In an Open let­ter to Mr Don­ald Trump, the Pres­i­dent of the United States of Amer­ica, Sikh or­gan­i­sa­tion Dal Khalsa seeks im­me­di­ate and un­so­licited in­ter­ven­tion to re­solve the sta­tus of Kash­mir, call­ing it an in­ter­na­tional dis­pute and not a bi­lat­eral is­sue be­tween In­dia and Pak­istan. Dal Khalsa sup­ports the Kash­miri right to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion and de­nounces the move of the gov­ern­ment of In­dia to ab­ro­gate Ar­ti­cle 370 and Ar­ti­cle 35A, con­vert­ing the whole re­gion as a prison for Kash­miris and cut­ting off Kash­mir from the rest of the world.

DEAR DON­ALD TRUMP: Wa­he­guru Ji Ka Khalsa Wa­he­guru Ji Ki Fateh! As a Sikh or­gan­i­sa­tion ded­i­cated to the right of self-de­ter­mi­na­tion of all peo­ples, Dal Khalsa writes to you to ex­press our con­tin­u­ing con­cern re­gard­ing the po­lit­i­cal sta­tus of In­dian-ad­min­is­tered Kash­mir and the re­sult­ing geopo­lit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion in South Asia as a re­sult of the Indo-Pak ten­sions over the Kash­mir dis­pute.

We en­dorse the Kash­miris’ un­equiv­o­cal right to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion and stand-in sol­i­dar­ity with them in this hour of ex­treme stress and strain.

In­di­a’s ret­ro­grade step to con­vert the state into a union ter­ri­tory is not only an as­sault on the ter­ri­to­r­ial sta­tus of the re­gion but also a con­certed at­tempt to re­vert to the pre-1953 sta­tus of Kash­mir, clearly car­ried out to evade In­di­a’s in­ter­na­tional oblig­a­tions and sub­ju­gate the peo­ple of Kash­mir.

Mr Pres­i­dent, your of­fer for me­di­a­tion twice in the last two weeks at­tains sig­nif­i­cance as it is quite ev­i­dent from the his­tory of the last seven decades that In­dia and Pak­istan can­not re­solve the is­sue bi­lat­er­ally and hardly any ef­fort has ever been made to make Kash­mir and pro-Kash­miri lead­ers a part of the con­flict-res­o­lu­tion process.

With the United Na­tions re­it­er­at­ing that the Kash­mir sta­tus re­mains un­changed com­bined with the sour­ing of diplo­matic ties be­tween the two coun­tries, it is time for the United States to lead the cam­paign for me­di­a­tion as any de­lay can be dis­as­trous.

Mr Pres­i­dent, your of­fer for me­di­a­tion twice in the last two weeks at­tains sig­nif­i­cance as it is quite ev­i­dent from the his­tory of the last seven decades that In­dia and Pak­istan can­not re­solve the is­sue bi­lat­er­ally and hardly any ef­fort has ever been made to make Kash­mir and pro-Kash­miri lead­ers a part of the con­flict-res­o­lu­tion process.

As the peo­ple of Pun­jab are en­trenched in this the­atre of war in South Asia, we are deeply con­cerned and de­sire that the US should take up me­di­a­tion in full earnest be­cause both the nu­clear-power coun­tries -In­dia and Pak­istan, are only a spark away from ig­nit­ing a bat­tle which can plunge the en­tire re­gion into a war.

As ge­o­graph­i­cal neigh­bours of Kash­mir, we share po­lit­i­cal bound­aries with the two coun­tries and we are go­ing to be dou­ble vic­tims as In­dia does not see kindly to­wards Pun­jab too.

To­day, Kash­mir is on the brink of a po­lit­i­cal and mil­i­tary cat­a­stro­phe. An all-round at­tack on the peo­ple and their rights is ev­i­dent to all. Sikhs of Pun­jab be­lieve that the United States should not wait an­other day and launch a peace of­fen­sive of me­di­a­tion and in­ter­ven­tion as In­di­a’s iron cur­tain con­tin­ues to sep­a­rate the re­gion from the rest of the world.

The peo­ple of Kash­mir are on the fringe. Fear, scare, bul­lets and bay­o­nets stare them in their face and once the army-im­posed cur­fews are lifted, the Kash­miri peo­ples’ protests are likely to take a gar­gan­tuan pos­ture, mak­ing it im­pos­si­ble for In­dia to han­dle ex­cept with the brute might of the In­dian mil­i­tary aimed at maim­ing and killing.

Dal Khalsa strongly be­lieves that as a leader of the world, Amer­ica can­not af­ford to wait any longer.

Dal Khalsa is of the firm opin­ion that, it is time for the United States of Amer­ica to in­ter­vene and make a se­ri­ous at­tempt to re­solve the bit­ter and pro­longed dis­putes with UN in­ter­ven­tion in the Se­cu­rity Coun­cil and tri­par­tite me­di­a­tion at a po­lit­i­cal level, be­tween In­dia, Pak­istan and the Kash­miris.

A hap­less In­dia wants the United States to pres­sure Pak­istan to neu­tral­ize ter­ror camps in Pak­istan ad­min­is­tered Kash­mir. In­dia wants the US to launch an in­ter­na­tional cam­paign to des­ig­nate Azhar Ma­sood as ‘global ter­ror­ist’. In­dia wants the US to pres­sur­ize Pak­istan to de­tain LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. But iron­i­cally In­dia does­n’t want US me­di­a­tion to end blood­bath and loss of hu­man lives across the spec­trum in Kash­mir.

In­di­a’s ar­ro­gance and an­ni­hi­la­tion war against the Kash­miris lead­ing to con­tin­u­ous blood­shed and state ter­ror on Kash­miris is a liv­ing proof of In­dia treat­ing the Kash­mir dis­pute only as a law and or­der prob­lem and not as a con­flict which has re­gional and in­ter­na­tional reper­cus­sions and re­quires se­ri­ous and im­me­di­ate me­di­a­tion.

As a leader of the world, Amer­ica should in­ter­vene with­out de­lay. The US can­not af­ford to wait any longer.

Harpal Singh Cheema, Pres­i­dent Dal Khalsa

Dal Khalsa is of the firm opin­ion that, it is time for the United States of Amer­ica to in­ter­vene and make a se­ri­ous at­tempt to re­solve the bit­ter and pro­longed dis­putes with UN in­ter­ven­tion in the Se­cu­rity Coun­cil and tri­par­tite me­di­a­tion at a po­lit­i­cal level, be­tween In­dia, Pak­istan and the Kash­miris.

As you have taken the ini­tia­tive to of­fer me­di­a­tion, we see the hope that you would ac­tu­ally, make a strong po­lit­i­cal in­ter­ven­tion and en­sure peace in South Asia, as this en­tire re­gion be­yond Afghanistan stands on the thresh­old of war.

Sin­cerely

Harpal Singh Cheema
Pres­i­dent, Dal Khalsa