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A Cry for
Freedom
Jagmohan Singh
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Jagmohan Singh writes an open letter to
the Prime Minister of Kosovo with the hope that it would not
degenerate into a warring statelet as some opponents to the new
country desire, but that it would adhere to the Martti Ahtisaari
plan to become an honourable member of the comity of nations. |
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 Hon’ble
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci:
Heartiest
Congratulations.
As a member of
the Sikh nation, I take this privilege to extend my heartfelt
greetings on the birth of Kosovo to you and all Kosovars.
When a poor
land-locked country of less than 5000 square miles of area with
heavy incidence of unemployment announces independence and that too
taking a grave risk, announces it unilaterally, without fear or
favour, ending years of untold misery and repression, it is time to
rejoice. Every freedom loving individual irrespective of his
political leanings should be happy.
Just as the
birth of a baby is a matter of joy, so is the birth of a new nation
a matter of deep joy.
I was
particularly happy that within a period of less than a year I have
the opportunity to write a congratulatory note to the new head of a
new state, the first being to the President of Timor Lieste, Jose
Ramos-Horta. I did not receive a reply from him and therefore
hope that you will acknowledge this note and understand the
raison d’etre of my letter.
A section of the
Sikhs is glad as it perceives the independence of your
country as a precursor for their own destinies. We have a saying
attributed to the Tenth master of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh,
which reads, “no one gives you freedom on a platter; those who have
it, get it by the sheer grit of their own determination and strength.”
This is indeed true of your nation. Though Kosovo was a
protectorate under the United Nations, in the collective wisdom of
all your representatives, you decided to call for freedom and sever
ties with Serbia. It is this step which separates you from the rest
of the new-born countries of recent times.
It is
interesting to see the international divide in recognition of your
country which reflects the geo-political situation of the world.
While your country has been called, “the only pro-American Islamic
country of the world”, the reality of the development has not been
lost on belligerent Serbia, Russia and all others who oppose the
bold step that you have taken but dare not talk of military
intervention to undo what you have done.
 Every new born
country needs friends and supporters and every fledgling nation has
a host of enemies. The manner in which you have maneuvered the
European Unity members in your support is an indicator of your
diplomatic skills. From the elusive ‘snake’ as an armed freedom
fighter of the Kosovan Liberation Army to the Prime Minister of the
country, you have come a long way. Your transformation into a
political leader has lessons for prospective freedom-fighters. The first lesson to learn from
you is to know the methodology and time to make this kind of
transition. The second is to learn how to deftly handle the situation
in such a way that world powers including the United States do not
dub you as a “dangerous terrorist outfit” as it has done in many
other cases.
It should
interest Sikhs to learn more about how after losing their identity
and lands to the Ottoman Empire the Kosovars turned full
circle and retained their country in less than a century. The Sikhs
lost their sovereignty in 1839 and are waiting since then. They
have had their struggles, but reading about what your people
have gone through, there is much to learn about how to wage a
peoples'
struggle and how to win over countries and international forums in
one’s favor.
 I
would urge
the
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation based in Geneva to
hold an international conference on “Kosovo and the right to
self-determination” anywhere in South Asia so that all struggling
peoples and nationalities can express their views with you as the
chief guest. Your
participation in such an event will be an inspiration for those
oppressed minority groups and would send jitters to
tyrants who continue their gross abuse of human rights.
The Sikh people
lost their self-rule in 1839 and since then in one form or the other
the struggle continues. I would like to apprise you that having a
Sikh face in the form of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India is absolutely no proof that
Sikhs are given a free run in the country.
India
is a huge country with a huge army with little or no respect for
human rights and humanitarian laws.
The Indian
state’s reaction to your country’s independence was similar to that
of Sri
Lanka which is skeptical about your declaration and has termed your
move as a “dangerous parallel”. To the best of my knowledge, India
has chosen to remain silent. My advise to
Sri Lanka
and India matches that of the editor of the Tamil paper, Sudar Oli,
“placed in this situation, very delicate diplomacy is called for -
not that of a Hambantota buffalo in a pottery shop variety”.
The relationship
of the 90 percent Albanians towards the minority peoples and other
ethnic minorities is your test. Your other test is to maintain the
liberal image of Islam. The affinity of
Serbia with
Kosovo should be maintained at all costs and never allowed to be
strained. In a unipolar word, with the tacit support of the United
States, you have declared sovereignty but the discord between
Kosovars and Serbs should not remain a frozen conflict. It should
melt away into a cordial and federal relationship with Serbs and
other minorities of your country.
A few Sikh
organizations have hailed the independence of your country and
avowed to develop cordial relations with your people. The
industrious hard-working Sikhs have a vast reservoir of knowledge
which you can put to good use for restructuring your country. I
would be attempting to establish a working relationship with your
young and energetic education minister, Enver Hoxhaj, to explore the
possibilities of twinning arrangements between your educational
institutions and ours. I also hope that you will work hard and put
new and bold policies in place to get out of the “Balkan dependency
syndrome.”
 I take this
opportunity to urge you to extend my best wishes to the writers,
printers and publishers of the daily newspaper, Koha Ditore, who
despite all odds, continued to keep the Kosovan hopes of freedom
alive with unimpeachable faith and determination but with grave risk to their lives. That they were able to do so without compromising
standards of good journalism is a matter or pride to me as a
writer.
I hope and pray
that the
Kosovo
Settlement Plan prepared by former Finnish President Martti
Ahtisaari, whom the UN appointed to oversee the process of
negotiating a settlement to the Kosovo issue will be implemented in
letter and spirit. This democratic plan for a multiethnic Kosovo
with six constitutive communities -- Albanians, Serbs, Roma (anthropologists
believe that they perhaps had origins in Punjab), Turks, Bosnian and
Egyptians should serve as a primer for those countries who still
continue their streak of centralisation and non-devolution of
powers.
The
proportional representation to minorities, the reservation of seats
for minorities, expression of multi-ethnicity by government
authorities are significant features of the document which has the
potential to help evolve Kosovo into a respectable republic.
An
interesting phase of your freedom struggle was that led by Ibrahim
Rugova who was nick-named, “Gandhi of the Balkans”. There is no
doubt space for passive resistance and Gandhi-like behaviour, but it
is the martrydom of thousands of innocent and figting Kosovars which
enabled you to reach the present situation. You have a test to
undergo when Serbs vote in a general election in May later this
year. I am sure that with foresight and wisdom you will adhere to
the Ahtisaari plan and ensure victory.
For your
opponents, yours is a false state, in fact not even a state but a
statelet; for the Kosovars, Kosovo is a remarkable long-awaited
realitytruth, for the
world it marks the end of the dissolution of communist Yugoslavia and for the
Sikhs a hope that they too will also be one day be a free nation and
be able to demonstrate more aggressively their spirit of Sarbat
da Bhalla...welfare and peace for all humankind.
May you and your
people enjoy freedom and contribute for peace in the Balkans and the world.
Yours truly
Jagmohan Singh
This letter has been sent by email to Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
The author, Jagmohan Singh may be contacted at
jsbigideas@gmail.com
5
March 2008
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