The editorial “The ghosts of Khalistan” (Oct 8) clearly presents the timeline of events that took place in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s. But as far as the memorial in the Golden Temple complex is concerned, it has already been clarified by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee that it has nothing to do with any person or group.
It is a memorial for the hundreds of devotees who were present in the Golden Temple during Operation Blue Star and lost their lives. It is, in fact, the failure of the legal system to punish the culprits of the November 1984 massacre that should worry us more.
Satnam Singh Sidhu,
Patiala
I appreciate The Hindu for drawing attention to the revived shadows of the Khalistan ghost. More than anyone else, it was the innocent people — Hindus and Sikhs — who paid a heavy price for the nefarious games played by the Akalis and the Congress. People like the Punjab revolutionary poet, Pash, veteran CPI leader Darshan Singh Canadian, CPI (M) activist Deepak Dhawan, Congress MP and Punjabi writer Vishwanath Tewari — father of Congress spokesman Manish Tewari — and many other eminent personalities of Punjab became victims of Khalistani terrorists.
The sad part is that Khalistanis abroad in the safe lap of the U.S., Canada and the U.K. misuse their freedom. In May 2011, I visited San Francisco to deliver the Kartar Singh Sarabha memorial lecture in the Ghadar party headquarters. I also visited the historic sites related to the party. I found the Stockton Gurdwara of Gadri Babas under the control of Khalistani elements. More than 200 photographs of armed Khalistanis, including the killers of General Vaidya, are displayed inside.
Chaman Lal,
New Delhi
