Genocide has to be compensated by separation: Sikh politician
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 December 2013, 22:30 GMT]“Tamils can’t live [in a united Sri Lanka] after the perpetration of
the crime of genocide. I think the wounds are too deep historically
there to be reconciliation. After a State has committed genocide, there
can’t be any reconciliation,” says Simranjit Singh Mann, the president
of Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar party, who advocates the formation of
Khalistan as an independent and sovereign State for Sikhs, in an
exchange of views with May 17 Movement in Tamil Nadu. “Pirapaharan and
his movement was too powerful for the Sri Lankan government,” he said,
adding that “it was under the collaboration of UPA-led Congress
government that the Sri Lanka government was able to achieve and crush
the movement for freedom by committing a genocide on the Tamil people in
Sri Lanka.”
Simranjit Singh Mann
A major tactic deployed by the
Indian State was to make sure that Tamil Nadu didn’t rise up to exert
pressure on the Indian Government. This was achieved through wooing
collaborators from Tamil Nadu with positions and money, he said.
“The
Tamil people would have listened in revolt and in favour of what was
happening to the Tamils in Sri Lanka [in 2009]. But, for the fact that
these Tamil leaders had been ‘bought over’, this didn’t happen,” the
Sikh leader told Tamil activists from Tamil Nadu.
“Government of
India rules Tamils of Tamil Nadu and the Sikhs of Punjab through
collaborators, in keeping the Tamils and the Sikhs subdued and not
letting in the nationalist feelings be turned into votes,” Mr Simranjit
Singh said drawing parallels between the genocide against Sikh people
and the genocide against Eezham Tamils.
“I came across Mr Vaiko
while I was in parliament from 1999 to 2004. But, other than that, the
Tamils have not taken up the cause of the Tamil people in [Indian]
parliament,” Mr Simrajit Singh said.
“My experience of the Tamil
people is that when the Central Government of Mr Sastri [in 1964-66]
wanted to impose Hindi all over India and abolish English [as lingua
franca], it was the Tamil people who rose up against it. They committed
mass suicides. The pressure went up that the Hindi-speaking Northern
Indian people had to give up their designs to poise Hindi on all of
India,” he said.
The Sikh politician was advocating for the use
of electoral politics as a means to demonstrate the democratic will of
the people [of Tamil Nadu].
“The Tamil Nadu State and the Tamil
people in India will have to help Tamils in Sri Lanka to achieve their
independence,” he said.
“Democracy gives legitimacy. If we had
elected representatives from Punjab and the other territories, we can
pass a resolution and that would be accepted by the world,” he said.
“But,
if you try any other methods of gaining independence, the world opinion
will go against you. You would be crushed not only by the State from
which you want to separate, but the forces, which are operated in the
world,” he said.
“Once, the American foreign policy was so great
and Woodrow Wilson wanted the right of self-determination and he created
Nations after First World War on the principle of nationalities. But
today, America doesn’t believe in human rights, it doesn’t believe in
the right of self-determination, in the right of people being the
masters of their own destiny as sovereign states.
“At the
moment, or even during the British period, the Hindus got their
independence through Congress and the Muslims got Pakistan through the
Muslim League. They did fight the elections and that was the only
determining factor on expressing what you want. If the history of our
sub-continent to be followed, it was the determination of the people
through the elections that made their voice legitimate and acceptable to
the rest of the world,” he said.
On a question on whether a
policy change was possible in the Indian establishment on the question
of Tamil Eelam, he said: “The theocratic State of India is very scared
of helping independence movements, because it is so fragile with the
Nagas, with the Kashmiris, with the Mizos, with the Tamils and with the
Sikhs. If you see the periphery of India, the theocratic State over here
rules all these states with the help of the Army and draconian laws,
which give impunity to the Army and the police forces to commit crimes
on the people. So, I don’t think that the Indian ruling class, the
theocrats, they will ever help the Eezham people to separate.”
“I
don’t think the attitude of the UN is helpful to freedom movements
though on its charter it allows for right to self-determination and the
obliteration of the death penalty and things like that. But in practice,
it is going along with the rulers who commit these crimes, whether they
be anywhere. The UN at this moment of time is going along with the
repressive governments.
“Since the elections are near, your
organizations should put up candidates who are Tamil nationalists, who
want separation, sovereignty and independence. Then only can the crime
of genocide perpetrated in Sri Lanka would be recognized. Like the
Armenian people and the Armenian genocide, it took years and years for
it to be registered in the American Congress and the Senate etc.
“So,
if we want Sikh genocide to be registered in international forums, we
need to have independent people in parliaments and in the legislatures
to speak on this.
“Tamil and Sikh people who are represented at these so-called democratic bodies [in India] do not take up these issues.
“We
want Khalistan to be an independent and sovereign Sikh State, which
would be a buffer between Islamic Pakistan, Communist China and
theocratic Hindu Indian State. Khalistan would ensure peace internally
in South Asia, because the theocratic Hindu India, communist China and
Islamic Pakistan, are deadly enemies [against each other] and a nuclear
war can break out.
“What would be the battlefield for the
nuclear war? It is the Sikh territories of Rajastan, Punjab, Hariyana,
Chandigarh, Jammu Kashmir and Himachal.
“If a buffer State is
created, the Sikhs would also be safe and the Hindus and Muslims who
live here would be safe. Apart from that it would create peace in South
Asia. For a plebiscite for the right of self-determination, we are in
favour of an independent and sovereign state.
Further excerpts from the exchange of views follow:
“The
brutality and the perpetration of genocide of the Tamil people has been
so severe by the Sri Lankan government that there cannot be any
reconciliation after this crime has been committed – just like it was
impossible for the Jews to live inside Germany after what they went
through in the era of the holocaust during the second world war and
Armenia which couldn’t stay with Turkey or any other country – they have
to be separated after this. The Sri Lankans have committed enormous
crimes on Tamil people living there. The Tamil Nadu State and the Tamil
people in India will have to help them to achieve this.
[…]
“The
13th Amendment doesn’t go as far as total independence and sovereignty.
It talks about internal settlement […] I don’t agree with that. The
Tamil people of Sri Lanka have to be independent. They must be the
masters of their destiny after what they have gone through.”
[…]
If
there are elections [under 13 Amendment], the people who are elected
and who would be put as administrators or chief ministers or whatever
you call that, they would become the collaborators of Sri Lanka.
[…]
“We
have always been keen about the struggle of Tamil people under
Pirapharan and the mobilization for freedom and separation. Our party
has followed these events very closely. If you see our website, we have
tabulated each and everything from time to time what has been happening
in Sri Lanka and to the Tamils.
“It was under the collaboration
of India under UPA-led Congress government that the Sri Lanka government
was able to achieve and crush the movement for freedom by committing a
genocide on the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
“And the reason was
that the Congress Party believed, rightly or wrongly, it was the Tamil
people, who had assassinated their leader Rajiv Gandhi. And, they had
been working in many ways to have Pirapaharan and some other people
extradited from Sri Lanka. Those in the Sri Lankan government wanted to
‘help’ India. But, the fact was that Pirapaharan and his movement was
too powerful for the Sri Lankan government and its Army to capture him
alive and hand him over to the Indians.
“So, in a plot and
conspiracy with the Sri Lankan government, they first bought over the
Tamil [Nadu] political leaders like Mr Karunanithy and Mr Chidamparam.
Then, by bribing these Tamil leaders, they kept the people of Tamil Nadu
from not helping the State movement for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
“For
instance, Mr Karunanidhi and the Central Government had his daughter in
an important post. Mr Raja was given a ministerial post in which they
made a lot of money. Mr Chidambaram had also made a lot of money. That
is how they suppressed [Tamil Nadu].
“My position is that the
Tamil people would have listened in revolt in favour of what was
happening to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. But, for the fact that these Tamil
leaders had been ‘bought over’, this didn’t happen.”
“The Tamils
constitute a separate Nation. They are a separate race. They have their
separate Hindu religion. But, they are oppressed by the Brahmins, who
have been priests for generations – by the Brahmanical system in India.
Tamils have a separate language, separate history, they have a separate
school of drama, music, art, and in the history, they have ruled their
land and they have been great colonizers in South East Asia.
“And
I do believe that the Tamil people should, like the Sikhs, be separated
and should have their own sovereign State, like what we Sikhs are
fighting for.
“So, we studied the Tamil movement very closely
and have been to Tamil Nadu and have given speeches. We have spoken very
freely that the Government of India rules Tamil Nadu and the Punjab and
the Sikhs through collaborators, who collaborate with the Government of
India in keeping the Tamils and the Sikhs subdued and not letting the
nationalist feelings be turned into votes.
“Since the elections
are near, your organizations, should put up candidates who are Tamil
nationalists, who want separation, sovereignty and independence. Then
only can the crime of genocide perpetrated in Sri Lanka would be
recognized. Like the Armenian people and the Armenian genocide, it took
years and years for it to be registered in the American Congress and the
Senate etc.,
“So, if we want Sikh genocide to be registered in
international forums, we need to have independent people in parliaments
and in the legislatures to speak on this.
“Tamil and Sikh people who are represented at these so-called democratic bodies do not take up these issues.
![Chundikkulam Nature Park [Photo Courtesy: Snappikz Media, Dehiwala]](http://www.tamilnet.com/pic.html?path=/img/publish/2013/12/Chundikkulam_nature_park.jpg&width=809&height=430&caption=Chundikkulam%20Nature%20Park%20[Photo%20Courtesy:%20Snappikz%20Media,%20Dehiwala])
