How Should Sikhs Cel­e­brate In­ter­na­tional Hu­man Rights Day?

Glob­ally, the per­sis­tence of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in many coun­tries, the geno­cide of en­tire com­mu­ni­ties such as in Pales­tine un­der the guise of coun­tert­er­ror­ism, and the in­hu­man atroc­i­ties that spare nei­ther women nor chil­dren, rep­re­sent shame­less vi­o­la­tions of the fun­da­men­tal right to life, call­ing into ques­tion the global com­mit­ment to hu­man rights. Pon­der­ing on 10 De­cem­ber In­ter­na­tional Hu­man Rights Day to­day, WSN colum­nist Ish­winder Singh Dakha shares nu­mer­ous ques­tions that arose in his mind, lead­ing him to con­struct a view­point as to how should the Sikh com­mu­nity ob­serve the Hu­man Rights Day.

Grant­ing Bhai Bal­want Singh Ra­joana only three hours of pa­role to at­tend his broth­er’s fi­nal prayers, while re­peat­edly al­low­ing a con­victed rapist Baba Ram Rahim, ex­tended fur­loughs and pa­role high­lights the bla­tant vi­o­la­tion of hu­man rights of Sikh po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers de­tained in jails.

De­spite hav­ing served their sen­tences, Sikh po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers re­main in­car­cer­ated, while those re­spon­si­ble for killing thou­sands of Sikhs in 1984 are re­warded with gov­ern­men­tal po­si­tions in­stead of fac­ing pun­ish­ment. Vic­tims con­tinue to be de­nied jus­tice, and are made to feel alien­ated, rais­ing se­ri­ous ques­tions about the very ex­is­tence of hu­man rights for cit­i­zens of this na­tion.

The case of dis­abled hu­man rights ac­tivist Prof. G.N. Saibaba, who wrote hun­dreds of let­ters seek­ing med­ical treat­ment dur­ing his eight years in prison but was ig­nored, and who passed away within six months of his re­lease, is a cause for con­cern re­gard­ing the hu­man rights of all pris­on­ers.

Tar­get­ing mi­nori­ties based on caste and re­li­gion, de­mol­ish­ing their homes, de­stroy­ing their liveli­hoods, and deny­ing them the right to wor­ship, in­ter­fer­ing in their re­li­gious af­fairs and their re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tions, raises grave con­cerns about the pro­tec­tion of the hu­man rights of all mi­nori­ties in In­dia.

Tar­get­ing mi­nori­ties based on caste and re­li­gion, de­mol­ish­ing their homes, de­stroy­ing their liveli­hoods, and deny­ing them the right to wor­ship, in­ter­fer­ing in their re­li­gious af­fairs and their re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tions, raises grave con­cerns about the pro­tec­tion of the hu­man rights of all mi­nori­ties in In­dia.

The plight of farm­ers world­wide who strug­gle for sur­vival, the state’s poli­cies that de­prive com­mon cit­i­zens of es­sen­tial re­sources to en­rich cap­i­tal­ists, and the de­lib­er­ate de­struc­tion of gen­er­a­tions by ad­dic­tion in­stead of pro­vid­ing gain­ful em­ploy­ment op­por­tu­ni­ties raise se­ri­ous ques­tions about the fu­ture of hu­man civ­i­liza­tion.

Cel­e­brat­ing Hu­man Rights Day as Sikhs

De­cem­ber 10 is cel­e­brated glob­ally as Hu­man Rights Day, com­mem­o­rat­ing the adop­tion of the Uni­ver­sal De­c­la­ra­tion of Hu­man Rights by the United Na­tions Gen­eral As­sem­bly in 1948. On this day, gov­ern­ments, NGOs, po­lit­i­cal and non-po­lit­i­cal or­ga­ni­za­tions, and aca­d­e­mic in­sti­tu­tions world­wide re­flect on past vi­o­la­tions of hu­man rights, re­new their com­mit­ment to pro­tect these rights in the fu­ture, and re­mem­ber lead­ers who fought for these rights.

Sikhs should cel­e­brate Hu­man Rights Day as a fes­ti­val. While “Sar­bat da Bhala” (the well-be­ing of all) is a part of our daily prayer, this day should be marked with spe­cial prayers in Gur­d­waras and ded­i­cated pro­grams. The Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib should is­sue a mes­sage from the Takht, en­cour­ag­ing the Sikh com­mu­nity to com­mem­o­rate this day.

Sikhs should cel­e­brate Hu­man Rights Day as a fes­ti­val. While “Sar­bat da Bhala” (the well-be­ing of all) is a part of our daily prayer, this day should be marked with spe­cial prayers in Gur­d­waras and ded­i­cated pro­grams. The Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib should is­sue a mes­sage from the Takht, en­cour­ag­ing the Sikh com­mu­nity to com­mem­o­rate this day.

Sikhs have a deep con­nec­tion with hu­man rights. The en­tire Sikh his­tory is rich with count­less ex­am­ples of de­fend­ing these rights. On this day, we must nar­rate these sto­ries to our peo­ple, es­pe­cially chil­dren, in­spir­ing them to walk the talk of pro­tect­ing hu­man rights. Schools, col­leges, and uni­ver­si­ties should ed­u­cate stu­dents about hu­man rights and their pro­tec­tion. Dis­cus­sions should fo­cus on the lives and strug­gles of lead­ers who cham­pi­oned hu­man rights. Guru Sahib’s mes­sage of hu­man rights pro­tec­tion should not be con­fined to ed­u­ca­tional in­sti­tu­tions but echoed in vil­lages, towns, and from Gur­d­wara stages. Ex­hi­bi­tions de­pict­ing vi­o­la­tions of hu­man rights should be or­ga­nized, and rel­e­vant lit­er­a­ture should be pub­lished and dis­trib­uted.

To­day, Sikhs live in nearly every cor­ner of the world, giv­ing us a unique op­por­tu­nity to con­vey our mes­sage glob­ally. On this day, Sikhs should gather in front of em­bassies of coun­tries vi­o­lat­ing hu­man rights, of­fer prayers for uni­ver­sal peace and broth­er­hood, and demon­strate sol­i­dar­ity with the op­pressed. From var­i­ous re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal plat­forms, we must de­mand the re­lease of Sikh po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers and ad­vo­cate for the re­lease of po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers world­wide. We must pray at the feet of Bandhi Chhor Guru -Guru Har­gob­ind Sahib and build pres­sure on gov­ern­ments to se­cure their re­lease.

To­day, Sikhs live in nearly every cor­ner of the world, giv­ing us a unique op­por­tu­nity to con­vey our mes­sage glob­ally. On this day, Sikhs should gather in front of em­bassies of coun­tries vi­o­lat­ing hu­man rights, of­fer prayers for uni­ver­sal peace and broth­er­hood, and demon­strate sol­i­dar­ity with the op­pressed.

Draw­ing in­spi­ra­tion from Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s life, Sikhs should call for global peace and ap­peal for cease­fires in war-torn re­gions like Ukraine and Pales­tine. Just as Guru Nanak con­fronted Babur for his tyranny, Sikhs must ad­vo­cate for an end to wars and de­liver a mes­sage of peace.

Along­side con­demn­ing the il­le­gal killings of Sikhs abroad, we must pledge sol­i­dar­ity with com­mu­ni­ties world­wide who suf­fer sim­i­lar atroc­i­ties.

Rais­ing aware­ness within the Sikh com­mu­nity about the ero­sion of re­li­gious, po­lit­i­cal, and self-de­ter­mi­na­tion rights, and op­pos­ing such vi­o­la­tions, is es­sen­tial. Sikhs must also re­sist gov­ern­ment in­ter­fer­ence and oc­cu­pa­tion of their re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tions while ad­vo­cat­ing for the pro­tec­tion of the rights of other com­mu­ni­ties.

As Gur­bani teaches, Sikhs should nei­ther in­still fear in oth­ers nor ac­cept fear them­selves. On this day, Sikhs should re­mem­ber Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Ji’s mar­tyr­dom and op­pose forced re­li­gious con­ver­sions any­where in the world, even if it re­quires sac­ri­fic­ing their lives.

As Gur­bani teaches, Sikhs should nei­ther in­still fear in oth­ers nor ac­cept fear them­selves. On this day, Sikhs should re­mem­ber Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Ji’s mar­tyr­dom and op­pose forced re­li­gious con­ver­sions any­where in the world, even if it re­quires sac­ri­fic­ing their lives.

To­day, I can­not help but re­flect that Sikhs have sac­ri­ficed their lives to de­fend hu­man rights, but they have also en­dured long pe­ri­ods of suf­fer­ing due to the de­nial of their own rights. To­day, even as Sikhs fight for their iden­tity and ex­is­tence glob­ally, we must draw in­spi­ra­tion from the prin­ci­ples laid by our Gu­rus and re­main ever-ready to raise our voices against hu­man rights vi­o­la­tions. It is im­per­a­tive that we ed­u­cate our fu­ture gen­er­a­tions about these rights be­cause only when our chil­dren are aware will they be able to fight for their pro­tec­tion.

Let us strive to rise above dif­fer­ences of re­li­gion, caste, race, or colour every De­cem­ber 10, and unite to re­claim lost rights and op­pose on­go­ing vi­o­la­tions with re­newed com­mit­ment and de­ter­mi­na­tion