Dear Editor,
I read with deep concern the voluminous letter written by my friend Haji Dr. Roshan Khan making a number of charges against the Chairman of the ERC, Rev. John Smith, Joseph Harmon and former President David A. Granger.
I have no desire to enter a defence on behalf of the above-named persons assailed by my friend Roshan Khan.
The letter has come as a complete surprise from one who is an Ambassador for Peace.
His racist appeal to Indians to arm themselves makes him ineligible to serve as a member on the Ethnic Relations Commission or indeed of any Board, Body or Organisation that is interested in harmony and justice in our country.
The need to know all of our history is necessary if we are to make the very essence of an Ethnic Relations Commission meaningful.
We have seen elsewhere in recent history, that when descendants of brutalized and dehumanized slaves seek justice their protestations are deemed illegal and improper.
This bias and concern for a single ethnic racial group has been like a curse for many generations.
Certainly, inconsistent with the declared purpose of an Ethnic Relations Commission, of which Mr. Khan is a member, he should be debarred from membership of the ERC.
Mr. Khan’s remarks came after the mostly Afro-Guyanese community expressed a concern for the barbaric torture and murder of two of the young men at Cotton Tree Village. Similar protests revolving around the murder of Haresh Singh did not evoke a response from Mr. Khan.
Throughout our history, Indo-Guyanese have properly protested against unfair treatment by those who administer the government. We remember the Enmore Martyrs, where five Indo-Guyanese sugar workers were shot and killed by colonial police.
Mr. Khan must know that it was a President of African descent who caused the Enmore Monument to be built to honour the slain sugar workers.
Instead of sharing the pain of the relatives of the Henry cousins and Haresh Singh who was killed days after them, Mr. Khan’s concern is to arm Indians.
Mr. Khan must repent if he desires to be my friend and continue to be an Ambassador for Peace.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green