Early next month on 10 June 2018, Bay area, San Fran­cisco Sikhs will ob­serve Mar­tyr­dom Day of Fifth sov­er­eign Guru Ar­jan Sahib and the 34th An­niver­sary of Saka Dar­bar Sahib. At the same time, they will pub­licly reded­i­cate them­selves to the cause of Sikh self-rule.

Come June and Sikhs in home­land Pun­jab and in the Di­as­pora cre­ate op­por­tu­ni­ties and fo­rums to high­light the cause of Sikh hu­man rights, the cause of Sikh free­dom and to ex­tol the lives of Sikh in­sur­gents who laid down their lives to pro­tect the ho­n­our and dig­nity of the Dar­bar Sahib com­plex. Every year in June, it is time to com­mem­o­rate the mary­tr­dom of the Fifth Sov­er­eign, who was bru­tally tor­tured be­cause He stood up for the “right to free­dom of re­li­gion.” It is time to re­call the brav­ery and mar­tyr­dom of those who died within the Golden Tem­ple com­plex. To­day, it is time to reded­i­cate to the cause of Sikh sov­er­eignty. 

Sikhs are al­ways ready to rebel. Sikhs do not fear death.  Sikhs up­hold hu­man rights. Sikhs are seeped into the con­cept of free­dom of re­li­gion and de­test hate and in­tol­er­ance. Sikhs be­lieve in Sar­bat da Bhala -Wel­fare of all hu­mankind and this sup­pli­ca­tion is made to God and Guru every­day at the end of all prayers.

“Sikhs are al­ways ready to rebel. Sikhs do not fear death. Sikhs up­hold hu­man rights. Sikhs are seeped into the con­cept of free­dom of re­li­gion and de­test hate and in­tol­er­ance.”

Sikh res­i­dents from San Fran­cisco are likely to join in thou­sands to pa­rade the streets on June 10 to re­call and record the 34th an­niver­sary of the van­dal­ism, death and may­hem per­pe­trated by the In­dian army at­tack on the holi­est of holy Sikh re­li­gious cen­tre -The Har­man­dar Sahib, also known as The Golden Tem­ple.  The at­tack on the Golden Tem­ple, co­de­named Op­er­a­tion Blues­tar was the first pre-med­i­tated, or­gan­ised at­tack by the In­dian army on any of its cit­i­zens. Irish an­thro­pol­o­gist Joyce J. M. Pet­ti­grew de­scrib­ing the at­tack has said, “The army went into Dar­bar Sahib (Golden Tem­ple) not to elim­i­nate a po­lit­i­cal fig­ure or a po­lit­i­cal move­ment but to sup­press the cul­ture of a peo­ple, to at­tack their heart, to strike a blow at their spirit and self-con­fi­dence.”

Dur­ing the In­dian army at­tack, 6 army in­fantry bat­tal­ions and tanks, ar­mored ve­hi­cles and he­li­copter gun­ships were used to maim, in­jure and kill Sikhs and in­no­cent pil­grims within the Golden Tem­ple com­plex from 3-6 June, 1984. In ad­di­tion 37 other Gur­d­waras were also at­tacked over Pun­jab and Haryana.

“Sikhs be­lieve in Sar­bat da Bhala -Wel­fare of all hu­mankind and this sup­pli­ca­tion is made to God and Guru every­day at the end of all prayers.”

The Bay Area Sikh com­mu­nity shall be com­mem­o­rat­ing the mar­tyr­dom of Guru Ar­jan Dev who sac­ri­ficed his life for the ‘Free­dom of Re­li­gion.’ On 16 June 1606, Mughal Em­peror Ja­hangir, the then ruler of In­dia or­dered Guru Ar­jan Sahib, to be tor­tured to death mak­ing him sit on a red-hot burn­ing iron sheet while boil­ing hot sand was poured over his body.  The Fifth Mas­ter com­piled the works of his pre­de­ces­sor Gu­rus, Hindu and Mus­lim sa­vants into the Guru Granth Sahib, now revered by the Sikhs as the liv­ing em­bod­i­ment of the Ten Mas­ters and the only guid­ing light for all times to come. Guru Sahib ini­ti­ated the con­struc­tion of the Golden Tem­ple and the for­mal in­stal­la­tion there of Guru Granth Sahib in 1604.

Par­tic­i­pants in the pa­rade will high­light the cause of hu­man rights and mi­nori­ties in In­dia. Speeches by Sikh lead­ers, hu­man rights ac­tivists and floats will por­tray the state of af­fairs of rights of mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties, the in­jus­tice to thou­sands of vic­tims of State ter­ror­ism in the eight­ies and nineties of the last cen­tury, the con­tin­u­ing de­ten­tion of Sikh ac­tivists un­der imag­ined al­le­ga­tions and the cause of those who con­tinue in de­ten­tion for years and decades. 

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Though we live and strive in a peace­ful world, there is no es­cap­ing the fact that mar­tyrs win sov­er­eignty for all peo­ples and na­tions.