Council of Khalistan Convention Very Successful

Council of Khalistan Convention Very Successful

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 24, 2011 –A large number of Sikhs converged on the Gurdwara Sahib in Glen Rock, New Jersey to attend the Council of Khalistan’s 24th annual convention, which was held October 8 and 9. The convention was very successful. The convention marked the 24th anniversary of Khalistan's declaration of independence, which occurred on October 7, 1987, and the formation of the Council of Khalistan at that time to serve as the government pro tempore of Khalistan and lead the struggle for Khalistan's freedom.

Sikhs in attendance listened to various speakers and passed a resolution to liberate Khalistan. They called for unity among Sikh organizations. Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, spoke on the progress the Council has made in the past year. Slogans of “Khalistan Zindabad” were raised to an enthusiastic response. The delegates passed a resolution for the liberation of Khalistan. They called for a full-time, staffed Council of Khalsitan office and more activity in the U.S. Congress. Delegates from the Sikh Cultural Society of New York suggested that every Gurdwara should contribute on a regular basis and Sardar Harbans Singh Dhillon of the Sikh Cultural Society accepted the responsibility of raising funds during Dr. Aulakh’s visit there.

Dr. Aulakh reported that the Council of Khalistan has maintained its website, set up a Facebook page to better reach the Sikh community, exposed the atrocities against the Sikh Nation, called for the establishment of a Guru Arjun Dev Medial College at Tarn Taran, and engaged in other activities on behalf of the Sikh Nation. Dr. Aulakh called for the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee to open education centers for computers, medical and engineering schools, and sports centers to provide opportunities for young Sikhs.

“I would like to thank everyone who helped to make the convention a success,” said Dr. Aulakh. “I would especially like to thank the Managing Committee of the Glen Rock Gurdwara, especially Sardar Charan Singh Kalsi, Vice President of the Gurdwara, and the president of the Gurdwara for their financial support. I would also like to thank Dr. Ranbir Singh Bhalla, Sardar Buta Singh Kharaud of the Akali Dal (Amritsar), Sardar Pritam Singh Grewal, and Sardar Amarjit Singh Grewal and their families. I would also like to thank Sardar Jas Paul Singh and Sardar Manpaul Singh for their support and Mrs. Kalsi for her hospitality,” Dr. Aulakh said. “This convention has been a significant step forward for the cause of freedom for Khalistan,” said Dr. Aulakh. “A free Khalistan is the only way to end the repression of the Sikhs and allow the Sikh Nation to live in freedom, peace, security, dignity, and prosperity,” he said. He called for courses on Sikhism in American universities so that the Sikh religion will be better understood in the West.

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. A report by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) 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.]” The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs “worse than a genocide.”

Sikhs are considered slaves in India. 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. Sikhs have been denied a Sikh Marriage Act. Instead, India has forced Sikhs to marry under the Hindu Marriage Act. Sikh farmers have been forced to buy supplies at exorbitant prices and sell their crops at prices below market rates, leading to many suicides. For Sikh youth in India, there is a lack of jobs, so they are cutting their hair and going away from the Sikh religion. All of this is part of India’s plan to eliminate the Sikh religion, Dr. Aulakh said.

“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.” 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.” As former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Professor Darshan Singh said, “If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.”