Place In­dia on the Black List was the un­equiv­o­cal mes­sage of Dal Khalsa to the United Na­tions on the eve of 75th World Hu­man Rights Day. Mon­i­tor­ing and pros­e­cut­ing the heads of In­di­a’s se­cret ser­vices who planned and ex­e­cuted the strat­egy of transna­tional killings was an­other key de­c­la­ra­tion by the pro-Sikh free­dom party. In a sur­charged at­mos­phere, the streets of Bhatinda bore wit­ness to a bold state­ment of de­fi­ance as Dal Khalsa led an im­pres­sive protest march on the eve of 75th In­ter­na­tional Hu­man Rights Day. The rally, a high-en­ergy, de­ter­mined gath­er­ing of nearly 600 ac­tivists and lead­ers, saw In­dia be­ing placed in the dock for its sys­temic vi­o­la­tion of rights, fur­ther ex­ac­er­bated by the un­called-for at­tempts by the Pun­jab po­lice to foil the march through pre­ven­tive de­ten­tions and block­ades. The event brought to cen­tre stage the griev­ances against In­di­a’s treat­ment of Sikhs and other mi­nori­ties. Cap­tur­ing the essence of this elec­tri­fy­ing event, this WSN re­port dives into the in­tri­cate lay­ers of de­mands, con­fronta­tions, and un­wa­ver­ing re­solve that de­fined this mon­u­men­tal day.

Des­pite the Bhatinda Se­nior Su­per­in­ten­dent of Po­lice’s threats and ac­tions, in­clud­ing the de­ten­tion of se­nior Dal Khalsa lead­ers Baba Hard­eep Singh Mehraj and Gur­winder Singh Bhatinda, the spirit of the pro­test­ers re­mained un­bro­ken through the week cul­mi­nat­ing in to­day’s march. Skir­mishes with po­lice, par­tic­u­larly by units from Bar­nala and Mansa, ex­em­pli­fied the day’s re­silient mood. The Mansa unit’s suc­cess­ful pen­e­tra­tion into the city and the Moga unit’s strate­gic high­way block­ade un­der­scored the in­ten­sity of the protests.

The Mansa unit’s break­through in reach­ing the Gur­d­wara Sahib, the ral­ly’s start­ing point, was a sig­nif­i­cant vic­tory against the au­thor­i­ties’ at­tempts to quell their voices. Sim­i­larly, the Moga unit’s block­ade of the Am­rit­sar-Bhatinda High­way un­der­scored the pro­test­ers’ re­solve.

Dal Khalsa man­aged to hold a prayer at the Gur­d­wara Sahib Singh Sabha Bhatinda and lead the march to the des­ig­nated Fire Brigade Square, march­ing through the heart of Bhatinda city.

At the heart of the rally was a fiery de­mand from Dal Khalsa, call­ing for the United Na­tions to place In­dia on its Black List. This bold move, sparked by long-stand­ing griev­ances and height­ened by re­cent rev­e­la­tions of transna­tional killings by In­dia, tar­geted In­di­a’s treat­ment of mi­nori­ties and its role as a con­sis­tent per­pe­tra­tor of gross in­jus­tices.

Paramjit Singh Mand, the fiery spokesper­son for Dal Khalsa, did­n’t mince words. In a di­rect and scathing cri­tique, Paramjit Singh Mand, Dal Khal­sa’s spokesper­son, brought to light ex­plo­sive al­le­ga­tions. He ac­cused the then RAW chief Samanth Goel of or­ches­trat­ing the killings of Paramjit Singh Pan­jwar and Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar and plot­ting against Gur­pat­want Singh Pan­nun. These al­le­ga­tions, ty­ing back to the for­mer RAW chief’s tenure which was to end in June this year, added a layer of po­lit­i­cal in­trigue and ur­gency to the ral­ly’s de­mands.

The ral­ly’s agenda ex­tended be­yond the call to black­list In­dia. It brought to the fore­front the plight of po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers like Bal­want Singh Ra­joana, lan­guish­ing on death row for 17 years. Dal Khal­sa’s strong stance against the death penalty and their de­mand for the re­lease of Sikh pris­on­ers and other civil rights pris­on­ers high­lighted the broader hu­man rights is­sues at play. The fact that they touched on the is­sue of Gaza through sol­i­dar­ity with Pales­tine is praise­wor­thy.

The rally, poignantly held on the eve of World Hu­man Rights Day, was not just a protest but a re­sound­ing de­mand to make the vic­tims of state re­pres­sion vis­i­ble and their voices heard. The event was a stark re­minder of the on­go­ing strug­gle for hu­man rights and the need to hold ac­count­able those re­spon­si­ble for vi­o­la­tions.

The Dal Khalsa rally in Bhatinda was more than a protest; it was a dy­namic, com­pelling nar­ra­tive of de­fi­ance and de­mand for jus­tice. Each slo­gan, and each plac­ard, echoed a com­mu­ni­ty’s re­lent­less pur­suit of jus­tice and equal­ity by Dal Khalsa It was a day where every chant, every plac­ard, and every de­fi­ant step taken by the ac­tivists painted a vivid pic­ture of a com­mu­ni­ty’s re­lent­less pur­suit of jus­tice and equal­ity.

This Dal Khalsa rally, un­de­ni­ably, marked a sig­nif­i­cant chap­ter in the on­go­ing nar­ra­tive of hu­man rights vi­o­la­tions against Sikhs in In­dia.