of Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann, the Indian government has murdered over a million Sikhs since 1982. This aligns with a threat made by the former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Balram Jakhar, who said, "If we have to kill a million Sikhs to preserve our territorial integrity, so be it." According to Sardar Inderjit Singh Jaijee and Bibi Baljit Kaur Gill of the Movement Against State Repression (MASR), India would have murdered 10 times as many Sikhs as it did kill had the Sikhs outside India not spoken up.  India has also killed more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 100,000 Muslims in Kashmir as well as 2,000 to 5,000 in Gujarat , tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and other minorities.  The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs “worse than a genocide.”

Atrocities against Sikhs go unpunished.  Tytler, HKL Bhagat, Sujjan Kumar, Kamal Nath, and many others have been proven guilty of killing thousands of Sikhs, yet no action has been taken against them.  A report issued 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.

“Democratic” India continues to arrest people for engaging in free speech.  On February 27 in Jalandhar, former Member of Parliament Sardar Atinder Pal Singh, President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Khalistani), was arrested along with four other members of his party while putting up banners supporting Khalistan.  He was putting up the banners in preparation for a press conference about Khalistan.  In 2009, Sardar Daljit Singh Bittu, President of the Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani), was arrested for displaying pictures of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and speaking out in support of an independent Khalistan.  Two leading Sikh activists were arrested for peacefully protesting the construction of a statue to honor Beant Singh, the late Chief Minister who presided over the murder of tens of thousands of Sikhs.

“Kosovo got its freedom from Serbia and Montenegro, which has less than a million people, has become independent,” said Dr. Aulakh.  “Khalistan's freedom is not far away.” The Sikhs outside Punjab are helping our Sikh brothers and sisters in Punjab regain their freedom.  The Sikh diaspora has  been exposing the genocide against Sikhs through the U.S. Congress and through countries such as Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Belgium, and others.

History shows that multinational states such as India are doomed to failure. Countries like Austria-Hungary, India’s longtime friend the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and others prove this point.  India is not one country; it is a polyglot like those countries, thrown together for the convenience of the British colonialists.  It is doomed to break up as they did.  The Central Intelligence Agency predicted that India will disintegrate by 2015.  “We hope that India’s breakup will be peaceful like Czechoslovakia’s, not violent like Yugoslavia’s,” Dr. Aulakh said.

“Now it is the time for the Sikh Nation of Khalistan to reclaim its independence,” Dr. Aulakh said.  “As Professor Darshan Singh, a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, said, ‘If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh’,” Dr. Aulakh noted. “Two other Jathedars, Bhai Ranjit Singh and Sardar Joginder Singh Vedanti, have taken the same position.  The Sikh Nation should listen to these Jathedars,” he said.  “The time has come to free Khalistan.”