The following KHALISTAN CALLING
newsletter has been published in the leading Punjabi-English newspaper of the
Sikh diaspora, Surrey Canada-based CHARHDI KALA, (Issue of July 25-31,
2001 : Vol. 17 ; No. 30). (http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/)
It was also published in the fourth week of July in the Vancouver-based
PUNJAB GUARDIAN, Toronto-based SANJH SAVERA, Calgary-based SIKH VIRSA
and numerous other Punjabi/English weekly and monthly publications which cater
to the three million strong Sikh diaspora in Europe, Africa, Asia and
Australia. It can be viewed on the Khalistan Affairs Centre web site: http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/main/k_calling/kc07242001.htm ). The Overseas Sikhs,
unlike their 20 million compatriots captive in India, are free and prosperous
and they are determined - as they believe it is their destiny and pray for it
every day; Raj Karay Ga Khalsa; Sikhs will rule - to carve a sovereign,
democratic, egalitarian Sikh buffer state of KHALISTAN in South Asia,
stretching from the Jumna river on the East to the Pakistan border on
the West, China on the Northeast and Kashmir on the North.
Khalistan Calling newsletter dated July 24, 2001.
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DIASPORA SIKHS ACCEPT
KHUSHWANT SINGH'S (alias Khushamad
Singh's) CHALLENGE
TO DEBATE KHALISTAN'S
RAISON D'ETRE
---------------
DEBATE TO BE HELD IN WASHINGTON DC USA
BY
Dr. Amarjit Singh
956-National Press Building, Washington DC 20045
USA
INTERNET SITE INFORMATION:-
Web Site: http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/
E-mail Address:
Washington
DC: July 24, 2001: In the July 14, 2001 issue of the
Calcutta-based popular English language daily newspaper The Telegraph India's
'most prolific columnist' one Mr. Kushwant Singh, has thrown down the gauntlet
in his weekly column (This Above All, headlined; "It is not easy
to change those spots") which article not only zero's in on the ailing,
and ageing, Jagjit Singh Chohan (and we quote verbatim); "and other
supporters of Khalistan like Zaffarwal, Ganga Singh Dhillon
of Washington, Gurmit Singh Aulakh also of Washington and Simranjit
Singh Mann to an open dialogue so that we can discuss Khalistan in a
public debate," but also throws a challenge to the FREE three million
diaspora Sikhs who are determined to see that their 20 million compatriots do
not live like Shudras (India's 200 million third class 'untouchable'
citizens) in the world's largest Castocracy currently misruled by a
corrupt ruling elite dominated by a coterie of Brahmin-Fundamentalists of an
intolerant, communalistic, extreme right wing Hindu political party - the BJP.
Mr. Khushwant
Singh (born a Sikh in the town of Hadali, Punjab, in 1915) is a former
editor of Hindustan Times and Illustrated Weekly of India. He
claims he is an admirer of Pundit Atal Bihari Vajpayee the
Brahmin-Fundamentalist Prime minister of India; "who (Khushwant Singh
wrote) must shed the backward-looking narrow-minded advisors obsessed with
pointless disputes over temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras." During
the 'Emergency' in 1976 when Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her son, Sanjay Gandhi,
ruled the roost in New Delhi Mr. Khushwant Singh was known as an 'admirer' too,
and the gentleman was nick-named by the media as 'Mr. Khushamad Singh' for his
loyal support to Sanjay Gandhi. Khushwant Singh sometimes fears - as he should
- for the future of India as the present set of leaders, who he considers
pygmies as compared to Pundit Nehru, have failed to tackle the problems (like
poverty, corruption, communalism, environment etc.,) that face India. Mr.
Khushwant Singh, whose two regular weekly columns (This Above All and Malice
Towards One and All) are syndicated to hundreds of English and vernacular
newspapers in India, has recently been described by The Statesman (one
of India's oldest -126 years old - English language newspaper) as "an 86
years old author of 90 books, and thousands of columns in national dailies, who
admits to being one of the most prolific writers of India but who seems to be
at pains to erase the image of a wine-bibbing, woman-loving man for whom
writing is a passion, a craving he can't do without." Some of the recent
titles, according to The Statesman, like; 'Sex, Scotch and
Scholarship', 'In the Company of Women,' and 'Women and Men in my Life',
were a mere extension of his columns which lacked the literary standards of
his earlier books like; 'A Train to Pakistan' and 'The Mark of
Vishnu'.
One columnist, Isidore
Domnick Mendis, recently wrote, as if on cue, in a column in the latest Statesman
newspaper magazine, headlined; Author of Substance, that; "over the
past two years, he (Kushwant Singh) seems to be at pains to set the record
straight and re-establish his preeminence as an author of substance and his
latest 293-page compilation, Penguin India's book; Notes on the Great
Indian Circus, which documents Khushwant's perceptions about people, issues
and events (like Operation Blue Star, communalism, fundamentalism, press
censorship and other topics that have been the subject of intense debate in
recent years) must necessarily be seen in that context."
We agree with Isidore
Dominick Mendis's appreciation that at this point in time Mr. Khushwant
Singh is indeed showing a deep desire to set the record straight and;
"seems to be at pains to erase the image of the wine-bibbing, woman-loving
man." But we are also of the opinion that his challenge, nay provocation,
to the Sikh diaspora in his weekly column (in the July 14 issue of the Calcutta
newspaper The Telegraph - It is not Easy to Change Those Spots) may
not have been made in good faith. In that column he has had the chutzpah
to invite a few individuals he has named out of thin air to 'an open dialogue
so he can discuss Khalistan in a public debate'.
We think that
perhaps his challenge for an open debate on Khalistan is an insincere effort to
shed his image and re-establish himself as a Sikh writer of substance who can
also think on behalf of his 23 million unhappy, but ambitious and muscular,
Sikh compatriots - 20 million captive in India and 3 million free in the
diaspora - who pray every day in every Gurdwara all over the
world (even in the one's under 24-hour Indian police surveillance in New Delhi
like the Gurdawara near Mr. Khushwant Singh's house) for Sikh rule - Raj
Karayga Khalsa they pray daily- Sikhs will rule. Also see Khalistan
Calling dated May 04, 2001 http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/main/k_calling/kc04042001.htm.
As the Sikh
gentlemen who had been challenged by name by Mr. Khushwant Singh in his July 14
column, for a dialogue through an open debate on Khalistan, have not responded
(for any number of good and bad reasons) this proud Khalistani Sikh has decided
to take up the gauntlet and hereby publicly offer an open venue in the heart of
the most media savvy city in the world - Washington DC USA, National Press
building - for a public debate on the subject of Khalistan between Mr.
Khushwant Singh and a 5-member Punjabi/English speaking pro-Khalistani panel on
any mutually agreed date and time within the next three months - please call
Telephone No: 202-637-9210 :: Fax: 202-637-9211 or write to: Khalistan
Affairs Centre, 956-National Press Building, Washington DC 20045 USA.
E-Mail address: mailto:k_affairs@hotmail.com .
A map of Khalistan
and other literature answering Mr. Khushwant Singh's every question raised
in his July 14 Telegraph column will be available during the Washington
DC public debate which will explain the raison d'etre - reason for being
- of a democratic, egalitarian, sovereign state of Khalistan. A neutral buffer
state, between warring, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, is something which we
Sikhs MUST have. Without an independent Khalistan we 23 million Sikhs, our
culture and our religion, will cease to exist. Incidentally a 'certified' copy
of the map of Khalistan was given to Mr. Kuldip Nayar (a former Indian High
Commissioner to UK and veteran journalist) during a public debate in Chicago's
main gurdwara, on July 14, 1996, when the gentleman was touring the United
States as special representative of the then Indian Prime minister Mr. Dev
Gaurah. How
about it Mr. Khushwant Singh will you, along with Mr. Kuldip Nayar, join us in a public debate
in Washington DC USA or were you bluffing?
KHALISTAN ZINDABAD - LONG LIVE
KHALISTAN
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