Chandigarh, September 15
“All those who wear turbans and sport beards are not Muslims. Please do not mistake Sikhs for Muslims and victimise them for the terrible tragedy that took place in Manhattan and Washington DC on September 11,” is the appeal from various North America-based Sikh organisations to their American counterparts following reports of a Sikh, mistaken for a Muslim, being shot dead in New York city yesterday.

Though the Indian Government has taken up with the Bush Administration the issue of safety and security of Indians in general and Sikhs in particular living in the USA, yet various Sikh organisations have issued appeals besides circulating details about the history, culture and features that distinguish Sikhs from Muslims to the media, both print and electronic, besides the police and intelligence agencies in the USA.

“Such attacks are unfortunate,” says Mr Tarlochan Singh, Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities Commission, maintaining that the Punjabi community in general and Sikhs in particular must learn a lesson from this unfortunate episode.

Various Sikh organisations and social scientists, however, find a pattern in these attacks on Sikhs “mistaken as Muslims”. They blame the Sikh militant organisations more for this “mistaken bashing of the Sikhs”.

“There have been cases when some of the so-called Khalistani protagonists, including Dr Gurmeet Singh Aulakh, Dr Ganga Singh Dhillon and even Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan, have not only been supporting Islamic fundamental organisations, but also joining in their protests and demonstrations. They, perhaps, never realised that they were being used by Pakistan and other Islamic organisations for not only India-bashing, but also tarnishing the image of the Punjabi community in general and the Sikhs in particular, “ says Mr Tarlochan Singh, advising the Sikh diaspora to keep off politics back home.

“Strong socio-economic and even religious links with their motherland are understandable, but what purpose does it serve for them to have Canada, the USA or the North America units of the political parties the support back home in Punjab or India.

“One appreciates good work done by the Indo-Canadian or Indo-American community in the Canadian or American mainstream politics. The success stories of Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, Mr Herb Dhaliwal, Mr Gurbax Malhi, Mr Gurmant Grewal, Mr Gulzar Cheema, Mr Raminder Gill, Mr Moe Sihota, Mr Harry Lalli and Ms Surinder Kaur “Cindy” are all before us. They did the right thing and because of their inclination in politics, joined the mainstream politics of the country of their adoption.

“But on the other hand, those who identify themselves, not only with political parties back home or even militant organisations, create a plethora of problems for the community in alien land.

“I also want to go a step further and suggest to our present political leadership to discontinue this practice of going with a begging bowl to the Punjabi diaspora every now and then. Let them live in accordance with the norms of Western societies they have chosen. Instead of contributing funds to political parties back home let them use their resources for running TV channels or running newspapers for image-building of the community so that other communities can understand and know them better and appreciate their contribution to the Canadian or American societies.

New Delhi, September 15
The imminent USA-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) attacks on the bases of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and several other countries may eventually leave India high and dry as these attacks are unlikely to address the Indian strategic requirements.

Well-placed security and strategic sources here said today that the NATO attacks would naturally be requirements-specific, which means that the anti-India proxy war apparatus and network in Afghanistan may not be even touched.

There is no question about the NATO attacks targeting terrorist training camps either in PoK or Pakistan, the sources added.

The reason is that the USA and other NATO countries have a different set of definition of terrorism when it comes to India and these powers would not like to annoy Pakistan by waging “India’s war”.

This could explain why, despite diplomatic posturings, India has been rather cautious in offering its airbases and the vast defence infrastructure to the USA for launching reprisal attacks. The issue has dominated at the brainstorming sessions of almost daily meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) since September 11, including today’s meeting.