Jaspal Singh, an 18 year old boy was shot by Punjab Police yesterday, for what? For protesting, such a tragic end to a human life, it pains me to the core. As I watched the video of young Sikhs sitting on the street and trying to protest peacefully and then eventually being chased like they were animals by the police forces it pains me to know that someone has lost a son, a brother.
We have been desensitized to this pain. WE NEED to start feeling again, what if that was my son? What if that was my brother? Not what if! That WAS. Why was such force used on young kids who were already running away? Why were shots even fired? There are so many other means that can be used to move a protest, what was the reason behind using such lethal force? This is the main question Sikhs have been asking for the last 30 years!
Why was the Golden temple attacked with full scale war arsenal? Why such brutality to the innocents inside? Why were mobs and congress leaders allowed to organize and given information about every Sikh house in the 84 massacre? Why? Why? Why?
The answer is evident; lethal brute force is used to teach a lesson. Yet our leadership remains mum, the sad fact is our leaders have failed us miserably time and time again, and even today. Where is the Akal Takhat leadership? Today when the statements are needed there is silence, why are they not organizing themselves against such atrocities being committed? Why don’t we have a strategy to answer back?
Where are the strategic thinkers? Who can organize thoughts and LEAD, why is there no panthic statement on how to protest on what is happening with the illegal arrests of hundreds of Sikhs in the last two/three days? I don’t blame the media they will not cover something that is not made a big deal out of, that cannot be sensationalized, but I do blame our impotent leadership in Punjab, and even around the world.
All these organizations in the DC Metro area, not one has made a statement. The great leaders of our own area, too fearful to take a stand when it matters, are weighing options how to spin this to make it digestible? (Guess there is no Obama photo op to do so) Seriously? Last week there was Eco-Sikh in our area, so many people posted on facebook, on twitter, the leaders sent great press releases. But today crickets, not any one of them has come out to send a press release on what is happening in Punjab, what is relevant right now, for many this is actually ‘not’ happening.
It’s a shame today, that when someone talks about rights, about human dignity there is a deafening silence. What have we become as a people as a society if, we cannot even voice our discontent, when we stop feeling the pain of others, when we decide that its not a politically correct thing to do. Shame on us, shame on all of us who fail to feel the pain of that one child who was shot yesterday on the streets of Gurdaspur Punjab.
I can only imagine, as his body was shot and he felt the first sting of the bullet piercing his skin and started to lose consciousness, at 18 years of age what must he have been thinking? Why did I get shot? What did I do to deserve this bullet in my body, what were his last thoughts? As his body lost strength and consciousness as the Punjab police surrounded him as he lay life less, on the ground. All those dreams he had, his parents had for this young 18 year old boy were disappearing along with his life. In those last few breaths that he must have taken, what must have he asked for? We will never know, but AT the very least we can ask for JUSTICE for him.
To the ‘leaders’ of SIKHS, stop waiting till thousands die, start strategizing and LEADING properly so that we have minimal losses like this, tell the Sikhs how to avoid falling into this trap that the Punjab Police and Government of India want, an excuse to shoot us, an excuse to say we become violent. START LEADING STOP SITTING ON THE SIDELINES WAITING AND WATCHING!!!
