The Tribune dated 09th September 2023
Comments by Simranjit Singh Mann: Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) states that it would support the US in strengthening defence ties with THIS (Theocratic Hindu Indian State), but as far as backing the Hindu Indian state for an UNSC seat, our party has reservations, as the state of Human Rights of the Minorities, Schedule Castes and the Tribals are not up to the mark that THIS (Theocratic Hindu Indian State) should find a seat in the Security Council.
The other negative factor is that democracy has been annulled in Kashmir since 05th August 2019 and for the Sikhs their SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) which came into being by an act of law in 1925, its elections have not been held for the last twelve years and this House has become a Lame Duck Parliament.
Moreover, the Hindu Indian state has not signed and ratified the following UN protocols, treaties, covenants and conventions on Human Rights, some of them being:
1. 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
2. 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
3. 1954 Convention relating to Status of Stateless Persons.
4. 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
5. 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
6. 1966 Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
7. 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. It is because there are still 30,000 Sikh Stateless refugees in Kashmir since 1947.
8. 1972 Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile System.
9. 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. If this Convention had been followed, neither the Darbar Sahib, the Golden Temple would not have been reduced to rubble nor the Babri Masjid in 1992.
10. 1984 Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
11. 1984 Safeguard and guaranteeing protection of the Rights of those facing the death penalty.
12. 1995 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
13. 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
14. 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of anti-Personnel Mines and their Destruction (the Ottawa Convention on the abolition of landmines).
15. 2001 Rome Statute, by virtue of which the International Criminal Court has been set up at The Hague.
16. 2010 The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Cluster Munitions.
In 1948 the UNSC passed a resolution for a plebiscite in Kashmir. Since then this resolution has not been honoured as a plebiscite is the best tool in the box of democracy to decide the issue of Kashmir peacefully and democratically.
We therefore, think that this is not the right moment for the US to back the Hindu Indian state for an UNSC seat.
In the picture of Mr. Biden and Mr. Modi, we see that both look like white men but the left hand in the picture betrays the fact that Mr. Modi is as Asiatic as me.
Simranjit Singh Mānn,
President,
Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar),
Email: simranjitsinghmann@yahoo.com
website: https://akalidalamritsar.in/
facebook page: @sardarsimranjitsinghmannmp