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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 2, 1984
PAGE 7
name) to arise. In early 1983, for example, Mrs. Gandhi gave in to several
Sikh religious demands, including the permission to carry their ceremonial
six-inch daggers aboard domestic flights all over India. But every conces
sion was met with new demands on the part of the militants.
The Sikhs, of course, have had grievances, too. Here is an article from the
December 17, 1982 WALL STREET JOURNAL giving a short history of this unusu
al religious group, which, though small, is very important to India's over
all well-being.
"Sikh" (pronounced "seek") means disciple in Sanskrit, and there
are about 15 million of them, followers of a 15th century guru
who preached a cross between Hinduism and Islam with a few
touches of its own. [The religion is monotheistic and its be
lievers eat meat.] Even in exotic India, the Sikhs stand out.
[Their tenth and last guru, in the early 1700sl taught them not
to cut their hair, so Sikh men wear turbans to cover long locks
and cultivate vast beards that a razor will never touch.
The guru also taught his followers to arm themselves against
evil. A citified Sikh might carry only a small kirpan, or dag
ger, but in the villages a believer also will tote a spear, a sa
ber or perhaps a carbine and a double-barreled shotgun. A Sikh
takes off his shoes to approach the Golden Temple� he never takes
off his kirpan, even to bathe in the temple's holy pool.
By India's humble standards, the Sikhs are prosperous. There is,
for example, a parking lot under the Golden Temple--in a country
where bullocks and bicycles provide most other people their
transport. Luxury buses equipped with TV sets and video record
ers deposit Sikh pilgrims in Amritsar.
The Sikhs control whole industries in northern India, including
transport and construction. The Punjab, the native Sikh state,
on the border with Pakistan, is India's granary. Sikhs have been
the backbone of �. a
6
my since the days of� £.!J., when they
stood with the Britis against the 1857 mutineers•••• But the
Sikhs worry that their prosperity won't last.
The army is cut
ting back recruitment•••• The "green revolution" meant a decade
of growth for the Punjab, but farm output has reached its limit,
too. Now the Punjab wants factories.
A factory is a political decision in India, though. The govern
ment decides who can build a new factory and where, as well as who
can enlarge an old factory and by how much.... It parcels out
electricity and raw materials. It is the government's policy,
too, to put industry and investment in the poorer of India's
states as a way to distribute the wealth, or at any rate equalize
living standards. So although Punjab grows much of India's wheat
and sugar, businessmen say they can't get licenses to build re
fineries or mills. Their crops go to other states for process
ing, they complain.
Shortly after the assault on the Golden Temple, the June 18, 1984 CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE MONITOR carried an important--and ominous--report on the Sikh situ
ation. Here are excerpts: