Jonathan Kay: Sikh Radicalism still stalks Western streets

[Singhballer]

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/19/jonathan-kay-three-decades-after-operation-bluestar-deadly-sikh-radicalism-still-stalks-western-streets/

The words “Operation Bluestar” are little known in the West. But in South Asia, the Indian army’s June, 1984 invasion of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar is considered one of the most important, and infamous, events in the region’s modern history. Many Sikh activists call it a “massacre” — and even compare it to the Sikh holocaust perpetrated by the Mughals 250 years ago. To this day, Bluestar represents a rallying point for Sikh militants seeking greater autonomy from India.

In truth, bloody though it was, Bluestar cannot be called a deliberate pogrom. In the years leading up to the assault, Sikh separatists and radicals had turned much of the Punjab into a war zone — with peaceable Sikhs being the primary victims of the chaos. Amidst the upheaval, the Golden Temple — which contains the holy text of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib — was taken over by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a charismatic Sikh fundamentalist (some saw him as a full-on prophet) who’d surrounded himself by gun-weilding zealots.

Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister (who later paid with her life for the events that would unfold at her command in 1984) realized that the situation in Punjab was untenable. Some feared that Pakistan, which already was making common cause with India’s hardline Sikhs, would recognize the independence of a breakaway Khalistani state, should one be declared, and send soldiers into Indian territory. Khalistani separatists were beginning to distribute their own currency. It was clear that taking the temple back from the zealots was a national imperative for India. And so Gandhi sent in the army.

Bhindranwale and hundreds of his fighters went down fighting inside the temple compound. Many innocents — pilgrims whom Bhindranwale effectively had taken hostage — also were among the victims. The Indian military estimated that about 500 civilians died in the crossfire. Unofficial tallies are an order of magnitude higher.

Yet Bluestar was in no way intended as a campaign of extermination by Hindus against Sikhs, even if that is how it is sometimes presented in propaganda tracts. In fact, the military commander of the Bluestar operation was himself a Sikh: Lieutenant-General Kuldip Singh Brar, a veteran of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. A majority of his senior commanders also were Sikhs.

In a series of interviews he conducted in 2004, on the 20th anniversary of Bluestar, Gen. Brar said that he saw no conflict between his duty to his nation and his religious faith:

I am religious but in moderation. I am not a person who has to be in a temple every single day, but I have a fear of God. I respect religion, and respect the fact that I am a Sikh. But as I said earlier, a Sikh or a Hindu has no meaning here [in the armed forces]. You don’t even think about it. You are convinced you are not acting against any religion but against a section of misguided people [led by Bhindranwale] who have held the country to ransom, who are ready to fragment this country.

Nor was Gen. Brar the only Sikh in the Indian military who felt this way. Prior to the assault on the Golden Temple, Gen. Brar announced to his men that if any one of them did not feel he could participate in the operation, he should step forward and leave the staging area without fear of reprisal.

“In the fourth battalion, one hand went up,” the former commander recalls. “It belonged to a Sikh officer, Second Lieutenant Jasbir Singh Raina … [He] had a request: he wanted to be the first person to enter the Golden Temple to wipe the militants who had defiled his holiest shrine. I was very happy and [said] that Raina must be allowed to lead the first charge. The moment Raina entered, he came under a withering fire and suffered serious injuries to his legs. Yet, he refused to pull out … Months later, when he received the Ashoka Chakra [the highest bravery award in peace times], he came to receive the award in a wheelchair. I had tears in my eyes.”

Gen. Brar retired from the Indian Army in 1992. But civilian life proved just as hazardous as life in the military: In the years following Bluestar, militant Sikhs went on a spree of assassination attempts against commanders who’d been involved in the operation. Gen. Brar lives in a well- guarded compound, and spends much of his time radical monitoring Sikh web sites with names such as “Kill Brar.”

The former commander also is dismayed to see a resurgence of exactly the sort of Sikh radicalism he sought to extinguish back in 1984. “There are increasing signs of the youth in Punjab being motivated and indoctrinated by hardcore pro-Khalistan elements abroad,” he told an interviewer earlier this month. “This is happening, particularly in the US, Canada, UK and West Europe by glorifying the deeds of the Bhindranwale cult and by circulating doctored footage of Operation Bluestar … Pakistan’s Intelligence agency ISI is also collaborating with pro-Khalistan cells abroad to propagate the ideology of separatism.”

Much of this is happening right out in the open. Recently, Gen. Brar notes, a memorial function was held inside the Golden Temple complex — with the honorees being the men who assassinated Gen. A.S. Vaidya, a fellow Bluestar commander. And here in Canada, Sikh activists earlier this year staged a noisy public campaign called “I am Rajoiana” — a reference to an unrepentant Sikh terrorist, Balwant Singh Rajoana, who masterminded the killing of a Punjab chief minister (who himself was a Sikh). At Sikh parades in British Columbia, other Sikh killers have been memorialized as “martyrs” on parade floats.

This month, while Gen. Brar was in London, England on a private trip with his wife, a group of four people attacked him near the east end of Oxford Street. In the melée, he was knifed in the neck and face, but survived without life-threatening injuries. British police arrested a dozen suspects. Two are being charged with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

The crime itself is shocking. But it’s also disturbing to see that the Sikh community in England is divided in its reaction to it. A Tribune India reporter who visited Southall (aka “Little Punjab”) in recent days interviewed some moderate Sikhs who found the attack on Gen. Brar to be appalling. But others embraced conspiracy theories to the effect that the assault was a “false flag” operation, hatched by India as a means to discredit Sikhs. Here in Canada, similar anti-Indian conspiracy theories circulated in regard to the destruction if Air India Flight 182 in 1985.

The fact that men such as Gen. Brar still live in fear for their life 28 years after the Bluestar operation shows that murderous violence has become institutionalized within radical Sikh circles. This radicalism, and the general schisming of the Sikh diaspora into Khalistani and non-Khalistani factions, is damaging Sikhism as much as anything that happened in 1984.

Yet Gen. Brar himself tells an interesting, personal tale about such schisms — and how they can heal on a personal level.

My own mama [mother’s brother] who lives in London — he didn’t keep long hair, he used to smoke, visit pubs, and I used to stay with him whenever I was visiting the UK — suddenly changed [in the 1980s]. He began to grow his hair and beard; he used to regularly participate in the functions at Southall [in London] where the Sikhs vowed revenge [for Bluestar]; he went to Pakistan; he swore he’d have never have anything to do with me. He broke ties with my parents — his own sister. [but] then, just three years ago, I was in London and found out he was dying of cancer. I decided I must see him and went to the hospital. The staff told me he had about 24 to 48 hours to live. When they informed him of my presence, he told them to bring me to his bedside and he held my hand; he had tears rolling down his cheeks and he told me he now understood I had to do whatever I did.

The recollection provides a hopeful symbol of the spirit of reconciliation that, one hopes, will eventually render Sikh political violence a thing of the past. Like Gen. Brar and his late uncle, Khalistani Sikhs — in the Punjab, Canada and everywhere else — should step back and look at what their cause has done to their communities and even their families. In that respect, this month’s shameful knife attack on a 78-year-old man, walking the streets of London with his wife, perhaps can serve as a wake-up call.

jkay@nationalpost.com

— Jonathan Kay is Managing Editor for Comment at the National Post, and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @jonkay. Adapted from an article originally published by New Europe.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

The Sikh Federation (UK) is tweeting:

India really worried & pushing Canadian PM 2 kill off peaceful Sikh independence movement/lobby. Sikhs will rise 2 challenge

Suggest others do this - target the media in Canada and Sikh organisation in Canada on Twitter.

[HSD2]

This piece could have been written by the Indian Ambassador for all the backside kissing in it. Seriously, cant any Canadian Sikhs investigate this guy? Denying genocide is surely a crime in Canada?

[Singh559]

Lot of right wing hinduvta orgs are exercising their influence in the small country of Canada. It's much easier for them to flex their power there.

Sikhs in Canada need to up their game.

[Shaheed Singh Khalsa]

One has to wonder what organisation or group of individual's lined Mr Jonathan Kay's pockets for that loads of nonsense!

[Jonny101]

This man Jonothan kay is obviously an agent of influance. (Google the term "Agent of Influence")

GOI has bought many such agents of influence in the west to oppose and silence the Sikhs, especially Journalists.

[ThunderousDominator]

what a disgusting excuse for a human being

[Singhballer]

I highly doubt the he's a pawn of India. Its more likely he is just accepting of the Indian government's version of events.

[Shaheed Singh Khalsa]

I think the following two guys hit the nail firmly on its head!! Also if you follow the Facebook link to the page which states some "detailed" list about the "Hindu genocide in Punjab" and all the Hindus killed along with dates and locations, you quickly realise that Bharat mummies propagandhi machine is in full swing at the moment! I wish they would give us the list of all the innocent men, women and children they killed in fake encounters during the 80's, 90's and 2000's.

Sergio Ramirez -

"Operation Bluestar was done on a major Sikh religious holiday. It was done on the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan, the man who founded the Golden Temple. Why did the army attack on this day, when they knew the temple would be packed with innocent devotees?

Why did the soldiers defile the temple by smoking and drinking alcohol in the priests' quarters? Why did they burn the library, which contained valuable manuscripts? Why did they loot valuable artifacts, which have yet to be returned, and have shown up on the black market?

What was the need of bringing tanks into the temple complex, to fight men armed with guns?

Why was the Indian army rehearsing an invasion of the Golden Temple, up to two years prior to the attack? This is before Bhindranwale's men had assumed position within the temple.

Why did government officials provide round up goons to burn down Sikh homes and businesses, and kill innocent Sikhs across India. These government officials provided the goons with voter lists that had addresses of Sikhs. The government officials are now high ranking members of the Congress Party.

Why is there an active cover up? Jaswant Singh Kalra was kidnapped and killed by police. His only crime was exposing the systematic killing and cremating of Sikh youth across Punjab, by the police. Mass-graves of innocent Sikhs, killed by government led goons have been discovered. Instead of investigations, the whistle-blowers have been harassed.

Kishori Lal, "Butcher of Trilokpuri", went on a killing spree of innocent Sikhs, in 1984. He stabbed them to death. The government has pardoned him. Meanwhile, they are trying to give Balwant Singh Rajoana the death sentence. Rajoana didn't even kill anyone. He was just an accomplice in the assasination of Chief Minister Beant Singh (the man who ordered the mass killings of innocent Sikh youth across Punjab). Why the double-standard?"

Freddy Mercury -

"The article has missed the most important facts of this episode.

1- Indira Gandhi attacked the holy temple on a major religious festival for Sikhs. This was on purpose to humiliate them the most.

2. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold and diamonds were catalogued and stolen by the government from the toshakhanna within the complex, in which it acknowledges was taken by them. Many of these were priceless gifts from kings and emperors and the common man thoughout Sikhism's history from Iraq to Thailand and everything inbetween.

3 The Central Sikh Library, Sikh History Research Board, Guru Granth Sahib Research Center and theology sections of the complex were ransacked and burned, this included tens of thousands of historical Sikh documents spanning more than 500 years.

4. And the zealots you proclaim were youths who were sick and tired of being treated 3rd class citizens in there own country. I remember myself as a University Student in Punjab in the late 1970's and police and army regularly going though Sikh student dorms, stopping us from traveling from one city to the other, and taking many of my friends from even their lectures, never to be seen again! Only reason they were of the Sikh faith.

5. 5000 years of India being slaves from different nations and invading armies it was the Sikhs who efficiently ended all invasions from the strategic Kyber Pass region. Sikhs paid majority of Indias taxes, grew the most food in India (and still do) and were still subjected to discrimination decades before 1984 ever since Indias independence in 1947. Indias nice juicy pay-back was 1984.

6. Indian Government has killed more than 300 000 Sikhs 1980-1994. And the hindus that were killed were done so by "black cats" and indian intell. services for the purpose of a erasing a strong popular opinion for Sikh freedom fighters.

7. The pilgrims were never taken hostage by the Sikhs within the temple, it was the Government who had done so, you should look it up kay, I bet you have a shiny computer infront of you.

Comon' Jhonny - everybody knows this... the government of india the hindus and sikhs... here,there and in Punjab, no secret buddy. Its just you need some help with your facts, its okay. its okay.."