Demonstration in Hyde Park London 8th June 2014 - Punjab under seige - Delhi's undeclared War on the Sikhs
Join the Demonstration in Hyde Park, London on Sunday 8th June 2014 – 12:00 h
Condemn Indian Army’s ‘Operation Blue Star’ 1984
Mark the 30th Anniversary of Sikh Genocide
Demand justice for the people of Punjab and rest of India
Abolish Death Penalty; Release all Political Prisoners
Punjab under seige - Delhi’s undeclared War on Sikhs
On 6 June 1984, tanks, mortars, missiles and sophisticated guns roared in a pre-planned concerted operation to crush the ‘enemy’. The ‘enemy’ was not a foreign aggressor nation but the Indian people themselves.
A full scale army attack was launched simultaneously on the holy shrines of Amritsar Golden Temple and 40 other Sikh temples across Punjab.
Between 6 - 8 June thousands of innocent Sikhs - men, women and children were killed along with hundreds of Sikh fighters. Many of the dead have never been accounted for. In the 20th century this was the second biggest tragedy that the people of Amritsar had faced after Jallianwalah Bagh massacre.
The added new dimension to this is the recent news report about the secret document from British national archives that revealed UK government’s collaboration with Indian government in planning the attack on Sikhs, when Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister.
The Anandpur Sahib Resolution - a reflection of the aspirations of the people of Punjab
The Central government, instead of considering the democratic demands of the Akali movement based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, it had sought to drown the just struggle of the Sikhs in a pool of blood The Anandpur Sahib Resolution passed by Akali Dal in 1973 contained genuine demands such as a) regional autonomy for Punjab state, b) return of Chandigarh and Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab; c) review of Ravi-Beas river waters by supreme court for an equitable distribution of river waters between Punjab and its neighbors; d) a fair share of electricity to Punjab and some minor religious demands. These democratic demands concerned the entire Punjabi people and are not just limited to Sikhs.
Indian Union: a prison-house of oppressed nationalities, minorities, Dalits and Adivasis
India is a multi-national country in which all nationalities are being oppressed by the Central government, though at varying degrees. The constitution of Indian is Federal on paper and Unitary in practice. Almost all important matters are controlled by the Union Government that favours the big corporate houses such as Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis, allowing them to bulldoze their way into any state in India and letting them loot the local natural resources and the local market.
The right to self determination of people of Kashmir and the Northeastern states such as Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram have been taken away by Delhi, which imposed Army rule in these states, though name-sake Assemblies exist in parallel. India comprises a large number of minorities, who are coming more and more under the heel of Hindu fascist forces sponsored by the Indian state. The killings of thousands of Sikhs across India after assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, genocide of Muslims in Gujarat, atrocities on Christians in Orissa and more recently on Muslims in Muzaffarnager - are only a few glaring examples of atrocities on minorities.
On the other hand, violence and atrocities on Dalits (the most downtrodden people of Indian society) such as Laxmanpur Bathe, Kairlanji, and Dharmapuri are increasing. In the states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Orissa, hundreds of battalions of state paramilitary forces are engaged in an undeclared war against the Adivasis (indigenous people). This war, code named ‘Operation Green Hunt’ is being waged by the Indian Government in an attempt to uproot millions of Adivasis from their ancestral lands, in order to facilitate huge corporate mining projects.
The Indian Army has been building fortifications and at the same time the Indian Air Force has been building air strips - all in preparations for a full-scale war on India’s own people. Rapes, abductions, killings, burning of homes and crops have become a routine, wherever the Indian Police, the Paramilitary and the Army are deployed in ‘security’ operations up and down the country.
Scores of people are on death row - Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, Balwant Singh Rajoana, Kishna Mochi, Bir Kuer Pawan, Dhamendra Singh, Nanche Lal Mochi and Shobitt Chamar to mention a few. Tens of thousands across the country have been languishing in jails for years, many of them without trial. Hundreds of political prisoners such as Kobad Ghandy, Kabir Kala Manch members and the above mentioned people are jailed indefinitely and Delhi University professor Dr GN Saibaba is the recent addition to the long list. Locking up of dissenting voices has become the norm in the ‘world’s largest (farcical) democracy’
Sikhs must unite with other oppressed nationalities, minorities and democratic forces
In order to achieve justice for the families of those who got killed in ‘Operation Blue Star’ and the Dehli massacre and to achieve the democratic demands of the people of Punjab on the lines of Anandpur Sahib Resolution, Sikhs must ally themselves with the struggling people of all other oppressed nationalities and religious minorities of India. They must unite with the progressive forces in the country that stand for equality of all religions and nationalities of India. Only this combined strength can act as an effective force against the oppressive and repressive policies of the Indian government. Only then can the democratic demands of the people of Punjab and other states in India be achieved.
Indian Workers’ Association, Great Britain
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