Indian Sikhs boycott seminar on water issue
Boycotted seminar because of its controversial title, accuse government of politicising religious festival.
LAHORE:
Sikh pilgrims from Indian Punjab in town for their biggest religious festival on Thursday boycotted a seminar where Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was chief guest because of its controversial title.
“The Pakistani government should refrain from politicising our sacred religious pilgrimage,” said Sardar Swinder Singh Doblia, the leader of the party of Indian Sikh Yatrees and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which looks after Sikh temples in India.
Doblia told The Express Tribune that he believed that the government, in holding the Pani Bina Punjab Kithe (No Punjab Without Water) seminar, had chosen the title in order to stir up controversy. Pakistan and India have several ongoing disputes over how to share Indus basin water resources.
The seminar was organised by the Diyal Singh Research and Cultural Forum (DSRCF), which is a branch of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). The forum usually organises seminars for the two main Sikh festivals, the birthday of Baba Guru Nanak Jee in November and Baisakhi in April, for which Sikh pilgrims from across the world travel to Pakistan.Doblia said the seminar held last April on the eve of Baisakhi was similarly controversial. That seminar, titled ‘Baisakhi Pani Nal’, included controversial speeches by Sikhs who live in Western countries about Khalistan, the independent homeland that some Sikhs aspire to set up.
Chief Minister Sharif was the chief guest at Thursday’s seminar while ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi was a speaker. Doblia said one Sikh from Sindh and Sikhs from the UK and USA who had fled India in 1984 after the Golden Temple massacre spoke about the water issue at the seminar. No Sikhs from Indian Punjab or Pakistani Punjab spoke about the water issue, he said.
He said that the speeches about the scarcity of water in Indian Punjab were not based on fact. “They do not understand the geopolitical realities of Indian Punjab,” he said. “Indian Punjab accounts for 65 percent of India’s wheat requirement. How can Sikhs from other countries say that Indian Punjab is facing a water shortage?” “The last time on the eve of Baisakhi they had a similar seminar where Sikhs who have fled from India and settled in western countries delivered speeches on Khalistan. It was ridiculous and I recorded my protest in my speech at the seminar,” he said. “Sikhs in India gave up on Khalistan decades ago.”
Doblia said when he was earlier told about the topic of the seminar and asked to speak on it, he refused. He was later informed that he and other SGPC office bearers must not sit on stage or deliver speeches at the seminar. “We could not bear this humiliation of Sikhs at the birthplace of Baba Guru Nanak. So we decided to boycott the seminar,” he said. The Indian Sikhs who did not boycott the seminar were mostly from Delhi and Haryana.
CM promises road, lights
At the seminar, the chief minister pledged that streetlights would be installed on a road leading to Nankana Sahib from the Wagha border crossing that had been completed recently. “We will always welcome you here with an open heart,” he told the Sikhs. Dr Pritpal Singh from the USA and Manmohan Singh from the UK criticised the Indian government for cutting water supplies to Indian and Pakistani Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2010.
Sikh pilgrims from Indian Punjab in town for their biggest religious festival on Thursday boycotted a seminar where Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was chief guest because of its controversial title.
“The Pakistani government should refrain from politicising our sacred religious pilgrimage,” said Sardar Swinder Singh Doblia, the leader of the party of Indian Sikh Yatrees and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which looks after Sikh temples in India.
Doblia told The Express Tribune that he believed that the government, in holding the Pani Bina Punjab Kithe (No Punjab Without Water) seminar, had chosen the title in order to stir up controversy. Pakistan and India have several ongoing disputes over how to share Indus basin water resources.
The seminar was organised by the Diyal Singh Research and Cultural Forum (DSRCF), which is a branch of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). The forum usually organises seminars for the two main Sikh festivals, the birthday of Baba Guru Nanak Jee in November and Baisakhi in April, for which Sikh pilgrims from across the world travel to Pakistan.Doblia said the seminar held last April on the eve of Baisakhi was similarly controversial. That seminar, titled ‘Baisakhi Pani Nal’, included controversial speeches by Sikhs who live in Western countries about Khalistan, the independent homeland that some Sikhs aspire to set up.
Chief Minister Sharif was the chief guest at Thursday’s seminar while ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi was a speaker. Doblia said one Sikh from Sindh and Sikhs from the UK and USA who had fled India in 1984 after the Golden Temple massacre spoke about the water issue at the seminar. No Sikhs from Indian Punjab or Pakistani Punjab spoke about the water issue, he said.
He said that the speeches about the scarcity of water in Indian Punjab were not based on fact. “They do not understand the geopolitical realities of Indian Punjab,” he said. “Indian Punjab accounts for 65 percent of India’s wheat requirement. How can Sikhs from other countries say that Indian Punjab is facing a water shortage?” “The last time on the eve of Baisakhi they had a similar seminar where Sikhs who have fled from India and settled in western countries delivered speeches on Khalistan. It was ridiculous and I recorded my protest in my speech at the seminar,” he said. “Sikhs in India gave up on Khalistan decades ago.”
Doblia said when he was earlier told about the topic of the seminar and asked to speak on it, he refused. He was later informed that he and other SGPC office bearers must not sit on stage or deliver speeches at the seminar. “We could not bear this humiliation of Sikhs at the birthplace of Baba Guru Nanak. So we decided to boycott the seminar,” he said. The Indian Sikhs who did not boycott the seminar were mostly from Delhi and Haryana.
CM promises road, lights
At the seminar, the chief minister pledged that streetlights would be installed on a road leading to Nankana Sahib from the Wagha border crossing that had been completed recently. “We will always welcome you here with an open heart,” he told the Sikhs. Dr Pritpal Singh from the USA and Manmohan Singh from the UK criticised the Indian government for cutting water supplies to Indian and Pakistani Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2010.