tat@ihlpf.UUCP (Thomas) (01/24/86)
Bajwa's report looks like a made up story of the opposition. It does not seem to have any truth in it. (Coming up with the details like the contents of the report does not seem to be realistic).
murali@think.ARPA (Muralidhara Subbarao) (01/25/86)
> Bajwa's report looks like a made up story of the opposition. It does > not seem to have any truth in it. It is alright for Bajwa to post such reports as "Oppression in Punjab" prepared by Citizens for Democracy. But what is disturbing is his intentions. It appears that his intention is to exonerate Sikhs of all their misdeeds and heap all the blame on the Indian govt. Here is a brief summary of his postings: a. In his first letter on the issue (over 900 lines) he accused the Indian govt. of i) discriminating against Sikhs ii) desecrating the Golden Temple iii) arresting and torturing innocent Sikh youths . . etc. { Many on the net countered his arguments convincingly but Bajwa never replied objectively to the issues raised; he has mostly given long and descriptive explanations. } b. Bajwa posts the memorandum of Sikhs to the UN which contained scathing criticisms of the Indian govt. by many well known public figures (politicians, journalists,..etc.) c. Bajwa posts a news report that appeared in a Canadian daily which said that "Indian govt. agents were responsible for the planting of bomb on the Air India plane" which crashed and over 300 people died. d. Then a report of some Indian Civil Liberties organization (PUCL ?) which denounced "communal politics of Indian Democracy" { ironically, to my knowledge, AKALIDAL and MUSLIM LEGUE are the only significant political parties which are entirely and openly based on communal affiliations } and predicted a hopeless future for India. 5. Now the recent report which accuses the Indian govt. of oppressing Sikhs. { I may have forgotten to mention some more of his letters } The main point to be noted is his SELECTIVE posting of one sided articles. It is unreasonable to expect any of us to conuter his points with letters which match his' in length. Furthermore, he seems to be very resourceful; How many of us have the necessary "connections" to secure a 100 page document banned in India? Can we secure some document being presented to UN? Either he is very sincere and feels very strongly about this whole issue (so strong that he types in a 5600 line document) in which case I think that he is at least partly misinformed, OR he has the support and encouragement of his friends with a particular intention in mind. As for the reports of Indian civil liberties organizations, I think that it is concievable that these organizations have exaggerated and dramatized incidents to gain publicity and international recognition { what better way is there to achieve this than to publish a report that will be banned :-) }. I am in fact quite proud of the Indian Democracy; consider the following: STATE Basis of Party in Power Kashmir Parochial Punjab Communal W. Bengal Class ( economic class ) Assam Language { Assamese vs Bengali } AP parochial (and linguistic) TN race ( Dravidians vs Aryans ) Kerala Economic class Karnataka principles { isn't this a great example? Now you know where I come from :-) } Others National party After looking at the above list, can anyone question the Democratic system (and the diversity of course) in India? Of course, everything is not perfect, but isn't it improving? murali.
varikoot@gondor.UUCP (kill) (02/01/86)
> The main point to be noted is his SELECTIVE posting of > one sided articles. i agree with the above statement Bajwa conveniently forgot to mention that two Sikhs ( who are on the wanted list in India ) had been arrested for suspicion of Air India bombing. The so report by the civil liberties union has been criticised for its extreme lopsidedness by a reputed journal like " India Today" which said that most of its charges were concoctions and plain fabrications What Mr Bajwa should do is listen to Khushwant Singh the reputed Sikh historian who said that Sikhs abroad are doing a disservice to the Sikh cause by espousing plain and stupid views. People like Bajwa also insult the intelligence of the majority of the sikhs in punjab and other parts of india who have implicitly endorsed the Longowal accord. *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***