Conditions of War in Sikhism

The five conditions of a righteous war (dharam yudh)
are:
1 It should be a last resort when all other means have
failed, (as expressed in Zafarnama).
2 It should be waged without enmity or the desire for
revenge. (Here one might be reminded to the
desireless action, nishkamakarma, which Arjuna
was called upon to pursue by Krishna in the
Bhagavad Gita.
3 Territory should not be annexed but returned when
hostilities have ended. Captured property should be
given back. Looting and the taking of booty are
forbidden.
4 The army should comprise only soldiers committed
to the cause. There should be no use of mercenaries.
It should act in a disciplined manner. The Rahit
Namas of the Guru, codes of conduct, such as no use
of tobacco or alcohol, or the molesting of their
adversaries women folk, should be adhered to
strictly.
5 Minimum forces should be used, only sufficient to
achieve the objective. This done hostilities should
cease.
These rules have always guided Sikhs in their military
actions during the Mughal period, in the days of the
Sikh Empire, and when they took part in the struggle for
an independent India. A Sikh soldier must be a santsipahi,
a ‘saint-soldier’, with the word ‘sant’ coming first
in order. The Sikh reputation for courage should never
be allowed to overshadow the importance of spiritual
principles. Though Sikhs have often been regarded as a
warrior nation, especially by the British, many Sikhs
have adopted a policy of non-violence in the pursuit of
justice, as the Christian missionary, C F Andrews
observed [4]. In 1921 during the Gurdwara Reform
Movement when Sikhs were claiming the control ofGurdwaras from private owners who had been granted
possession by the British, Sikh reformers staged a nonviolent
protest at the Guru Ka Bagh Gurdwara near
Amritsar. They were met by force from policemen led by
two English officers. The Sikhs faced them silently, their
hands placed together in prayer. One Englishman felled a
Sikh using his brass tipped lathi. The demonstrator
scrambled to his feet only to be knocked down again. The
same treatment was meted out to the other Sikhs by the
officers or their men