KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Sharpening its focus on “Punjab’s independence” from Indian union, the Dal Khalsa Punjab Wednesday supported by Akhand Kirtani Jatha will organize a demonstration at Ludhiana to mark India’s 70th independence anniversary.
Asserting that there was “no reason” for Sikhs to celebrate August 15, the organization asked employees, school managements and students for boycotting the “state sponsored programs to celebrate the Independence day”.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Dal Khalsa pledged “sustained Sikh support for Kashmiri people in their struggle for Right to Self Determination in line with deepening partnership between the two pro-struggling ethnic minorities”.
Addressing the media persons in Hoshiarpur (Punjab) today, Dal Khalsa president Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema said, “by observing August 15 as black day, the aim was to keep the desire for freedom alive.”
“While Muslims and Hindu brethren attained freedom on 14th and 15th respectively, unfortunately Sikhs missed the opportunity and got trapped into another political subjugation,” he said. “Since 1947, we have experienced slavery, torture and abrogation of our civil, economic, religious and political rights.”
In a significant development, Dal Khalsa appealed Hindu brethren of Punjab to ‘bridge the divide’ and join hands with Sikhs not only to safeguard the interests and resources of the state but also to achieve “Punjab’s sovereignty” in the same manner as Sikhs helped Hindus “in their fight for the independence of India from British colonial rule”.
