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From: rkp@mgweed.UUCP (Rakesh Khetarpal)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Response by a Sikh
Message-ID: <20878@mgweed.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Oct-85 12:34:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: mgweed.20878
Posted: Wed Oct  9 12:34:20 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 07:03:08 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems - Montgomery Illinois
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First of all I do not accept the fundamental notion apparent in the
posting that Sikhs are Punjab. This is a common mistake by Sikhs.


>    -- At the time of partition there were about 40% Sikhs in the 
>    armed forces. Now there are about 15%. This was accomplished by a 
>    conscious policy to limit their recruitment to 2% (their population 
>    ratio).

Any potential sectionist group whether religious or non-religious 
must not be allowed to become dominant in any country's defense forces.
This is common sense. Had there been 40-50% Sikhs in the Indian army,
the history of India would have been different today. I am not advocating
that they be limited to their population ratio of 2%, but the proportion
should be limited such that in time of crisis it won't pose any threat
to integrity of the country. This must also apply to other groups like
Rajputs, Tamils etc.
Any political party that is not democratic in structure should also be
banned. This will include political parties with religious base such
as Akali Dal.
     

>    -- The Indian Government's 5-year $270 million relief plan for the 
>    Bhopal victims is commendable. The unfortunate aspect of this, 
>    however, is the glaring inconsistency it shows when contrasted to 
>    the government's attitude towards the victims of the horrible 
>    anti-Sikh massacres.

Compensation received by the Hindu-Sikh riot victims is far more than
paid to any earlier communal riot victims.

>    ....the Sikhs are so angry and it might explain why so many of them 
>    have turned into "extremists and terrorists". The history of the 
>    Sikhs is one of fighting against tyranny, opression and injustice. 
>    One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Who is freedom fighter here? These terrorists were not fighting for
the freedom or principles. They are paid criminals who either worked for
or were manupulated by shrewed politicians who otherwise had no chance of
being elected.

>    -- Most of us here in the US are aware of the haste with which the 
>    Indian govt. blamed the Sikhs for the Air India crash.

To the best of my knowledge so far Indian government has not made
any official comment about possible cause of the crash. In fact they
are still trying to get the salvage out. If they deliberately wanted
to blame Sikhs they would not be spending millions of dollars on salvage
hunt. However, other governments have definitely made official comments
about it. I have myself seen and heard US Secretary of State on TV
blaming it on terrorists. In light of the limited evidence available
most of the international experts still agree that it was an explosion
that caused it and possibly a bomb. Also, minutes after the crash 
a Sikh group had first accepted the blame.
Now, what concerns me the most is that to please the Sikhs, Indian
government may never come out with the truth if indeed it was a bomb
by Sikhs.

>    ..........Most Indian Newspapers carried bold headlines 
>    indicating that the "Khalistanis" were involved......

News media here too carried similar headlines and so did rest of the
world.