Khalra: disappeared for documenting Indian state’s genocide

Indian State admits it killed Jaswant Singh Khalra in the exact same manner as the sufferers of the genocide

Note: September 6, 1995 is the 31st anniversary of human rights activist Khalra’s disappearance.

I want to tell you about Jaswant Singh Khalra.

Jaswant Singh lived in northwestern India in a region called the Punjab. He was from Amritsar, the central hub of Sikh culture. He had a wife, Paramjit Kaur, a daughter, Navkiran Kaur, and a son, Janmeet Singh.

His grandfather, Harnam Singh, joined an independence movement formed out of California called the Ghadar Party and worked to overthrow colonial rule of India by the British Empire.

A bank director at first, Jaswant Singh became a human rights activist after a government-led genocide centered in New Delhi, India’s capital, killed thousands of Sikhs in the streets at broad daylight.

Jaswant was murdered by the State for uncovering and reporting that death squads of Indian police were secretly rounding up Sikh men in Amritsar and other areas of the Punjab, imprisoning them off the books, torturing them, killing them, and then quietly cremating their bodies at local cremation grounds.

In Amritsar alone, Jaswant identified the names of 2,097 Sikhs who were secretly cremated after being murdered by a police death squad.

Amritsar is just one of thirteen districts in the Punjab.

The Indian State admits it killed Jaswant Singh Khalra in the exact same manner as the sufferers of the genocide. Khalra was killed in 1995. It only took the State sixteen years before its Supreme Court finally upheld the convictions and sentences of six low-level police officers involved in Khalra’s abduction, torture, and murder.

But the statewide police director, KPS Gill, who is alleged to have personally ordered the killing, was never charged. Amnesty International recognizes the genocide revealed by Khalra. In an interview, Gill said: “I don’t care about the Sikhs who call me the Butcher of Punjab.” His police did care about intimidating Khalra’s family as they pursued justice in the courts. During a court hearing in 1998 — three years after Khalra’s murder — Amnesty International reported “the tyres of a vehicle belonging to members of the Khalra Action Committee were slashed outside the court building.”

The Sikh Genocide was sponsored by the Indian State.

The genocide is acknowledged by the State.

The killings have declined but the same police officers who fielded death squads remain in power in the Punjab.

The current state police director is Sumedh Saini. He has faced multiple charges for human rights violations but no convictions. Charges against Saini are diverse. They include murdering two Sikh government workers, who were the father and uncle of Davinderpal Singh Bhullar. Bhullar is a mechanical engineer now sitting on death row after allegedly confessing to a bombing; Bhullar says he was tortured to make a false confession. Charges against Saini also include murdering two Hindu businessmen and their driver over a personal dispute.

But all is fine in the Punjab. There is no reason for concern. Let us cry peace, peace, peace.

That is the tune those who don’t like to be made uncomfortable sing when they hear words like “state-sponsored.”

There is nothing more uncomfortable than admitting the State created genocide.

Admitting as much invokes a requirement for justice. Justice requires the guilty and the innocent be separated. The thirst of justice cannot be slaked while those accused of guilt still lead the land.

The work of Jaswant Singh Khalra is not finished.

Originally published at Singh of Judah.

28 COMMENTS

  1. The only religious and national extremists indulging a in a lot of violence are the Hinduvta mafia comprising the likes of RSS, Shiv Sena et al.

  2. Human rights activist S Jaswant Singh ji Khalra did not have any weapon in his hand, just pen and paper. He just told people what the police and state had done. A human was killed with a pen and paper in hand by the police at the directions of state. I think Khalsa ji, “Murakh sang na luzi a” do not care about such people who are living on earth without a soul and sentiments. Our guru sahibs and Sikh kaum has done so much for other religions but what I can say? just look into your soul if you have.

  3. We need to have a good understanding of

    1) Empire ,
    2) World order
    3) Nationalism
    4) Military Industrial complex

    well to avoid a Genocide-4.

    • What’s to understand? Empire and Nationalism are bad. Military Industrial Complex can be defeated – ask the Vietnamese. World order always has and always will have to submit to the power of morality – The Brits were top dog and thought they could carry on as usual with their (and France’s) imperial invasion of Aden. The Americans refused to let these two former world powers do so because it could not be morally defended, same with Britain having to get out of India, just wasn’t morally defensible any more.

  4. You certainly wont get out of it alive ! Your comments are repeated please think of something new and useful to say. This just shows the mind sets of the hinduvata not being able to tell what is right and what is wrong and the state and empires continues……..

  5. How can history forget this one man who successfully revealed the hidden truth behind so many horrific murders and human rights abuses fully contrived by the ‘misgovernment’ of the sub-continent three decades ago?

  6. First the Extremist go killing people.
    Then when the state reacts you start seeking protection under human rights umbrella.
    Where is the human rights of innocent people killed in Punjab by Extremists in 1980-1990.
    If there is going to be killing of innocent people then be prepared for a backlash from the State and affected parties.

    • Wow astonishing statements from you RSS Harinder even by your very low standards. First of all despite the information I have given again and again and again (which you simply ignore because it is inconvenient to your flat earth world view) about the root cause of Sikh grievances stretching back to before 1947 incorporating bad faith and broken promises from the ‘State’ (which it used to induce Sikhs to throw in their low with the state rather than reform their own state) you continue to peddle a factually incorrect historical fantasy. Anandpur Sahib resolutions were not formulated by extremists. the first murders of innocent were of Sikhs in 1978 in Amritsar by Nirankari proxies of the Indira Gandhi who was bitterly opposed to the Akali Dal (at that time a panthic Sikh party) stranglehold of votes in Punjab and determined to break it as they and the Sikhs had been very prominent and vociferous in their opposition to her declaring a state of emergency in order to avoid impeachment from a court that had found her guilty of fraud. The state ‘reacts’ with violence towards its own citizens?! A democratic State cannot murder its citizens even if you find human rights morally inconvenient. That is a legal precedent acknowledged by the civilised world in Nuremburg which you should be well conversant with seeing as you support the RSS which takes it ideology from HItler’s SS. Can you name the vast majority of innocent people killed in 1980 to 1990 – it is 99% Sikhs who were killed and disappeared and most of them by the apparatus of the State! How then can the state being doing a backlash for killing of innocent people when its ‘backlash’ (which is illegal under international law and human conventions) is against Sikhs and the the overwhelming majority of innocent people killed are Sikhs also! Your warped excuse for the inexcusable is the same line that Rajiv Ghandi used when he shrugged off the mass murder of thousands of totally innocent Sikhs in Delhi and Haryana and across the country with his disgusting and criminal statement ‘the ground is bound to shake when a tree falls’. I am so outraged by your continuous disregard for human rights that I have reposted all your comments (and my responses) below for those who missed your views which seek to excuse and justify human rights abuses and injustice against Sikhs who are the bravest citizens of India and protect your civil liberties with their blood.

      • Don’t indulge in killing innocent people.
        Remember that Nations are created and destroyed by Empires.
        Never be an extremist of any ideology be it Nation Religion , race or caste.
        We are all together in a voyage to distant galaxies and Planets.
        Shun violence and seeking revenges.
        Resurrect your self and be in Chadi kala.
        Don’t take life so seriously, No body got out of it alive.

      • You are a supporter of killing innocent people so long as they are Sikhs because you regard Sikhs who dare to be baptised in their faith and bear the five kakkars that set them apart as being religious extremists. Nations are created and destroyed by individuals as you well know. No Sikh is seeking revenge but justice and redress for wrongs and criminal violence perpretrated against them. You are the one in a state of denial refusing to even accept the historical truths of what happened and you just want Sikhs to meekly accept the violence, rapes and torture done against them as being ‘taught a lesson’ for daring to have the temerity to raise their voices in dissent to the way they have been treated since 1947 when it became evident promises made to induce them to join India instead of reforming their own country were reneged upon. Again as you are not a Sikh you totally misunderstand the concept of Chardi Kala which does not mean ‘dont take life too seriously’ when it comes to having your kinsmen diappeared, tortured, raped and murdered and the guilty walking free! Why are you so incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong – even the jailers of Nelson Mandela were able to finally accept they were unjust and repented and were forgiven for their contrition.

      • Also the word is Chardi Kala not Chadi (underpants) kala. You are not a Sikh so I dont suppose I should expect you to know that let alone understand its concept. Keep chaddies (underpants) for your RSS as they are morally soiled individuals.

      • It was a typo error. I meant chardi Kala.
        Remember there exists a world order which is controlled by thr Empire.
        Most Nations are Empire administered units .

        Any one disturbing the world order by rebellion will face the heavy hand of Empire.
        Remeber there exists beyond the Nation an entity called EMPIRE which controls the world order.

      • Sikhs do not believe in the all knowing all seeing power of notions of man made Empire as we believe in the Almighty Waheguru’s omnipotence and omniscience and submit only to His divine will. This is what makes us so indomitable no matter the pain, cruelty and injustices we have been made to endure in our history down through the centuries – the hardest steel is forged in the hottest fire. I do feel some pity for you that you live in such a perpetual state of slave mind where you fear to stand up for your rights and those of your fellow citizens (brainwashed into thinking that is rebellion!) and urge you to recognise the divine splinter within yourself and human beings around you (no matter what religion they subscribe to or not). All human life is precious and sacred and you should defend the civil liberties and human rights of your fellow citizens – that promise of solidarity is what led to India’s birth and her potential for greatness lies in common humanity and not seeing one Indian brother as being less deserving of respect than another simply because he does not share your religious faith because ultimately the supreme power in the world is Waheguru (not manmukh Empire) and He is father to us all which makes everyone of us members of the same family. As such could you bear to see your grandmother manhandled, your sister raped, your brother beaten, your nephew thrown into a burning house, your uncle scalped? No, so why make deferential justification and excuses in the name of jingoistic nationalism to let such criminality and inhumanity be visited on the Sikh? India is better than that.

  7. Rajinder – I am glad you replied to this – he only sees states punishing innocent and killing minorities as the right thing so long as its a state that is doing it…. and everything else he is blinded to…. I call it living in cuckoo land who cannot tell right from wrong – protection of human rights might confuse him………..

  8. I don’t know which world you belong too,and if you understand the words ” protection of human rights ” Khalra was setting the story straight by exposing the lies of the govt. You give us the number of persons killed in Punjab in 1980-90,for whom any group claimed responsibility for the killing , just saying every killing which happened in Punjab is done by the persons associated with the movement ( read book written by Jaspal S Siddhu) without proof is wrong.But again persons like you don’t know what is right and what is wrong.

  9. Khalra was telling only one side of story.
    He was not telling the other side of story —
    the Killing of innocent people of Punjab in 1980-1990 violent Punjab.
    Also the state is always more powerful than the rebels.

    • The truth is more powerful than anything and as Martin Luther King once said the arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.

    • Khalra was only telling one side of the story but it is the version that murderer and cop Gurmeet Pinky confirms as being the truth.

      • Which innocent people were killed by which extremists? No Hindus (and I assume you mean Hindus when you keep double talking of innocents as you don’t regard Sikhs as innocent if they wear dastaars) were murdered between 1984 and 2000. Do you how many tens of thousands of Sikhs were murdered and disappeared in that same period at the hand of the State? So the innocents are Sikhs and the extremists are paramilitary and police perpetrating extra judicial human rights violations as one of their number Gurmeet Pinky has confessed to doing. Between 1978 – when the first killings of innocents happened and again these were Sikhs in Amritsar – and 1984 there were dozens of Hindus murdered again in stark contrast to hundreds of Sikhs rising to thousands of Sikhs by 1984. The crude numbers game if you want to play it just does not add up to support your fantasy one-sided history .

      • Moral is don’t kill and learn the art of peaceful co existence..
        Religious and National extremists are capable of lot of violence .
        So watch out and beware of such people .
        Make a society where such ideologies are not allowed to have a free run.

      • This is only a moral you should be teaching to your RSS friends who are both religious and nationalist extremists with ideology which is against common humanity (ask any Dalit). The Sikhs are not religious extremists just because you don’t want them to bear the five kakkars that Guru Gobind Singh has mandated all Sikhs must bear to be worthy of the name.

  10. I have been through the 1980-1990 Punjab.
    Innocent people were being killed by religious extremist.
    The state reacted by killing innocent Sikhs .
    So moral of story is

    Don’t be extremist of any variant.
    Learn the art of peaceful co existence.

    • I am so appalled by your continuous desire to excuse and justify human rights abuses against Sikhs I have reposted your comments from an earlier story where you were equally dismissive of the torture of a Sikh Jaswant Singh by the police this year let alone 20 years ago.
      Harinder August 27, 2016 at 7:03 am
      We must teach our youth that it is illegal to break our Nation as per our Constitution.
      We need to explain that it will put them in harms way if they try to fight the Nation state and may lead to the 1980- 1990 violent era where lot of valuable lives were lost.
      Reply
      M Singh August 28, 2016 at 2:32 am
      ‘Our ‘ youth? Still pretending to be a Sikh, eh? As if you give a damn how many or indeed how Sikh jawans are illegally killed. You are only interested in scaring Sikhs into submission. ‘Don’t lift your heads, keep your mouths shut, hands to your eyes and ears, let any abuse and injustice against the Sikh kaum happen or look how your children will be tortured to death’. Never mind that those same children are subjected to ethnic cleansing proportion drug epidemic and uranium polluted water, that in their depression they now see suicide as an answer to their despair or risking their lives desperately getting to foreign countries in order to escape the hopelessness of the corruption, nepotism and despotism in Punjab. Don’t dare to fight for your rights and break the law of the land? Tell that to George Washington, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi. It is a democratic right to resist unjust laws when they do not deliver justice to the people. Laws of the land are not sacrosanct because they are man made otherise you are arguing no black man should have opposed the pass laws in South Africa and no Jew against anti semite race laws in Nazi Germany. Laws are amended and repealed all the time when it is recognised that they have been unjust and draconian (Indian TADA and POTA ring a bell?). You would not even have a land with a constitution if Sikh Shaheeds Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh had not broken the laws of the land. Justice is what a law is supposed to ensure and when it fails that basic test it is democratic duty to oppose it and draw attention to that law’s abuses. You hide behind letter of the law and not the spirit of law because you are content to abuse, torture and kill Sikhs if they do not submit to injustice which favours your particular Hinuduvta agenda to Brahminise the country religiously, culturally and historically. It is you and that pernicious thinking which threatens the integrity of my country.
      Reply
      Harinder August 28, 2016 at 7:00 am
      What ever laws you want to change requires that you get politically elected and in. Parliament have it democratically changed.
      Indian laws enshrined in Indian constitution are religiously neutral..
      Reply
      M Singh August 28, 2016 at 3:14 pm
      What law did George Washington change by being politicially elected? Nelson Mandela became leader of his country after he was released from prison (having served decades long prison sentence under the law) when the lawmakers were forced to accept their laws and way of life was morally wrong and unsustainable (confronted with marches, demonstrations and internal condemnation for their brutality in repressing the rights of its black citizens). Indian laws are religiously neutral? You have changed your tune. In another posting you are saying under Indian constitution it is illegal to ea beef because Hindus find it offensive even though SIkhs, Muslims, Dalits and Christians do not regard the cow as being sacred. Democracy permits citizens to protest and dissent through marches, demonstrations, strikes, debates on media, free speech and free association but you want people locked up on spurious sedition laws if they utter the word Azaadi and kick out international world renowned human rights and civil liberties observers such as Amnesty international. I want proper and full democracy not deferential demagoguery which was internally exposed at the Olympics by the behaviour of the Indian Sports Minister Vijay Goel who was reprimanded for his rude and pushy, unruly behaviour taking self promoting selfies and entering restricted areas as if he owned the place. This is a clear indication of the poor culture of polity in my country with politicians often being unfit to govern let alone having the discernment to change bad laws when they are fully concentrated on instead on enjoying perks of their position and ensuring that position is retained by seeking votebanks (as Badal did with heretic Ram Rahim).
      Reply
      Harinder August 28, 2016 at 7:12 pm
      What ever change you want will have to be done Democratically.
      You will not be allowed to create anarchy , violence ,Hartal again in Punjab.
      Once in 1980-1990 we just let you have your way and you virtually made Punjab into another Iraq or Syria .
      So in Parliament have laws made which you desire how ever don’t intimidate normal citizens of PUNJAB.
      M Singh August 29, 2016 at 12:51 am
      I am talking about upholding DEMOCRATIC values. You CANNOT torture people. It is ILLEGAL and IMMORAL AND YOU CAn not do in a democracy. There is no law in India that allows the police to torture suspects. Think about it. If torture is allowed than you could be made to confess to absolutely any crime because you would say anything to stop the pain. That is why confessions obtained form torture are not acceptable in democratic countries and their courts summarily throw them out – as happened in Portugal. This means that there is no reason to torture a suspect for a confession (as it will always be both unreliable and obtained under duress which contravenes international human rights) other than for the sadistic pleasure of the tortures or because people like you think that you can instil fear into Sikhs by making an example of any Sikh you wish to torture. Such barbarism does not protect the peace but rather stirs bitterness and resentment so you are actually threatening the integrity of the country by trying to drag it back into the Kalyug dark ages of jungle law.
      Reply
      M Singh August 29, 2016 at 1:02 am
      Also what do you mean by this ‘You will not be allowed to create anarchy , violence ,Hartal again in Punjab.’ Again? I have never done any violence against anybody. Another glaring example that you are ready to condemn me just because I am a Sikh. Tell me did Mahatma Gandhi’s guilty of wrong doing with the hartals he organised? I talk of my democratic right to protests, free speech, right of free association, access to media for debates, unhampered scrutiny under civil liberties and human rights NGO and you label them all as anarchy and violence? It is bad enough that you lack the historical and humanitarian knowledge of how to be a decent citizen but your instincts are not even democratic or patriotic.
      Reply
      Harinder August 29, 2016 at 2:10 pm
      As long as what you do is with in the law of land.
      It is fine with all of us.
      Reply
      M Singh August 30, 2016 at 1:04 am
      If the law of the land is unjust it must be opposed and repealed – that’s how both civilised democracies and Sikhs work and then it will be fine with the rest of us.
      Rajinder Narang August 28, 2016 at 12:24 am
      Fighting for justice and human rights is fundamental duty of sikhs . You wont understand what it means. Rajinder
      Reply
      Harinder August 28, 2016 at 2:05 am
      What injustice is he facing may I know
      Reply
      M Singh August 28, 2016 at 2:18 am
      He is being TORTURED by the police – don’t you understand that is illegal and immoral?! No, for you that is perfectly acceptable so long as the victim is a Sikh or from another religious minority or a Dalit. You want to charge him with a crime (and let’s face it you can charge anyone with sedition if they just say the word Azaadi – ask Amnesty Internal, oh wait, no you can’t because they have been kicked out of India so can’t even report on civil liberties let alone human rights abuses) then put him before a judge and jury with EVIDENCE. You don’t get to TORTURE anyone because that is against civilised democratic values. You think torture is okay by those in power you need to move to ISIS Syria or North Korea, China or some fascist Latin American country.
      Reply
      Harinder August 28, 2016 at 7:05 am
      It is illegal to attempt to Break India .
      If any one attempts it then the Indian state will act .
      We need to tell our youth that it may be put them in harm ways if they break laws of land.
      Reply
      M Singh August 28, 2016 at 2:59 pm
      It is NOT legal to torture people, even suspects who have NOT even been charged let alone found guilty or even sentenced for a potential crime. Just because you hate Sikhs does not allow you to torture them. You need to be sent to the international criminal court in the Hague if you think otherwise. Tell me where were you in Gujarat in 1992 and Delhi in 1984 because I suspect you were one of those who thought Sikhs and Muslims were fair game. You cannot torture people, even in the western democracy they look for third party soil in which to carry out extralegal torture and detention (extraordinary rendition to military regime countries with very porr human rights records and Guantanemo Bay) because they as democratic countries CANNOT torture on their own soil. When those countries are caught torturing people – an internally illegal practice punishable under international law in the Hague under the Human Rights Conventions – they are shamed into stopping. You don’t even want India to be ashamed of committing such crimes on its own soil against its own citizens! In a democracy you cannot follow a ‘MY COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG’ philosphy in order to justify torture and murder, extrajudical or not – this was a principle established at the Nuremburg trials when thousands of Nazis tried to argue that legally they should not be culpable for their crimes against humanity because they were only following the orders of the State and in the interest of the State. This is exactly why we need NGOs like Amnesty in India otherwise extremists like yourself will continue to abduct, torture and murder with total impugnity justifying criminality and inhumanity as patriotism. National Security does NOT trump natural justice and human rights. Please move to ISIS Syria as they like you believe otherwise.
      Reply
      Harinder August 28, 2016 at 7:08 am
      Amnesty need to go to Syria and Iraq where they are actually needed.
      India is peaceful for all its law abiding Indians.
      Reply
      M Singh August 28, 2016 at 3:02 pm
      Weren’t the two Sikhs shot dead by police peaceful and law abiding? Those police officers have never been arraigned or charged with cold blooded murder in broad daylight despite Justice Katju’s findings and witness reports. I am a law abiding Indian citizen explain to me how life is peaceful for me when my Guru is being desecrated with impugnity every month in Punjab? Explain to me how my life is peaceful when my Sikh baache are condemned t ethic cleaning proportioned drug epidemic whilst their very ground water is polluted with Uranium to ensure genetic defects in their children? The Dalit who wishes to convert to another religion is not enjoying peace but being molested for daring to try and be a Christian. You have a prejudiced and blinkered view that blinds you to glaring injustice in my country.
      Reply
      Karamjeet Singh August 28, 2016 at 5:50 pm
      Barbaric acts of the Indian Govt will not break we Sikh’s spirit. They will pay in their own ways. We shall not surrender to inhuman degrading treatment. Dogs in India are treated better. Even the untouchables in India are given better treatment for their votes. But we shall remain true to righteousness as preached by Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji. The Indian hindu dogs will pay.
      Reply
      Harinder August 28, 2016 at 7:23 pm
      You are no one to decide what Religion Dalits want to follow .
      It is entirely there business.
      If any one has been killed in Police firing then the family need to go to Court.
      As for Drug’s it is the job of parents to keep there children away from Drugs.
      Water in Punjab has Uranium in it for what ever reason I don’t know.
      The only answer is to have new Punjabs crop in different cities and villages of the world.
      Just live in peace and harmony with your neighbour’s
      We all have to go on a long Voyages to different planets and Galaxies.
      Reply
      M Singh August 29, 2016 at 12:56 am
      I don’t care what religion Dalits follow so long as they are allowed to follow whatever religion or none that they wish. You and your RSS thugs are the ones who cannot stand the idea that Dalits might forsake Hinduism for some other faith and that is why you indulge in thuggish intimidation and re-indoctrination campaigns such as Ghar Wapsi. As for drugs you think it is the responsibility only of the parents to educate their children. Good I will press for Sikhs to do exactly that with the spread of Sikhi’s discipline whilst your Badal ministers like Majithia are accused of drug trafficking to them. YOu know exactly where that uranium is coming from and are quite happy that it be used to harm Punjabis. You should learn how to live in harmony with your neighbours instead of thinking all the time how to control them – the poor downtrodden Dalits included.
      Reply
      M Singh August 29, 2016 at 1:24 am
      ‘If any one has been killed in Police firing then the family need to go to Court.’ Wow, very humane of you when you know the history of political interference in courts and the years and money needed to pursue a case when it is inconvenient to people abusing their powerful positions. Do you how many thousands of Sikhs are still awaiting justice since 1984 in the court? And you just want these latest families of police atrocities to simply and meekly take their place at the back of the queue which is deigned to be long enough for all complainants if not the accused to die of natural causes in the meantime. And what do you even mean by saying ‘if anyone has been killed in police firing’? Two dead Sikhs and two inquiries and you are even prepared to doubt that there were Sikhs victims?!! I know you regard monkeys as being holy animals but that sad devotion should not extend to the three ‘see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil’ monkeys.
      Reply
      Harinder August 29, 2016 at 4:16 pm
      1984 happened due to militancy in Punjab where innocent people were being killed by our religious extremists.
      They and all religious extremist should be kept under check.
      Also attempt to try to break the Indian nation is illegal and it will invite the wrath of Indian state.
      Anti National people also need to be kept under check.
      As for illegal killing one should go to the courts.
      Live peacefully with your neighbour’s to prevent going back to 19o0-1990 violent Punjab.
      Let me add that we have already under gone 3 genocides and so need to understand world order ,Empire ,Religion and Nationalism in a deeper way.
      Reply
      M Singh August 30, 2016 at 1:20 am
      No, I have explained in detail countless times that 1984 happened because the promises made to Sikhs to induce them to throw in their lot with India in 1947 were reneged upon by the likes of Nehru onwards. These genuine grievances were outlined in detail in the Anandpur Sahib resolutions during the 60s and 70s and were again rebuffed culminating in the 1978 murder of Sikhs by Central Government proxies as Congress were trying to break the stranglehold of Akali power in Punjab to emasculate Sikh demands. Nothing to do with religious extremists but dirty politics and broken promises. No such thing as ‘anti national’, this is a term drummed up to be a catch-all last used in earnest by the Nazi Government of Germany during the 1930s which allowed them to detain, arrest, re-educate, torture and exterminate anyone opposed to the Nazi State (the wrath you speak of with such pride) starting with political opponents (communists, liberals etc), intellectuals, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah’s witnesses, conscientious objectors, pacifists and Jews. Your language in tone and content echoes exactly the fascist message of the Nazi state to its citizens and is typical of your slavery mindset which a Sikh can never share. This is the only thing Sikhs need to understand about you and your Hinduvta brethren whilst you have to understand the genocides Sikhs have faced under Moghul, British and Indian rule we are still here and unbowed. If anything we are more numerous and more cognisant of our identity – trees do tend to grow more vigorously after forest fires and so it is with human resolve in the face of injustice. Remember the arc of history and the moral universe is long but it bends towards to justice. You learn to live with your neighbour peacefully – start with sitting and eating with the Dalit instead of murdering him for simply transporting cows. You can do this just by going to the langar of a Gurdwara where such humility and brotherhood is practised every day.
      Reply
      Harinder September 1, 2016 at 6:17 am
      1984 has multiple causes from
      1) Theological since we shed our ancestors faith by our first Guruj in rejecting Janau
      2) The renenged promises post 1947 as highlighted by you
      3) Religious Extremists aggravating the situation.
      Reply
      M Singh September 1, 2016 at 1:37 pm
      Wow, there you have in a nutshell the reason for your irrational long festering hatred towards the Sikhs., You don’t even think they have the right to exist! Guru Nanak was a visionary man blessed with divine knowledge which he was able to pass onto the common man liberating them form kalyug darkness and ignorance – belief in superstition, idol worshipping, animal worshipping, astrology, caste discrimination, mysgony etc that your Janua is all about. At least you have acknowledged the reneged promises of 1947 being the root cause of 1984.
      Reply
      Harinder August 29, 2016 at 4:21 pm
      All people who are anti National wiil be attacked by Nationalists.
      All people who are religious extremists will be attacked by religious extremist of other religious groups.
      So live in peace and harmony with your neighbour’s to lead a meaningful life .
      Reply
      M Singh August 30, 2016 at 1:24 am
      No such thing as ‘anti national’ when you are talking about a democracy as every citizen has the right to dissent and oppose the state if they feel it is persecuting them. That is how governments and bad laws are changed when it becomes too hard to resist the moral argument against keeping the status quo. This is how apartheid South Africa had to yield to Nelson Mandela and how even the Burmese military Junta had to grudgingly accommodate Aung San Suu Kyi and the mass movement she led against repression.
      Reply
      Harinder August 30, 2016 at 6:09 am
      Love your Nation and its citizen where ever you live in.
      If you don’t like a Nation then you may leave and go to a new Nation.
      India is not South Africa being ruled by an Empire with apartheid.So your comparison is wrong
      Burma if my knowledge is correct is a country which changed from military governance to democratic system of governance.
      Reply
      M Singh August 30, 2016 at 12:52 pm
      Love your nation means that it must live up to its potential and the promises it made to the Sikhs at its very inception. Both Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi made solemn oaths to guarantee the rights of Sikhs which were reneged upon.When one party breaks the terms of a deal you cannot just expect the other side to to keep their end of the bargain especially when they are being attacked. The Punjab is the SIKH HOMELAND and was previously a sovereign SIkh state and is OURS. The Punjabi Hindus have already walked away form Punjab taking land form it to form their own state of Haryana (in 1966 referendum) and the Punjabi Muslim has done the same in 1947 partition to form Pakistan. If you insist that the Sikhs in Punjab are not going to get their rights (and who are you to say that we are not – the white south african also were saying the blacks are being treated fairly and do not deserve any special recognition) then give them also democratic referendum that you already gave to Punjabi Hindus. You dont want to do that becuase you Sikhs will voice their grievances and then you cannot just keep ignoring them and saying there are no grievances. You are threatening the integrity of my country by disciminating against and persecuting my people. IN both cases of South Africa and Burma the unjust governance had to yield to the sustained pressure of justice for all its people and not just those favoured by the ruling elite. Also I don;t like this comment love your nation (Sikhs have disproportionately suffered more loss for creation and sustenance of India than any other population) wherever you live as it seems to say to Sikhs disapora ‘don’t worry about Indian Sikhs and abuses done to them’. Tell me do you say the same thing to disapora Hindus? No you send RSS chief to UK to rally them for support back in India – in UK the Hindu population is twice that of Sikh population from UK census. IN the same way SIkhs abroad cannot abandon their SIkh brethren in India as Punjab is our homeland and heartland and like the Jew or cannot forsake Israel or the Muslim who cannot forsake Mecca the Sikhs cannot forsake our soil of Punjab no matter that you stain it with blood and steal and pollute its waters.
      Reply
      Harinder September 1, 2016 at 6:23 am
      PM Nehru and Mr Gandhi are gone .
      We got to decide how we will shape future of our Indian Nation.
      Will we be in perpetual grievance mode or do some thing constructive.
      M Singh September 1, 2016 at 1:39 pm
      Nehru and Gandhi may be gone but their promises made to induce the Sikhs to throw in our lot with India instead of reforming our Sikh sovereign nation (as we had under the Khalsa Raj of Maharajah Ranjit Singh) still stand – that is the basis of a contract and treaties, you keep your word.
      Reply
      Rajinder Narang August 29, 2016 at 8:27 pm
      Sikhs don’t have slave mentality, they will never surrender, and will keep on fighting for human rights, Remember which community at large fought the Indian govt when emergency was declared If sikhs didn’t do that at that time you probably would be living under Nehru dynasty. So cut the crap and fight for the human rights .
      Reply
      Surinder August 30, 2016 at 4:21 pm
      Fight for human rights is now a crime – this is Indian democracy…… These hinduvata RSS agents like Harinder are so disgusting cannot still admit to inhumane treatment of innocents…….
      What goes around comes around DO NOT EVER FORGET THAT….
      Reply
      Harinder August 31, 2016 at 6:42 am
      The Nation is strong enough to handle all anti National forces.
      You shall unnecessarily put our children in harms way if you try fighting the Nation .
      Reply
      M Singh August 31, 2016 at 1:12 pm
      Fascist message from a fascist supporter. The Nazis would be proud you R’SS’ Harinder following their ideology but Shaheeds Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh would be ashamed. Note the Nazis were roundly defeated and exposed for their inhumanity.
      Reply
      Harinder September 1, 2016 at 6:30 am
      Indian state is not a Nazi state.
      No mass extermination has been carried out by India of any segment of its population.
      No Nation in world will tolerate Rebels be it USA as in Snow den case or recently the rebels in Turkey.
      So love your Nation and its people which ever Nation you decide to live in.
      Reply
      M Singh September 1, 2016 at 1:41 pm
      Mass extermination = genocide. The Sikhs have been victim of state sponsored genocide in 1984 (akin to Hitler’s kristallnacht killing of Jews) and extra judicial killings and disappearance into the 1990s. You don’t kill citizens who politically dissent and protest, that is their democratic right.
      Reply
      Harinder September 1, 2016 at 6:12 pm
      I told you in 1984 there was a rebellion in Punjab against the Indian State.
      The centre in order to maintain the law and order had to come down with a heavy hand.
      There was no mass killing what the Jews had undergone.under the Nazis.
      Any state or Nation in world is duty bound to protect the constitution.of that Nation.
      Reply
      M Singh September 2, 2016 at 4:04 am
      You are again just parroting the brainwash narrative to justify attack on the Sikhs. The root cause again you completely ignore for this ‘rebellion’ which go back to before India is actually created and when promises are made to the Sikhs to induce them to join India instead of reforming their own sovereign country again. Talk of that insurrection and betrayal by the likes of Nehru, Congress and the Hinduvta polity in 1950s, 1960s (where ‘revolt’ against Punjab and the Sikh majority there is legitimised by the State by allowing referendum in 1966 encouraging Punjabi Hindus to see themselves as being seperate from their Punjabi Sikh kindred. 1978 the State is committing rebellion against Sikhs by using proxies to murder Sikhs in Amritsar. IN 1984 in the streets of Delhi for 4 days the police (those who are not actually involved in disarming Sikhs and sending mobs to their homes to murder them) are standing aside whilst the army is kept out of the city to allow Rajiv gandhi to take personal revenge on Sikhs – the PM of the country with the full force of the state is committing mass murder – the five thousand plus raped and murdered in those 4 days is over a hundred worse in terms of the numbers killed and properties destroyed than Hitler achieved with his kristalnacht! You really need to read your history properly when you talk of constitution. As reported in Young India, 19th March 1931, Mahatma Gandhi addressed the Sikhs in Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib Delhi and said “I ask you to accept my word and the resolution of the Congress that it will not betray a single individual Sikh much less the Sikh community. If it ever thought of doing so, it would only hasten its own doom… I pray you to unbossom yourself of all doubt and apprehensions. Let God be witness to the bond that binds me and the Congress to you. I venture to suggest that the non-violence creed of the Congress is the surest guarantee of good faith and our Sikh friends have no reason to fear that it would betray them. For the moment it did so the Congress would not only thereby seals its own doom but that of the country also. Moreover the Sikhs are a brave people. They know how to safeguard their rights by the exercise of arms, if it ever come to that”. That same Gurdwara was attacked by Congress led mobs in 1984. At a press conference in 1946 as reported in the Statemans newspaper July 7th 1946, Nehru said “the brave SIkhs of Punjab are entitled to special consideration, I see nothing wrong in an area set up in the north wherein the SIkhs can also experience the glow of freedom”. Then in 9th December 1946 he presented a resolution in the session of constituent assembly “Adequate safeguards would be provided for minorities in India. It was a declaration, a pledge, and an undertaking before the world’ a contract with millions of Indians and therefore in the nature of a oath which we must keep”. He then passed a resolution in the Congress committee on 5th January 1947 “The rights of the Sikhs in Punjab should not be jeopardized”. In July 1947 they passed resolution “In the divided Indian PUnjab special constitutional measures are imperative to meet the just aspirations and rights of the Sikhs”. Now talk of Sikhs breaking the Constitution when bad faith has been given to them after 1947 despite these assurances. We are the most loyal people of India because we keep our word.
      Reply
      Harinder September 1, 2016 at 6:14 pm
      If you obey the laws the State shall protect you.
      It is dangerous to break the laws and one may do so at his own Peril.
      Reply
      M Singh September 2, 2016 at 4:08 am
      There is a saying that suffragettes (who like Bapu Surat Singh were force fed and brutalised by police) used in their appeal to their fellow citizens for their right to equality be recognised: ‘For the law to be respected it must first be respectable’ .

  11. Don’t be a

    1) Religious Extremist
    2) National Extremist
    3) Language Extremist
    4) Race Extremist
    5) State Extremist

    Learn the art of peaceful co existence

    • Khalra was NOT an extremist of any sort but a man detailing human rights abuses against Sikhs when he himself became a victim of extra judicial violence. But then again in your eyes even Amnesty International are extremists for wanting to catalogue human rights violations. The only people that need to learn the art of peaceful coexistence are Hinduvta Taliban extremists like yourself – you can start by following Sikh example and sitting down and eating alongside a Dalit who is your equal if not better in every respect instead of treating him as second class human being with your caste extremism (which has religious, racial, class, historical, national and state extremism at its very heart).

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