As the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir becomes clear and facts and truth percolates down, Sikh voices are increasingly opposing the recent diatribe of the DSGMC leadership in the last few days, carried out in a coercive and swift operation as part of the BJP program of divide and rule.  In a statement released today to the media, Dal Khalsa has exhorted both -Kashmiri Sikhs and Kashmiri Muslims to maintain respect for each other, keep the hard-earned unity intact and bonding safe and strong.

SIKH POLITICAL BODY DAL KHALSA, in a hard-hitting and unequivocal statement,  has stated that the  Kashmiri Sikh girls’ marriages out of faith were a personal and societal issue and that they strongly oppose the strident role of Delhi Sikh leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa for playing BJP’s divisive politics of dividing the two communities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ruling out the scope for political intervention in such matters, the statement says, “Sikh-Kashmiri Muslim bonds cannot be damaged or destroyed by isolated incidents. There may be scope for personal and societal intervention but there is absolutely no scope for political meddling in such cases.

“The organization opposes forced conversions and forced marriages, irrespective of gender.”

Speaking to World Sikh News, Dal Khalsa President Harpa Singh Cheema said, “It is difficult times for all minorities and nationalities, especially Kashmiris, whose thousands of activists and even ordinary Kashmiris are in prison for the last many years. The pro-freedom leadership is behind bars and the pro-India political leadership is vacillating in the political role that it wants to play.”

Accusing the BJP of using DSGMC leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa to further their political agenda in Kashmir, Cheema said, “We firmly believe that in order to force a new narrative of ‘trouble in Kashmir’ to perpetuate its agenda of delimitation and elections, this entire drama is being played out in public through remote control by the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

A minuscule minority among the Sikhs in Jammu raised slogans inimical to Islam and friendship between the two communities.  Condemning them, Dal Khalsa statement said,  “We strongly condemn the utterances of a section of the Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir against the tenets of Islam and the patronising attitude towards Kashmiri girls and women. Foul and irreverent sloganeering by the youth is a shameful act, unbecoming of any Sikh, whatever the circumstances maybe.”

Stating that two wrongs do not make a right, the released appealed to Kashmiri Muslim activists not to fall into the trap of the BJP-led establishment. It said, “Muslim youth should also refrain from raising foul language against Sikh religion and tenets. The hard-earned Sikh-Kashmiri Muslim unity must be maintained at all costs without adding to the frenzied pitch of the dialogues.”

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh, while rubbishing the nomenclature of “Love Jihad” coined by Hindutva elements to target Muslims, urged “Sikhs and Muslims of Kashmir not to allow Delhi to have a field day and sow the seeds of mistrust among both the communities.”