Af­ter the well-at­tended demon­stra­tion of unity and re­sis­tance of Sikh po­lit­i­cal and hu­man rights rep­re­sen­ta­tives in Am­rit­sar, the fast­ing by the de­tainees in the Di­bru­garh prison has been with­drawn fol­low­ing the res­o­lu­tions adopted at the meet, but Pun­jab has ex­tended the dra­con­ian and un­de­mo­c­ra­tic Na­tional Se­cu­rity Act on Am­rit­pal Singh and his as­so­ci­ates for an­other year.

Amrit­pal Singh’s moth­er’s words – ‘the strug­gle is far from over’ res­onates the sen­ti­ment of anger at the role of the Pun­jab gov­ern­ment, as it con­tin­ues ha­rass­ment and hu­man rights abuses, re­flect­ing a dis­tress­ing pat­tern of in­tim­i­da­tion and sup­pres­sion. Ex­tend­ing the NSA for an­other year against Sikh de­tainees not only ex­ac­er­bates the in­jus­tice but also bla­tantly dis­re­gards the fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples of democ­racy and hu­man rights.

The Am­rit­sar meet­ing has de­manded im­me­di­ate at­ten­tion to the anti-Sikh poli­cies, the call for the trans­fer of de­tainees to Pun­jab’s pris­ons, and a call for the com­mence­ment of a ‘Bandi Chhor March’ from var­i­ous ar­eas in the Pun­jab.

WSN un­equiv­o­cally con­demns the Pun­jab gov­ern­men­t’s at­ti­tude to­wards Sikh de­tainees and the broader Sikh com­mu­nity. The mis­use of laws like the NSA to quell dis­sent, the in­dif­fer­ence to re­lease Devin­der Pal Singh Bhullar on per­ma­nent pa­role, and the on­go­ing hu­man rights abuses in Pun­jab de­mand im­me­di­ate in­ter­na­tional at­ten­tion and ac­tion.

The Sikh com­mu­ni­ty’s un­wa­ver­ing re­solve in the face of such ad­ver­sity is a re­minder of the en­dur­ing fight for jus­tice and rights, a fight that tran­scends bor­ders and res­onates with all who value free­dom and dig­nity.

The state’s fail­ure to ad­dress le­git­i­mate griev­ances, cou­pled with its ef­forts to sup­press peace­ful protest, stands in stark vi­o­la­tion of the very prin­ci­ples it claims to up­hold. It is im­per­a­tive that the global com­mu­nity, hu­man rights or­ga­ni­za­tions, and in­di­vid­u­als of con­science, stand in sol­i­dar­ity with the Sikh com­mu­nity in their quest for jus­tice. The spirit of the Sikh com­mu­nity, re­silient in the face of ad­ver­sity, con­tin­ues to in­spire and re­minds us all of the cost of si­lence in the face of in­jus­tice.