New Year Message to the Sikh Nation

From Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh
President, Council of Khalistan
1901 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 802         
Washington DC 20006 USA

Email: khalistan@digizen.net	             		        
202/833-3262  			
Web: www.khalistan.com
fx: 202/452-9161

On the 300th Birth Anniversary of the Khalsa Panth,
We Must Unite to Establish Khalsa Raj
Freedom for Khalistan is the Most Important Issue

This year is a very important year for the Sikh Nation.  It marks the
300th anniversary of the birth of the Khalsa Panth.  No Sikh can deny
supporting Khalsa Raj.  Every morning and evening we pray before the
Guru, "Raj Kare Ga Khalsa."  Sikhs who do not support Khalsa Raj are
hypocrites who are lying to the Guru.  Political power is the sine qua
non for the survival of any nation.

We are now in the 15th year since the attack on the Golden Temple.  The
true intentions of the Indian government are clear. The Indian
government's true intention is to annihilate the Sikh religion.  As
Narinder Singh, a spokesman for the Golden Temple, told National Public
Radio (USA) in July 1997, "The Indian government, all the time they
boast that they are democratic, they are secular, but they have nothing
to do with democracy, they have nothing to do with secularism.  They
kill Sikhs just to please the majority."  What is happening to the
Christians now happens to the Sikh Nation on a regular basis.

The Akali leadership is under the control of the Indian government.  The
BJP openly advocates "Hindu, Hindi, Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra."  The BJP
wants to suppress all other religions, whether Sikhism, Christianity,
Islam, or any other.  They want to wipe out these religions in India
just as Buddhism was wiped out in the land of Buddha's birth.  How can
the Akali Dal, which is supposed to represent the independent Sikh
Nation, be allied with this fanatical Hindu party?

To this day the Badal Government refuses to investigate the genocide of
the Sikhs.  Plainclothes police patrol the Golden Temple. Thousands of
Sikh political prisoners are rotting in Indian jails.  Some of them have
been there since 1984.  Since the Akali government took authority over
the Punjab police, over 200 atrocities have been documented, including
the illegal arrest, torture, rape and murder of Sikhs. The vast majority
of cases have been ignored, or approved, by various members of the Badal
government. These atrocities may be the tip of the iceberg, as several
cases are not reported due to police intimidation or media corruption.

The Congress Party is no better than the BJP.  The majority Hindu
community also controls the Congress Party.  In public, Congress raises
slogans of secularism, but they are the ones who attacked the Golden
Temple, organized the Delhi massacres, and denied the Sikhs autonomy in
Punjab, which the Congress Party had promised us.  In reality, either
BJP or Congress means oppression for the Sikh Nation.  As U.S.
Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) said, "The mere fact that they have
the right to choose their oppressors does not mean they live in a
democracy."

Today Punjab police continue to rape and murder innocent Sikhs. 
Cowardly butchers like SSP Sumedh Saini, SSP Swaran Ghotna (who murdered
Akal Takht Jathedar Gurdev Singh Kaunke), and even K.P.S. Gill enjoy
high praise from Badal while men of conscience like human-rights
activist Jaswant Singh Khalra and others remain forgotten.

How can the Akali leadership close their eyes to the disappearance of
over 50,000 Sikhs?  How can they not arrest the police officers who
murdered Khalra and Jathedar Kaunke?  There are police witnesses to both
of these murders, yet the Akalis choose to ignore them.  How can they
claim to represent the Sikh Nation?

1999 is a special year for the Khalsa Panth.  It is our 300th
anniversary.  In this milestone year, we must dedicate ourselves to
restoring Sikh spirit.  We must be united.  We must work for the
well-being of the Khalsa Panth.  No nation can survive without political
power.  We must rededicate ourselves to the freedom of the Sikh Nation
and to accomplishing our dream of Raj Kare Ga Khalsa, a free Khalistan. 

The Indian government and their Akali allies have committed large
resources to try and convince the Khalsa Panth and the world that the
Khalistan freedom movement is over. Using government collaborators like
Didar Singh Bains, they want you to believe that there is no such thing
as a PEACEFUL supporter of Khalistan. They want the Khalsa Panth to
forget that we have ALWAYS supported Shantmai Morcha to peacefully
establish an independent and democratic Khalistan.

The recent attacks on Christians show the desperation of the Indian
rulers.  They know that India is collapsing.  It is not a single
country, but a polyglot accumulation of many nations living under one
rule.  Like its ally, the former Soviet Union, its breakup is
inevitable. 

Even Hindus in America are beginning to understand that India's empire
cannot survive.  On November 3, 1998, the Rutgers Review, the newspaper
of Rutgers University, ran an article by a Hindu student named Monica
Deshmukh supporting independence for Khalistan.  How can any Sikh oppose
Khalsa Raj?  In this special year, we must pray sincerely and humbly to
the Guru for His blessing, kindness, and help to show us the vision to
achieve Khalsa Raj, and to give us the courage and determination to
establish it.

I ask you to join together with me to demand that a fully independent
and internationally monitored plebiscite should be held in Punjab on the
following referendum question:

Should Punjab remain within the Indian Union or should Punjab, Khalistan
be established as a fully sovereign and independent constitutional
democracy with the internationally recognized status of nation state?

Disintegration of the center is imminent. The 18-party coalition that
runs the central government is very unstable and weak. Even as
politicians harp on the empty slogan of Indian 'unity', the people of
South Asia know that disintegration of India is inevitable. 

The fact is that like the Soviet Union, India has been held together by
violent repression and is destined to fall apart. Now is the time for
the Sikh Nation to boldly and unequivocally assert our right to national
self-determination, now is the time to demand a sovereign, independent
Khalistan. Let us commit ourselves in the 300th anniversary of the
Khalsa Panth to making sure that no divide-and-rule strategy either from
the Akalis, their BJP masters or Congress will be able to keep the
Khalsa Panth from transforming Punjab into the secular, pluralist, and
fully independent democracy it should have become 50 years ago.

The December 31 issue of Dalit Voice ran an article by Sukhdev Singh
Karkhal of Rajowala that urged Dalits to embrace Sikhism en masse.  As
President of the Council of Khalistan, I appeal to the Dalits: On this
300th anniversary of the Khalsa Panth, you should convert en masse and
embrace Sikhism.  Remember that Guru Gobind Singh said "Ragrete Guru Ke
Bete," meaning these low-caste people are the sons of Guru.  I appeal to
the Akal Takht Jathedar to contact the Dalit leaders and invite them to
embrace Sikhism.  Conversion to the Sikh religion is the best way to
salvation from slavery, repression, and the economic and human
exploitation of the Dalits by the Brahmins.

We must celebrate this milestone anniversary in a way that is
memorable.  This Vaisakhi is a special day.  We should all take the full
day off, a whole week if possible, to celebrate this auspicious
occasion.  We spend large sums of money to celebrate the birthdays of
our children.  This is the birthday of the Khalsa Panth.  This is a
once-in-a-lifetime occasion.  We must all participate fully in the
common celebration by the Khalsa Panth, whether by attending the Khalsa
March 1999 here in Washington, D.C. on April 10 or the celebration on
Vaisakhi Day in Punjab, Khalistan or in any Gurdwara.  Please come out
with your family.  Nobody should be at home.  Mark the occasion with
prayer.  Guru will hear our prayers and we will be blessed with what is
good for the Khalsa Panth.  

The Guru also said, "Rehat Pyari Mujh Ko Sikh Pyara Nahin."  Become a
Kesadari Sikh.  Get baptized.  It is the conduct that is important, not
the person.  

Sikhism was established on the basis of equality.  We have no caste
system and there is equality for women.  In practice these principles
are not being achieved.  We must rededicate ourselves to the idea that
all Sikhs are equal regardless of their profession or economic status or
their gender.  (Zat Pat and Ooch Neech.)  If a rich man betrays the
Khalsa Panth, all his wealth will not redeem him.  It is not wealth or
power but deeds that make a good person and a good Sikh.  

I ask the Akali leadership to pray before the Guru for forgiveness of
their sins that they have committed against the Sikh Nation and in the
future to adopt the attitude of a true Sikh and in the future start
serving the Sikh Nation rather than the interests of the Indian
oppressors.  

There are now 3 million Sikhs outside India for the first time.  They
have played a major role since 1984.  The Sikh diaspora is free.  India
can't threaten them, torture them, or violate their dignity and rights. 
They are the ones who will provide leadership to the Khalsa Panth.  How
can we celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa Panth? How can we
recite Raj Kare Ga Khalsa? How can we look into our children's eyes on
April 14, 1999 and tell them to be proud to be a Sikh when we have
allowed hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters to be
forgotten both in the jails and in the killing fields of Punjab,
Khalistan?  In this 300th anniversary year of the Khalsa Panth, let us
rededicate ourselves to the principle of Raj Kare Ga Khalsa by
establishing Khalistan to ensure a better future for the Khalsa Panth.

In Service to the Panth, 



Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh
President