The Shillong Clashes - A History

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

With reference to the 'URGENT: Shillong 200 Sikh families besieged by attackers' thread on the main page:

 

A lot of my writings have been erased by the Mods here but I did once write a piece on the situation in Shillong a few years ago. At the time, I wrote it because I saw it as a flashpoint that was always going to explode...it was just a question of when.

Firstly, it would be a mistake to start labelling this a 'Christian' attack. It's true that the majority of indigenous Khasi people are now Christian however their motivation or ethnic cleansing is not based on religious lines........It is based purely and squarely on racism and xenophobia. This has been going on a long long time......First the Nepalese were driven out, then the Bengalis but only the Punjabis remain. Unlike all the others that have been driven out the Punjabis are made of different stuff, i.e. they fight back.

A little history.....almost all of the Sikhs in Shillong are chureh and chamars. While the British were recruiting the jat Sikhs around the world to fight in wars they were taking other groups to tribal areas around north eastern India to do manual work. That's how they ended up there. But...that was 150 to 200 years ago. This generation of Sikhs in Shillong are 4th, 5th and 6th Shillong born. However, among the Khasis, they  will forever be seen as 'Dakar' (outsiders) and this is not only the root of the problem but also a lesson for us to keep our own prejudices and xenophobia under control because we need to understand how, if we keep on referring to the U.P. and Bihar people in Punjab as bhayas or outsiders, we too will start to permanently demonise them as human beings and internally find ways of justifying discrimination against them. Indeed, one of the ways that the Shillong administrators find to justify discrimination against the Sikhs is to portray the Punjabis as criminals and anti-social, indulging in all sorts of immoral behaviour such as prostitution etc. This has always been a classic ploy of the powers at be throughout the world when they want the public to form a certain viewpoint about people. It happened in western Canada at the end of the 1800s when the Canadian government found they couldn't legally expel the large Sikh community there as they were British subjects. Instead, the local government, police and press colluded to label all Sikhs as indulging in disgusting homosexual practices (which was illegal at the time in Canada). (see Rex vs Singh). As a result, a frenzy against the Sikhs was whipped up among the masses and the Sikhs by and large moved south to Oregon and the California.

This new clash in Shillong then is nothing new. It's been happening on a regular basis since 1972 and has always been instigating by the government and police there. They (the Khasi people, their police and elected officials) want the Sikhs moved out of that area and housed in a new settlement away from the urban centre (in much the same way that Romania housed the Rom gypsies...out of sight, out of mind). They used this tactic successfully against many other groups but the Sikh Punjabis are the only ones that will not go without a fight and, when they fight, they give even better than they take.  Clashes there have been a daily occurrence. The clash in 2012 was by far the biggest (much bigger than this one). After that one, the government decided the answer was to reserve all govt jobs for the Khasis and ban the Sikhs from owning any property. Yes, that means a 5th feneration Shillong born Sikh is not even allowed to own property in the land of not only his birth but also his father's and grandfather's. But do remember this one fact...it is not because we are 'Sikhs'..as there is no religious element to this. It is because they are 'Punjabi'. This is about racism pure and simple against EVERY group that isn't indigenous (tribal) to that area.

Let me end with this: In 2007, after yet another violent clash, Balwinder Singh of Babbar Khalsa International, sent a letter to the main newspaper there. In it, he said Babbar Khalsa will be coming to Shillong and would hunt and find very Khasi that harmed Sikhs during the clashes that year. The Khasis begged for mercy.   Shillong then teaches us many things on many fronts. It teaches us to check our own prejudices against others, it teaches us about history and geography and it teaches us about the politics of race and ethnicity. But, most of all, it teaches us of the Punjabi spirit to fight. Even when there's nothing really to fight for the Sikhs (Punjabis) in Shillong do the right thing and fight.

[DailyMail]

On 6/4/2018 at 9:58 AM, Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh said:

A little history.....almost all of the Sikhs in Shillong are chureh and chamars. While the British were recruiting the jat Sikhs around the world to fight in wars they were taking other groups to tribal areas around north eastern India to do manual work.

Kidda Jagsaw,

Nice to see you back. How's the doctoral thesis coming along?

Just a quick note. The Sikh Pioneer regiments recruited exclusively from the very communities (and others) that you mention. They fought all over the world and were the only Sikh regiment to be awarded "royal" battalion status for services rendered in WW1, in particular, the Western Front.

The rest of your post is an eye opener, and once again, I learnt something I didn't know before.

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

17 hours ago, DailyMail said:

Kidda Jagsaw,

Nice to see you back. How's the doctoral thesis coming along?

Just a quick note. The Sikh Pioneer regiments recruited exclusively from the very communities (and others) that you mention. They fought all over the world and were the only Sikh regiment to be awarded "royal" battalion status for services rendered in WW1, in particular, the Western Front.

The rest of your post is an eye opener, and once again, I learnt something I didn't know before.

Thank you Daily Mail.

The Shillong situation is interesting because - although I haven't had much time to read too much about the catalyst for this latest clash in Shillong  - previous clashes between the locals and the Sikhs stretching as far back as 1972 always seem to involve the issue of 'women'. Before I say anything else though let me be clear that these are just 'excuses' for clashes. The clashes always occur and will always keep occurring because it is the officially sanctioned policy of the local government and police there to harass all 'outsiders' and drive them out. It just so happens that the Sikhs are now more or less the only ones left after the other groups went. And let us also be clear that these Sikh Punjabis are not rich by any standards. In fact they are poor. In reality they have nothing much to stay and fight for which makes their stand up and fight for their rights stance all the more impressive.

Now...back to what I was saying about the issue of 'women'. 2 things normally start the all too often clashes there:

1. The Khasi men being overly sensitive about their women
2. The emancipated Khasi men habitually not treating the Sikh women with the same respect they show their own women.

You see, the natives of Shillong (the khasis) - who are actually a very pretty race of people - are one of the few groups on earth that practice a matrilineal tradition. The women have the power in their society and the men do as they are told. Amongst the Khasis, the youngest daughter inherits all family property, men are expected to move into their wives's home after marriage and children must take their mother's family name. In essence then, the female Khasi is looked up to as god-like by the males which means any Punjabi male even looking at them wrong is seen as an act of extreme aggression and it also means that the non-Khasi females (i.e. Sikh Punjabi) are seen as fair game by the Khasi males which in turn will naturally provoke a strong reaction from the Punjabi males. So, even without the fact that the police and local government actively harass the Sikh Punjabis, whichever way you look at it there is never going to be an end to clashes in Shillong. 

 

[DailyMail]

I had no idea that such a tradition existed (matrilineal). Are there many other tribes which practice such a tradition? I can only assume that they must be isolated and haven't integrated into mainstream society - something that the Khasi probably view as a strength. 

Not only do the Khasi women definitely wear the trousers in that relationship,  it would appear that the men wear skirts. 

[jkvlondon]

1 hour ago, DailyMail said:

I had no idea that such a tradition existed (matrilineal). Are there many other tribes which practice such a tradition? I can only assume that they must be isolated and haven't integrated into mainstream society - something that the Khasi probably view as a strength. 

Not only do the Khasi women definitely wear the trousers in that relationship,  it would appear that the men wear skirts. 

tahin sikh ladkian ton kutt kahdi

[Big_Tera]

Who cares what the khoosi traditions is. 

or should i say khasi. 

if they want a scrap lets give the one. lets take their women aswell.

They look pretty nice. lol

only joking. Seems strange, sikhs only number a couple of thousand there. they  not exactly taken over the place. looks like this was organised by their leaders  to scare people out of the area. 

 

[jkvlondon]

1 hour ago, Big_Tera said:

Who cares what the khoosi traditions is. 

or should i say khasi. 

if they want a scrap lets give the one. lets take their women aswell.

They look pretty nice. lol

only joking. Seems strange, sikhs only number a couple of thousand there. they  not exactly taken over the place. looks like this was organised by their leaders  to scare people out of the area. 

 

BJP was voted in there, then they changed the property laws that non khasis cannot own land in an effort to land grab like in gujurat and rajasthan, but people who come from nothing will fight for everything they have because they have no choices , that is what we are seeing there so should support them fully including with beefing them up training wise. Already united sikhs have armed each household with fire extinguishers and training , brought in legal help for two families . langar as is standard .

[Big_Tera]

41 minutes ago, jkvlondon said:

BJP was voted in there, then they changed the property laws that non khasis cannot own land in an effort to land grab like in gujurat and rajasthan, but people who come from nothing will fight for everything they have because they have no choices , that is what we are seeing there so should support them fully including with beefing them up training wise. Already united sikhs have armed each household with fire extinguishers and training , brought in legal help for two families . langar as is standard .

Thats great. 

The fire extinguishers will prove very helpful. Next time a khasi comes looking for trouble. They can stick that straight up their @ss lol

[jkvlondon]

1 hour ago, Big_Tera said:

Thats great. 

The fire extinguishers will prove very helpful. Next time a khasi comes looking for trouble. They can stick that straight up their @ss lol

remember the khasis were throwing molotov cocktails/petrol bombs

[Big_Tera]

20 minutes ago, jkvlondon said:

remember the khasis were throwing molotov cocktails/petrol bombs

It was a joke. 

I know what a fire extinguisher is used for. lol

But my option to use it would be funnier and more deserving of the culprit that tried to set a fire.