Photo Source; Babushahi Bureau
Mann Dal & Dal Khalsa carry out black flag protest against India’s "subjugation and atrocities" on Sikhs: View pictures
Pro-Khalistan and pro-Azadi slogans were raised.
Babushahi Bureau
Ludhiana, August 15, 2023: Carrying black flags, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Dal Khalsa on the eve of India’s Independence Day staged a massive demonstration in Ludhiana against India's atrocities, injustices, political subjugation and denial of rights to Punjab and Sikhs in the last seven decades.
Hundreds of activists of both the Sikh hardliner groups marched on the streets of the industrial city and held a two hour demonstration at Ludhiana's famous Jagraon bridge.
Giving a clarion call to people of Punjab to observe August 15 as Black Day, they carried black flags, banners and placards to convey their message.
The demonstrators chanted the slogans ‘Sikhs want Azaadi from India’ and denounced the Indian state for crushing the rights of Sikhs, Kashmiris, Nagas, other nationalities and groups.
The organisers of today’s protest March are known protagonists of Khalistan struggle through political and democratic means. Before the start of March, Ardas was performed by SGPC member Karnail Singh Panjoli at Gurdwara Sahib.
The protest march by Sikh groups was against “pseudo-nationalism being imposed on people of Punjab, thrusting Uniform Civil Code on minorities having distinct identities, unwarranted interference in religious affairs by state and Union governments, misuse of draconian laws -NSA, UAPA to silence Sikh dissenting voices and aspirations for self-rule, killings of Khalistanis in other countries by secret agencies, NIA raids, injustice to Sikh political prisoners and the significant denial of right to self determination and plebiscite”.
Sikh groups see a pattern in the killings of Khalistanis -Paramjit Singh Panjwar in Pakistan and Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and suspect the role of India’s secret agents. "Indian agents engineered these killings," they blamed and warned New Delhi to desist from such extra-judicial practice”.
The outrage of women’s honour and violence in Manipur echoed in Ludhiana. Young orators -men and women held the Union Home Minister, Chief Minister of Manipur and the state police fully accountable for its impunity and complicity in the mayhem and state sponsored terrorism to suppress the indigenous peoples..
The demonstrators were holding banners, which read, "Sikhs reject RSS theory of one nation, one culture, one language, one civil code." Another banner reads : India murdered democracy in Kashmir in reference to abrogation of article 370.
Addressing the gathering, party heads of SAD Amritsar and Dal Khalsa- MP Simranjit Singh Mann and Harpal Singh Cheema said, “It has been 75 long years since India got freedom, but nothing has changed. On the 14th of August, Muslims got Pakistan and on 15th August, Hindus got Hindustan but Sikhs's trust was betrayed and we were again enslaved here in India. Since then, we Sikhs are fighting to get our independent homeland. The litany of grouses, grievances and grudges have grown with every passing year, in fact with every passing day. The Sikh case is to uphold the self-rule legacy of Punjab and the growing list of broken promises that have been forgotten and ignored by the Indian leadership.”
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Paramjit Singh Mand said Sikhs, Kashmiris and Nagas were not alone in this crisis of identity in India. All minorities, including the Dalits, were also suffering. While addressing the spirited gathering, he rejected the call of har ghar tiranga by PM Narendra Modi.
Senior party leader Kanwar Pal Singh said the international community has been responding only in situations where there is an armed struggle, but unfortunately is maintaining a deafening silence about state sponsored violence where there is an active peaceful and democratic movement for rights and human rights protection. Punjab is one such key example.
“International forums have ignored the democratic and peaceful struggle of the Sikhs and Kashmiris and have turned a blind eye to the misery, pain and violation of their human rights,” he said.