Stockton, USA: Bibi Bimal Kaur Khalsa in an emotion – charged speech declared: “Sikhs are slaves in India, it is a crime in the eyes of India to just be a Sikh. All Sikhs have been branded terrorists despite the fact that 90% of the sacrifices made for India’s independence were made by Sikhs. We must not waver from the goal set for us by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who roused the sleeping Sikh nation to – the grave danger facing the panth. We must not go back to sleep. Sikhs were born to rule or to become martyrs but never slaves.”
The widow of Sikh hero and martyr, Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh, Bibi Bimal Kaur is also an elected member of the Indian Parliament. She was appreciative of the support she had received to be able to sit in front of Rajiv Gandhi in Parliament. Speaking to a packed Gurdwara Sahib here on March 17, her speech was often punctuated by full-throated choruses of “Jo bole so Nihal, Sat Sri Akai” and “Khalistan Zindabad”
She recounted the Sikh struggle in India since 1978 when 13 Sikhs were murdered by government agents in the garb of Nirankari’s. “What atrocities has not India heaped upon Sikhs since then. Sikhs are murdered with impunity and the perpetrators of the November 1984 Sikh massacres had been rewarded rather than punished. There is no legal recourse for Sikhs. The houses of Sikhs are searched at will and _young men are taken away for questioning. They are often tortured to death or killed in fake encounters. The jails in Punjab are full of thousands of Sikhs, many held for years together without trial or charge. Even the bodies of the Sikhs who are killed are not returned to the relatives. Often parents beg the police to just let them know if their sons are dead so that they could perform last rites.”
The attack on the holiest Sri Harmandir Sahib on June 4, 1984 was a deep-rooted conspiracy to finish the Sikhs altogether, she said. June 4 was the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev and hundreds of thousands of Sikh pilgrims visit the Golden Temple on this auspicious occasion. Bibiji said in a raised voice, no human power on earth could destroy the Sikhs but those who have tried have always been finished themselves. It was to avenge the affront of Operation Bluestar that Saheeds Bhai Beant Singh, Sat want Singh and Kehar Singh had to lay down their lives.
Bibi Bimal Kaur described the situation in Punjab as very grim. The army, police, CRPF and BSF were everywhere. There was no security of life or property. Not only homes, but gurdwaras are also searched by the police who desecrate the holy places with their hobnailed boots. Even the Golden Temple was in police custody, she said.
in giving examples of Indian oppression, she cited the case of Bhai Sukhjinder Singh and Bhai Ranjit Singh who had raised their voice against oppression. They are now in a New York detention facility. The Indian courts could find no evidence against them and virtually declared them innocent but the Indian government refiled the case against them after having lost it last year just so the voice of the Sikhs remains repressed. Parliament passed a resolution expressing grief at the Bhopal gas tragedy but the Sikh massacres have not even merited a mention, she said.
Bibi Bimal Kaur appealed to Sikhs in western countries to come together in this time of struggle. She made particular reference to the tussles among local groups over control of gurdwaras and said our resources ~ should not be washed in courts. Bibi Bimal Kaur was presented with a siopao by Dr Harbhajan Singh. (World Sikh News, March 22).
