KL News Network
Srinagar
Dal Khalsa and its allies Thursday staged a protest against what they called “constitutional wrongs, injustices and denials” on the eve of the republic day of India.
The “pro-freedom” Sikh groups asked the government to show magnanimity and allow the “struggling” people residing in Kashmir, Punjab and other peripheral states of the country the ‘right to self-determination and right to secede’ in the light of the commitment made by India’s first PM Jawahar Lal Nehru in his speech on 3rd June 1947.
In a statement issued here, they termed Jan 26 as a day of “deceit and assimilation”, saying “With the adoption of present constitution, the Indian state had robbed the Sikhs of their identity, natural resources and foisted Hindu laws on the community.”
Party head Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema said the right to secede was recognized by the Geneva Convention. Many countries have attained independence through plebiscite. It is not unconstitutional. “We believe the only way forward for Punjab and Kashmir is to attain freedom from India yoke”.
Justifying their groups protest against republic day, he termed “India as Janus-faced”.
“While India might have won some brownie points on diplomatic front, what is amply clear is that in the domain of intolerance and rights abuses, India has surpassed all others,” he said.
He urged the western world not to ignore this “aberration” of the Indian state at the cost of commercial and economic interest.
“Regarding the participation in the electoral process of the country, Dal Khalsa spokesman Kanwar Pal Singh strongly believes that the Indian electoral exercise is an illusion. We will stay away from parliament and assembly elections under the Indian dispensation,” the statement said.
The promises of high profile Hindu leaders of “an area where Sikhs can feel the glow of freedom”, “Sikhs may use the Kirpan if they are let down”, to language-based states and then to the Rajiv-Longowal sham accord, followed not by implementation but killings of Sikh youth in fake encounters and their enforced disappearances are all part of the shameful track record of the Indian polity vis-à-vis the Sikhs. “The litany of broken promises and injustices is endless, he said and added that this long story has rendered us homeless, hapless and hopeless. How does Sikhs see hope in elections?,” he argued.
AISSF head Karnail Singh said the Constitution of India has failed the Sikhs. He blamed that constitutional provisions continue to haunt the Sikhs. He said it was ironic that Sikhs were being (mal)treated as a second class citizen in this “Hindu-India”.
SYP head Paramjit Singh pointed out that nominating hand-picked individuals at the higher ranking constitutional post was a ploy to deceive the world that the country was “secular” in real sense.
