Sikhs must do something for the education of Afghan Girls. Simranjit Singh Mann.
The Tribune dated 24th March 2022.
Comments by Simranjit Singh Mann: Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) states that had the independent sovereign Sikh state of Khalistan come into being in 1947, the Sikh state would have opened a special institute for Afghan Girls higher education.
The Sikhs have had a long bitter and good relationship with Afghanistan. During the period of the Lahore Darbar (Sikh Empire 1799-1849) Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave political asylum to the ruler of Afghanistan Shah Shujah and gave him the treatment of Royalty which he deserved.
In 1962 the Sikh Misls defeated Ahemed Shah Abdali and his Afghan army at Kup, Qutba and finally at Ghalon. No raider or adventurer from Afghanistan entered the Punjab and Hindustan after the Sikhs became the masters of this territory. In 1819 the armies of the Lahore Darbar (Sikh Empire) annexed Kashmir which was then a province of Afghanistan. In 1834 The Darbar armies annexed Ladakh. Both these two territories were made an integral part of the Sikh Empire.
It is only in 1947 when the Hindus became masters of India, which the British gracefully handed over to them that they lost and surrendered 39,000 sq kms of Ladakh territory to Communist China in 1962. This was followed by the BJP-RSS regime of Premier Modi when another 900 sq kms of Ladakh territory was surrendered to Communist China in 2020.
Therefore, we are stating that Afghan Girls could have been educated in the Sikh state had the Sikhs gained independence in 1947. We say this with the strength of history behind us.
If Vice President Naidu wants to change the pattern of education we have inherited from the British and wants to saffronise it then he must think of the consequences as he would have to bring in these shameful chapters of history when the Hindu lost after 1947 Kashmir to Communist China and Islamic Pakistan and Ladakh to Communist China in 1962 and 2020. They say in English let sleeping dogs lie.
Simranjit Singh Mānn,
President,
Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar),
Email: simranjitsinghmann@yahoo.com
website:www.akalidalamritsar.in
facebook page: @sardarsimranjitsinghmann