Sikh Leader Announces Referendum to Separate Khalistan From India
By
Aqib Rauf Abbasi | Published Jun 8, 2022
From Lahore, the historic capital seat of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Kingdom, international advocacy group “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ) released the Map of the Areas of India earmarked for liberation to create a Sikh homeland through “Khalistan Referendum” and declared to hold the voting in Indian Held Punjab on January 26, 2023, coinciding with the 74th Republic Day of India.
Declaring Shimla as the future Capital of Sikh homeland Khalistan, SFJ’s map encompasses the areas of pre-1966 Punjab which includes Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Sikh majority areas of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
26 January 1950 is the day when Constitution of India usurped the separate religious identity of Sikhs which culminated in Operation Blue Star – June 1984 Indian Army’s attack on Golden Temple – ostensibly to quell the popular movement lead by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale for restoration of separate Sikh identity.
Justifying the need for “Khalistan Referendum”, addressing the Pakistani Journalists at Lahore Press Club, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, human rights lawyer from New York and General Counsel of SFJ stated that, “While we salute Shaheed Bhindaranwle and hundreds and thousands of Sikhs who laid down their live for Khalistan, in today’s world, Referendum is the only means to peacefully and democratically resolve the territorial disputes and claims.”
Addressing the Press Conference, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, human rights lawyer from New York and General Counsel of SFJ, urged the Pakistani Premier Shahbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to “extend the diplomatic support to the democratic initiative of Khalistan Referendum and seize the opportunity of having a new and friendly neighbor – Khalistan – on the eastern front of Pakistan – the only Nuclear armed Muslim country”.
Arguing that Kashmir’s liberation from Indian occupation is directly linked with creation of Khalistan, Pannun further stated that “In addition to saving Sikh and Muslim population from Genocide at the hands of India, once liberated, Khalistan in collaboration with Pakistan, will shift the balance of power in South Asia and bring much needed stability, peace and prosperity to this region”.
The voting in Khalistan Referendum, a global initiative of SFJ, started on 31st October from London, UK and so far has taken place in Switzerland and Italy in which approximately 250,000 Sikhs have already voted on the question: “Should Indian Governed Punjab Be An Independent Country?”
Khalistan Referendum – What & Why
Khalistan Referendum, as organized by SFJ, on the question of self-determination and secession of Punjab from India is a completely legal, democratic and peaceful.
Under Article 1 of the UN Charter and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
“all peoples have right to self-determination”. Under Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), will of the people on a political question must be determined through voting and thus Khalistan Referendum which gives the people of Punjab a chance to express their will through voting is covered under the rights guaranteed in UDHR.
In today’s world unofficial and unilateral Referendums are being used, from Catalonia to Kosovo, to advocate, promote and achieve the goal of independence and sovereignty. In line with the global use of referenda as a modern, democratic and peaceful means to achieve independence, objective of the Khalistan Referendum is to communicate and convey to the United Nations and the member countries, the aspirations of the Sikhs peoples for secession of Punjab from India to establish a Sikh homeland Khalistan.
Today what necessitates the revisiting of continued and future association of Punjab with India through the means of referendum is the history of India’s treatment of Punjab since 1947 which is marked with repeated injuries and usurpations, all directed to establish, continue and prolong an absolute tyranny of India over Punjab.
Enacted in 1950, Indian Constitution in Article 25(b) labels Sikhs as Hindus, denies separate religious identity to Sikhs and subjects Sikhs to marriage, divorce, succession and guardianship laws of Hinduism.
In June 1984, Indian Government launched a brutal military attack, Operation Bluestar perpetrating a massacre of thousands of pilgrims.
On October 31, 1984, after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a countrywide genocide of Sikhs was planned and carried out in which more than 30,000 Sikhs were killed and thousands of women were raped, with the active connivance and facilitation by the Indian police and administration.
From June 1984 till 1998, thousands of pro Khalistan activists laid their lives for the cause of independence and over 100,000 Sikhs were extra judicially killed by the Indian security forces to crush the movement for right to self-determination popularly known as – Khalistan.
For decades, economic and natural resources particularly river waters of Punjab, the homeland of Sikhs, has illegally and unconstitutionally been taken by India resulting in catastrophe of the agriculture and farming, the main profession, of Punjab.
Today, while Sikhs farmers are producing and sending grain to 450 million Indians living outside Punjab, during past two decades over 80,000 farmers of Punjab have been forced to commit suicide due to the successive Indian governments’ anti-Punjab economic policies.
