"O Nanak, I sing songs of praise imbued with Blood!!"

As the 17 anniversary of the beginning of the Third Sikh Holocaust falls upon us, we find many wanting to forget about the dreadful events of 1984. I have heard countless people say "lets stop pointing fingers and move on with our lives" or "I can appreciate the human rights abuses in Punjab but I don't live there." It's hard to fathom that the blood of our martyrs and the tears of our mothers means nothing?

Our Theology teaches us not to hold a grudge against anyone, whether they be Muslims, Hindus, or Christians. However, our theology also teaches us that Justice must prevail at all costs. The events of 84 can perhaps be forgiven after justice is delivered but they shall never be forgotten. All those who conveniently choose to forget 1984 should pay heed to something a wise man once said, "Those who forget their past, are bound to repeat it."

I would ask exactly what it is that we should forget? Should we forget the planned attack on Sikhism's throne of Spiritual and Temporal sovereignty? How can we forget the attack on Guru Arjan Dev's Shaheedi Day on which thousands and thousands of innocent men, women, and children were slaughtered on an attack on 37 Sikh historical Gurdwaras in 3 different states? Should we forget how the Sikh reference library was burned in a Nazi like manner three days after the attack?

Should we forget those that came running into the streets and gave ladoos (sweets) to the soldiers burning Amritsar? Should we forget the "tilaks" (sacred marks) that were put on tanks as they mutated the city of Nectar into the flames of Hell?

Should we forget the operations Woodrose or Blackthunder that were a follow-up to Bluestar? Should we forget how an entire generation of Sikh boys was literally exterminated village by village? Should we forget our sisters that were raped? Should we forget our mothers who were humiliated? Should we forget our fathers who were tortured? How can anyone forget the scent of Woodrose? A rose, in this case, by any other name is the seedling of a Holocaust.

Perhaps we should forget the mobs that over-ran the streets of India after Beant Singh assassinated Indira Gandhi. Can we forget that the government organized pogroms that caused Sikhs to be burned in the streets for committing the sole crime of being a Sikh? Can we forget how babies were thrown out of windows for having Sikhs as their mothers? Can we forget how are mothers wept as they saw their children incinerated before them? How is it possible for tears to not roll from our eyes when we recall the manner in which our mothers had their clothes ripped from their bodies?

Just imagine how much there is to forget for there have been 17 years between then and now. Just ask 10 random mothers in Punjab about the whereabouts of a son and you shall certainly find an episode that cannot be forgotten.

Clearly, one cannot categorically blame all Indians or Hindus for the mayhem committed against the Sikhs. However, one can blame the Indian majority for the events that transpired in 1984 and beyond as easily, perhaps more easily, than one can blame Germans for what was done to Jews during the reign of Nazi Germany. "Like being a Jew in Czarist Russia or Nazi Germany, violence makes Sikhs fear for their future in India," (New York Times, Nov. 11, 1984). The fact that India as a whole condoned the acts of 1984 reveals the direness of the Sikh predicament. The pogroms of 1984 were masterminded by the government and enjoyed popular support; else the carnage would not have been allowed to overrun the country for days. Nearly all would agree that those who are silent in the face of atrocities are as much to blame for them as the perpetrators themselves.

The generals that led the attack on Darbar Sahib are yet to be brought to pay for their actions. The intelligence unit, Research Analysis Wing (RAW), and police squadrons that led special teams to eradicate Sikhs are yet to find themselves before a court. The Indian government's official stance even today is that they attacked the Golden Temple to flush out terrorists. Ram Narayan Kumar proves the government's hypocrisy in his article, The Ghallughara: Operation Blue Star - A Retrospect, by citing that army units had been practicing on an exact replica of the Golden Temple complex months before the attack. Mark Tully, in his book, Mrs. Gandhi's Last Battle, details the manner in which the Indian Army put the whole of Punjab in curfew. All reporters and media personnel were escorted out of Amritsar as the Indian state turned against the people of Punjab.

The leaders of the mobs that butchered Sikhs have been given high political assignments as their punishments. Positively identified mob leaders such as H.K.L. Bhagat and Rampal Pradhan continue to walk free to this day. Meanwhile, official commissions continue to be established to probe and exonerate the government and further trivialize the tragedy of 1984.

Zuhair Kashmiri and Brian McAndrew, in their book Soft Target, write that the Indian government had created a top-secret organization called the Third Agency to unlawfully neutralize the Sikh separatist movement in Punjab. Julio Ribero, the man charged with exterminating Sikh militants in Punjab, writes in his autobiography, Bullet for Bullet, that special operations teams were sent in to neutralize Sikhs by any means necessary. These teams would even dress themselves as Sikh militants and target innocent civilians to demolish the public support enjoyed by Sikh separatists.

We have waited over a decade and a half for redress and achieved no results. Meanwhile, economic policies have been drafted to weaken the Punjab even further and crush the Sikh spirit. Tanduv of the Centaur by Gurtej Singh thoroughly discusses the implementation of such policies since Indian Independence. The government has done nothing to render justice to the Sikhs and we would be in error to believe that it shall change its attitude towards the Sikhs. In fact, policies are still being drafted on a daily basis to weaken the Punjab.

Whether we read Rousseau's Social Contract or the Declaration of Independence, the theme is clear: when a government ceases to protect the rights of its people, the people have a right to abolish that government and erect a new one in its stead. Having been unable to seek remedy for the tyranny of the past two decades, we are at this point today and I believe this course of action to be sanctioned by the Gurus.

One should not misinterpret what I have written above to mean that I am suggesting that we should all pick up guns and turn them against all Indians. I am in total favor of mending our relationships with the majority community in India as a whole but this will only happen when there is acknowledgement by the majority community that what happened to the Sikhs was truly wrong and the perpetrators are brought to justice. It is unfortunate that the Government of India's propaganda machine is so strong that the truth of 1984 and beyond is yet to be fully known, much less justice rendered.

We may not be in a position to pick up arms today but this does not mean that we limit our vision. Our Guru tells us that the sword must be drawn as the last resort. We have employed peaceful means to seek justice for too long. It is time to regroup and refine our vision. Let me be clear that strapping on an AK-47 is not our only recourse; we certainly are not in a position today to do so anyway. We must employ the weapons of modern warfare, from utilizing economic finesse to political genius if we are to succeed in our mission.

I encourage all Sikhs who wish to move forward and stop the finger pointing for 1984 to perhaps go spend a week in Punjab with eyes and see the carnage that has unfolded over the past two decades. Even reading an objectively written book such as Inderjit Singh's The Politics of Genocide reveals a great many uncomfortable truths about the future of Sikhs in Punjab.

It is far too easy and too convenient to forget. Our Gurbani, our History, and our daily Ardaas teach us not to disregard our collective predicament. I beg you not to forget; else the ones that come after us will perhaps also choose to forget what might happen to us.

We're dead wrong if we think we've seen the worst to befall the Punjab.