Standing for Rightious

ਸੂਰਾ ਸੋ ਪਹਿਚਾਨੀਏ, ਜੋ ਲਰੈ ਦੀਨੁ ਕੇ ਹੇਤੁ || ਪੁਰਜਾ ਪੁਰਜਾ ਕਟੁ ਮਰੈ, ਕਬਹੁੰ ਨਾ ਛਾਡੈ ਖੇਤੁ ||

सूरा सौ पहचानिये जो लढ़े दीन के हेत ।।  पुर्ज़ा पुर्ज़ा कट मरे, कभु ना छाडै खेत ।।

(He alone is the true warrior both spiritually and worldly who fights against injustice and for oppressed. He may cut apart piece by piece but never leaves the battlefield.)

Person whom I am talking about today lived by the above principles of Sikhi and gave his life. He was a true Sikh of Guru, a Singh, a lion that he alone stood up against state’s oppression and injustice that happened during 80’s and 90’s in Punjab. He stood up for humanity during dark times when even the media was not ready to acknowledge the innocent killings of Sikh youth and instead backed the butchers of Punjab (KP Gill and Beant Singh (Punjab’s CM)). That was the time when he stood up and discovered the mass cremation records of up to 25,000 young Sikh men who were illegally killed in fake encounters. Roar of this singh caused state to go on back foot and he was threatened that “he has only found 25,000 records of the many more that happened and it won’t cost them to do one more if he doesn’t stop”.

Needless to say he didn’t stopped and filed his report in United Nations human rights commission about the atrocities being committed in Punjab. He was abducted on 6th September 1995 from in front of his house in Ludhiana (Punjab) and was brutally killed.

Reason what I am highlighting here is not that he too was killed illegally by state but the thing that he knew what he was doing and what that could land him into but then also he was unmoved (A Light of Justice). On reading an excerpt from his close acquaintance that he told this man to be careful about his life as well  to which this man replied.

ਹਵਾ ਕੇ ਸਾਥ ਭੀ ਰਿਸ਼ਤੇ ਬੜੇ ਪੁਰਾਨੇ ਹੈਂ।ਮਗਰ ਚਿਰਾਗ਼ ਤੋ ਹਰ ਹਾਲ ਮੇਂ ਜਲਾਨੇ ਹੈ।

हवा के साथ भी रिश्ते बड़े पूराने हैं। मगर चिराग़ तो हर हाल मैं जलाने हैं।

This showed his commitment to the values of Sikhi and humanity which are popularly referred to as:

ਸਿਰ ਜਾਵੇ ਤਾਂ ਜਾਵੇ, ਮੇਰਾ ਸਿੱਖੀ ਸਿਦਕ ਨਾਂ ਜਾਵੇ

सिर जाये तो जाए पर मेरा सिखी सिधक ना जाये।

(Happy to get myself beheaded but not betraying my Sikh Values)

Sardar Jaswant Singh ji Khalra gave his life to protect each of us and one of the important ideals which our faith demands. His Selfless sacrifice not only deserves our gratitude, but also our commitment to continuously strive to live up to those ideals.

On this note I would conclude this article by saluting the great man and may almighty give us all the strength to stand for righteous.

To mark the UN international day of disappeared Khalsa Aid has launched an exhibition Lapta. It showcases portraits and interviews that expose truth behind the forced disappearances in Punjab.

Because My Friends are Silent

Thirty Four years ago my friends who are part of majority in India were silent when in June 1984 thousands of Sikhs including women and kids (as young as 3 months old) were massacred and raped by Indian Army in their holiest of Shrines Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar also known as Golden Temple, they were silent on November 1984 Genocide of Sikhs, they remained silent on the reign of terror that followed in Panjab for 10 years from 1984 which claimed lives of thousands of young boys and many girls were raped (all in the name of Nation building), they choose to stay silent on 2002 Gujarat massacre.

Rather they decided to reward the perpetrators of  1984 Genocide by voting them to power with sweeping majority in December 1984 elections (404 seats in a 533-seat parliament ). They are silent now on what’s happening in Kashmir and North eastern states like Nagaland and with Dalits. It is the repetition of what Panjab had already endured under terrorism of Indian security forces from 1984 onwards. Panjab is suffering now also but a different kind of genocide in which Drug trafficking that has been encouraged in Panjab and being robbed of its waters and is on the brink of turning into a baron land. And all this in the name of Nation building. I would remind them here that there silence is making them partners in those heinous crimes that have and are being committed because their collective conscience have approved of those crimes. Those crimes are happening with the people whom majority have alienated or I should say have downgraded them from the status of being humans. Otherwise how would they choose to remain silent and reward the culprits with the highest office in the country over and over again (1984, 2002, 2014)

If sacrificing lives of innocent people for Nation building can be justified then why is Hitler considered as a worst ruler in modern times ? He did everything in the name of building a German Nation, and for those people who think that capitalistic economy is the only measure of success and that’s why Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi or the present BJP government (now even Indian economy is not doing good but that’s blind following of people ) is good then Germany was economically very strong before World War II so that all the allied forces had to come together to defeat it. So why Hitler is bad he must be doing something very good because Germany was doing great (Not to forget Germans choose to remain silent during Jews holocaust and when Jews were facing oppression in Germany).

Closer to home if we look at Indian history Aurangzeb killed every non Muslim and converted them to Islam forcefully. Then why is he considered evil he should be regarded as a great ruler because he did all this to make a one nation and under his reign Mughals were doing great economically.

Those people who think that they are secular or I should say pseudo secular should come out of their cocoons that they are hiding into and think beyond their personal interests, and stop justifying these crimes against humanity in the name of Nation building because People make the Nation and its not the other way around.

And lastly as Martin Luther King Jr has rightfully said.

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”

So think people how you want to be remembered by future generations……

– Harpreet Singh.