Friday, 1 February 2008

National Self Determination Key to Conflict Resolution

National Self Determination Key to Conflict Resolution
A JOINT STATEMENT BY THE COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN AND
DAL KHALSA
ON THE 22ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISTORIC 'SARBAT KHALSA'


26 January 2008: On this day in 1986 the Sikhs held an historic Sarbat Khalsa (national gathering) and started to rebuild their supreme seat of Government, the Akal Takht Sahib in Amritsar, destroyed by the Indian Army during the infamous Operation Bluestar in which Punjab was literally sealed off and thousands of Sikhs were brutally massacred. Within days of the full withdrawal of the Indian Army from the Golden Temple Complex, more than 100,000 Sikhs had taken part in an extraordinary show of ‘people power’, not only to rebuild their sacred seat of power but their very destiny as a free Nation. It resolved unequivocally that the Sikh Nation would establish an independent sovereign Sikh state of Khalistan in accordance with their inalienable right of self determination as enshrined in international law.

The Sarbat Khalsa’s resolutions, being the freely expressed wishes of the Sikh Nation, underlined the legitimacy of the Sikh freedom struggle in terms of both international law and any concept of justice. They left no room for doubting the Sikhs’ absolute rejection of India’s purported claims to the Sikh homeland (and natural resources) and of the imperialist ‘constitution’ imposed by New Delhi on it; the Sikhs had spoken on the very day the adoption of that ‘constitution’ is annually marked by the Indian state. Having been politically out maneuvered the Indian state abandoned even the pretence of adherence to any norms of civilized conduct; basic human rights, including the right to life, were breached on a massive scale and as many as 250,000 Sikhs were killed in total, tens of thousands of those killings being ‘hidden’ by a (now exposed) systematic program of secret cremations. Today, India can still not afford to let bona fide international human rights organisations into the Punjab, for fear of them exposing the scale of its human rights violations. Meanwhile it regards local human rights bodies with contempt and has had several of their activists killed for exposing the secret cremations of Sikh youths eliminated in “encounters”. The grotesque human rights violations are now widely acknowledged by all serious observers of the conflict in Punjab, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Alarmingly for those who espouse democratic values and the right to free speech, the Indian state has criminalized even the making of peaceful demands for Sikh freedom and independence. Sikh leaders in Punjab calling for Sikh independence by exclusively peaceful means, in accordance with the right of self determination in international law are routinely imprisoned and charged with sedition. This is not the behavior of a legitimate aspirant to a permanent seat at the UN Security Council and we urge world leaders to put the credibility of that institution before short term expediency when considering that claim. In truth, the need of the hour is instead an international criminal court investigation in to the massive rights violations carried out by the Indian state, with war criminals seen to be punished.

The world in fact needs to look no further than India's constitution to understand that this is a state unworthy of a place at the international top table. Articles 25 of that constitution, the adoption of which India formally 'celebrates' today as its 'Republic Day', defines Sikhs (along with Buddists and Jains) as "Hindus" for the purposes of the constitution and the associated legislation that governs personal law, religious places of worship. In giving effect to the provisions the Indian Supreme Court, seemingly without any apparent sense of embarrassment, opined in 2005 as follows:

"The so-called minority communities like Sikhs and Jains were not treated as national minorities at the time of framing the Constitution. Sikhs and Jains, in fact, have throughout been treated as part of the wider Hindu community which has different sects, sub-sects, faiths, modes of worship and religious philosophies. In various codified customary laws like Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act and other laws of pre and post-Constitution period, definition of 'Hindu' included all sects, sub-sects of Hindu religions including Sikhs and Jains."

This is just one example of how India is trying to destroy the nations and peoples under its control. From this 'legislative genocide' of their very identity, physical genocide by means of massive human rights violations, denial of fundamental freedoms to theft of their natural resources the Indian state has made a mockery of the ideals of the international community. We will continue to express our solidarity with other nations and peoples being subjugated by the Indian state, namely those in Indian-held Jammu & Kashmir, Nagalim, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, where today there is a mass boycott taking place of India’s so-called Republic Day.

Pending the formal liberation of Khalistan, the Sikhs of Punjab should take on de facto responsibility for the administration of their homeland where the machinery of the Indian state has lost all semblance of moral authority. The Sikh regiments in the Indian Army should be recalled to take over security in Punjab and put under the control of the local panchayats, allowing for the disbandment of the discredited Punjab Police; the farmers who have been reduced to poverty should no longer accept the terms of the Indian state for the purchase of their produce and instead trade directly with the international community; most of all the political class must learn to accept the will of the people for the benefit of all Punjabis.

Ultimately a UN sponsored plebiscite should be undertaken to re-affirm the democratic mandate for an independent sovereign state of Khalistan, but until that happens it would be sensible if those forces who have acted against the Sikh struggle for freedom to take a step back from confrontation and instead develop a meaningful dialogue to resolve matters. From the Nerhu - Gandhi family to (surprisingly by her own admission just days before her death) Benazir Bhutto who assisted India to suppress the Sikh freedom struggle, adversaries of the Sikhs have not fared well. There is a need for statesmanship, enlightened leadership and vision on all sides. Given India's increasing profile in world affairs, we hope and trust the world community will demand that it matures before it makes any further claim to be able to represent civilized values on the global stage.
COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN DAL KHALSA
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