Mehtab Singh

Until lions write their own history, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. - Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 to 21 March 2013), the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident

These days these guys are wetting their pants and will do anything to cover it because they know whats coming : the 30th anniversary of November 1984, a moment when Sikhs all over the globe will be shaming India. This is just the start of the cover up game. Watch the next 4 months what all theories are born.

Key points proposed by this guy: The movement did not even originate among the Sikh population of the Indian subcontinent, but much farther afield, among the Sikh diaspora in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. it is important to understand that there is no point in using the present tense, because in ideological terms, the Sikh separatist movement collapsed in 1984-85. the Indian government concluded a political deal with Sikh leaders, which conceded all the major demands that had been put forward by the ultra-orthodox Sikh leaders prior to the military action in 1984 Interestingly, the Naxalites opposed the Sikh separatists, because their left-wing ideas clashed with the right-wing agenda of the latter. The Naxalites worked as police informers and also set up rural defense squads in order to ensure that separatists could not find refuge in the Punjab countryside. China has had no role in supporting Sikh separatism. once Pakistan felt confident that its nuclear weapon program (which had secretly been underway for many years) had sufficiently developed as a deterrent to Indian conventional military reprisals it began escalating its support to Sikh separatists. the intelligence services of all these countries (American, British and Canadian governments) provided varying degrees of information about ISI support for Sikh separatist terrorism. This international intelligence sharing was a crucial factor in ensuring that India’s counterterrorist operations in Punjab became quite sophisticated by the early 1990s, and in fact, they continue to be studied today by Western security communities. the ISI is very keen on strategic destabilization through targeted assassination conducted by local proxies there could be a sensational murder (or a series of murders) at some point, orchestrated by Pakistani handlers but carried out by hired guns to ensure deniability. Another scenario would be for major attacks on soft targets, similar in style to those carried out by the Pakistani jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Mumbai.

Indias Sikh Separatist Problem Its been 30 years since the Indian Army conducted its raid on the Sikh Golden Temple at Amritsar. In todays question and answer session, the CSS Prem Mahadevan outlines how the Sikh separatist movement has fared since then and traces the political support it has received from Pakistan. By Prem Mahadevan for ISN ISN: What are the origins of the Sikh separatist movement in India? Is it right to assume that it was born out the 1947 partition? Prem Mahadevan: No. The movement did not even originate among the Sikh population of the Indian subcontinent, but much farther afield, among the Sikh diaspora in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Indias Punjab province, which has a Sikh majority of roughly 60%, has long been a source of migrants to the West. In the 1970s, some of these migrants began agitating for an independent Sikh nation-state, largely because of covert funding provided to them by the Pakistani intelligence service. The separatist movement actually began in 1971, when the Pakistani Intelligence Bureau, a civilian agency, made contact with the Sikh diaspora in an attempt to encourage secessionist politics in India. In 1978, operational control of these diaspora radicals was transferred from the Pakistan IB to the more powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which could draw upon the resources of the Pakistani army to launch covert paramilitary operations. From 1980, the ISI provided weapon training and target portfolios to small assassin squads, who crossed the border into India and began killing political leaders in a bid to incite fratricidal violence among the Sikh leadership. Around this point, Indias own fractious domestic politics come into play. In 1978, the same year that the ISI took over sponsorship of Sikh separatism, the Indian Congress Party had begun funding ultra-orthodox Sikh groups in Punjab. By doing so, it hoped to capture a larger share of the conservative Sikh vote, but inadvertently provided the ISI with a platform to introduce separatism as an idea among the Sikh population of India. Before the Congress had fully recognized what was happening, the ultra-orthodox Sikh groups had switched from advocating purely local issues (such as agricultural and employment grievances) to advocating secession from the Indian Republic. The shift took place over three years, from 1981-84, and was punctuated by growing violence. What, exactly, are Sikh separatists demanding from New Delhi? First, it is important to understand that there is no point in using the present tense, because in ideological terms, the Sikh separatist movement collapsed in 1984-85. This implosion was due to two factors. First, in 1984, the Indian Army carried out a raid on the city of Amritsar (which lies practically on the border with Pakistan). The city was where the most vocal supporters of the separatist movement chose to base themselves. It is important to note, that during exploratory talks with the Indian government even these ideologues of Sikh separatism never explicitly demanded an independent Sikh state. Rather, their willingness to kill off moderate Sikh politicians, as well as police officials trying to serve arrest warrants for past crimes, led the Indian government to send in the military. With this action, the leadership structure of the Sikh separatist movement disintegrated. The following year, the Indian government concluded a political deal with Sikh leaders, which conceded all the major demands that had been put forward by the ultra-orthodox Sikh leaders prior to the military action in 1984. Over the next seven years, Sikh separatist violence took on an increasingly criminal nature, with extortion and kidnappings for ransom becoming the primary motive of violence. The annual number of criminal incidents peaked in 1991, when the Indian Army was once again sent into Punjab to restore order (it had been withdrawn from the province after 1984). Working alongside the civilian authorities, the Army reduced levels of violence within a matter of months. By mid-1993, the Sikh separatist movement had collapsed in operational terms as well, having lost its political hue many years previously. Where does Sikh separatism fit in with Indias other separatist or revolutionary movements? Are there links, for example, with the Naxalite movement? Interestingly, the Naxalites opposed the Sikh separatists, because their left-wing ideas clashed with the right-wing agenda of the latter. The Naxalites worked as police informers and also set up rural defense squads in order to ensure that separatists could not find refuge in the Punjab countryside. However, there was a concerted effort by the Pakistani ISI to establish fraternal linkages between Sikh and Kashmiri militants. This effort dated back to 1990-91, when the ISI drew up plans for large-scale urban paramilitary attacks on India, using deniable assets. The Sikhs and Kashmiris were supposed to cooperate in launching suicidal attacks on soft targets in Indias financial capital, Mumbai. However, in July 1992, Indian counterintelligence busted a key node in the network that was responsible for enacting this plan. Since then, the Sikh separatist movement has been limited to a handful of aging ideologues, enjoying Pakistani hospitality at ISI safe-houses in and around Lahore. Beyond issuing sporadic statements calling for the breakup of the Indian Republic, which nobody aside from Indian security officials even bother to read or listen to, these ideologues do little. That said, it also needs to be mentioned that concerns have been raised that the ISI is encouraging Sikh separatist ideologues living in Pakistan to endorse terrorist attacks against India, as a way of taking the heat off the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment for having been caught out in supporting the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. The ISI reasons that if Sikhs were found to be involved in a major act of terrorism against India, it would somehow deflect international attention from the agencys ties to jihadist terrorists that were so blatantly exposed at Mumbai. And what about links with Pakistan or Indias other great rival, China? China has had no role in supporting Sikh separatism. As I have already made clear, Pakistan has led the way in providing moral and material support to the separatists. To understand why, we need to look beyond the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Kashmir and consider the history of ISI operations in the Indian province of Punjab. It was in 1987 that the ISI really upped the ante in Punjab, by supplying the Sikh separatists with large quantities of Kalashnikov assault rifles. Until that point in time, such firearms had only been handed out sparingly, to maintain plausible deniability and hedge against Indian accusations of cross-border interference. However, once Pakistan felt confident that its nuclear weapon program (which had secretly been underway for many years) had sufficiently developed as a deterrent to Indian conventional military reprisals it began escalating its support to Sikh separatists. Most of the people killed during the 13-year separatist conflict (whose violent phase stretched from 1980-1993) died after 1987 at the hands of Kalashnikov-wielding Sikh youths who were merely out to make a quick buck through violent crime. Since the violence level came down substantially in 1993, the ISI has been actively seeking to resuscitate the separatist movement. With Indian police being highly vigilant against any cross-border movement, the ISIs preference is, once again, to stir up emotions among members of the Sikh diaspora. However, so far these efforts have met with rather dismal results and the Pakistani agency is looking for a window of attack to appear in India. How has Indias response to Sikh separatism evolved over the years? Has New Delhi preferred force over dialogue? Successive Indian heads of government tried talking with separatists, only to realize that none of their interlocutors had any influence over the conflict dynamic in Punjab. The string-pullers were all in Pakistan. In fact, we now know that the ISI regarded its covert support of terrorism in Punjab as a rehearsal for the larger offensive it was planning in Kashmir, which actually did begin in 1988. So, despite repeated efforts at dialogue, the Indian government got nowhere. Only once a whole-of-government consensus emerged that what India faced was not a popular political rebellion, but rather a cross-border covert operation driven by purely criminal motives at the local level, did India opt to use force against the armed groups in Punjab. By the time this realization had hit home (around 1991-92), international support had coalesced behind New Delhi because the American, British and Canadian governments (who took a keen interest in the conflict) had come to realize that separatism lacked a popular support base. Another, less publicly known factor was that the intelligence services of all these countries provided varying degrees of information about ISI support for Sikh separatist terrorism. This international intelligence sharing was a crucial factor in ensuring that Indias counterterrorist operations in Punjab became quite sophisticated by the early 1990s, and in fact, they continue to be studied today by Western security communities. Ultimately, what are the prospects for an independent Sikh state? What could this mean for the rest of India and, crucially, South Asia in general? Sikh intellectuals have themselves noted that even the most optimistic of the separatist leaders should have known during the period 1980-1993 that there was no prospect for an independent Sikh state to exist. Even Pakistans support for the movement was entirely opportunistic an exercise in bleeding India and satisfying the ISIs sanguinary urge to see Indian civilians getting killed. As early as the 1980s, most Sikhs understood that, with the province of Punjab being small and surrounded on three sides by India, any independent Sikh state would not be economically viable or militarily defensible. It is important to note that the bulk of the counterterrorist effort in the province was led by the civilian police, many of whom hailed from the same communities as the Kalashnikov-wielding men who claimed to be fighting for separatism. So beyond the purely delusional, or the utterly cynical (among the ISIs operations cells), nobody can have any notions about an independent Sikh state. Pakistan itself would not welcome such a hypothetical scenario, because an independent Sikh homeland would have large territorial claims on areas that are currently part of Pakistan, but which were once ruled by Sikh monarchs before British colonization. So is it really a case of the Indian government having to deal with the occasional outbreaks of social unrest akin to recent events at Amritsars Golden Temple? To a large extent. Even this unrest is not so much social. Rather, it is a manifestation of infighting that permeates Indian politics to varying degrees in different provincial contexts. Regarding prospects for trouble, I see two possibilities. First, the ISI is very keen on strategic destabilization through targeted assassination conducted by local proxies. This is a tactic that has worked in the past, and they would like to use it again, if provided an opportunity. So, there could be a sensational murder (or a series of murders) at some point, orchestrated by Pakistani handlers but carried out by hired guns to ensure deniability. Another scenario would be for major attacks on soft targets, similar in style to those carried out by the Pakistani jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Mumbai. In both scenarios, the ISI would want international attention to focus heavily on Sikh separatism as a political movement or phenomenon, and thereby slowly erase from public memory the fact that Pakistani officials have been caught out supporting specific terrorist attacks. In this regard, it is especially important to watch for false-flag operations, carried out by Pakistani citizens but claimed by spokesmen for some non-existent Sikh separatist group. The ISI had tried this method in Mumbai, by getting LeT terrorists to claim that they were from the Deccan Mujahideen - a group that no-one had ever heard of before. So, I would not put it past the Pakistani agency to carry out another major act of international terrorism and then have this claimed by some fictitious Sikh separatist group. http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Articles/Detail/?lng=en&id=181191

LOL, why do these names sound like apt lyrics for an irritating Bollywood song... his-bull-ah, al khusra! koi pehla, koi dusra! Hahahaha, sorry....

NEW DELHI: The rise of al-Qaida offshoot Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may look like a distant problem affecting the Middle East with Indians merely caught in the crossfire. But it's a danger far closer home than it appears. Security establishment sources said ISIS, which is being suspected to be behind the kidnapping of 40 Indians in Mosul, has global ambitions and aims to create an Islamic World Dominion of which even India would be a part. A recently released world dominion map by the outfit had parts of north-west India, including Gujarat, shown as part of the Islamic state of Khorasan, a caliphate that the outfit aims to achieve. Sources said there were inputs of jihadists from India fighting in both Iraq and Syria and some of these would eventually return. They would then become the link between the Middle East outfits and the Indian subcontinent. That is a time, sources said, India needs to prepare for. Already, the outfit is being touted as the most efficient, organized, dangerous and ambitious terror outfit in the world. Even al-Qaida, which has terrorized the world for over two decades and is the estranged ideological guru of the outfit, looks a pale shadow in front of ISIS given the quick advances it has made in a short time. With India on its radar, even if distant, the signs are not good, sources said. Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management, said, "Strategy is a function of capability. We are not focusing on events in the Middle East because we have no capability to influence them. Earlier too, people have been kidnapped in the region and we have had to depend on third party negotiators. All global jihad will have India in its crosshairs. We can ignore them only at our own peril." Sahni specifically warned of the threat from Indian jihadis fighting in Iraq and Syria. "These are battlehardened terrorists who will one day come back. Moreover, their antics and successes will inspire many more here as we already see them drawing inspiration from events abroad," he said. The growing ambition of ISIS can be gauged from the fact that from a small group owing allegiance to al-Qaida, it took the shape of Islamic State in Iraq in 2006. Within years, as the Syrian crisis escalated, it metamorphosed into Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and is now known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The addition of the word Levant expands the group's aim to capture Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus and parts of Turkey. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ISIS-has-designs-on-India-Experts/articleshow/36795859.cms

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/74690-what-a-way-to-target-sikhs-right-on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-amritsar/

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/74695-sword-fight-at-indias-golden-temple-on-raid-anniversary/

NEW DELHI: At a time when the special cell and the intelligence bureau (IB) are probing the Punjab connection of Gurvinder Singh, arrested in Tuesday's accident which killed Union minister Gopinath Munde, security agencies have alerted police agencies of Delhi and other states and the protection groups (SPG and NSG) about the threat assessment of top BJP and RSS leaders who stand at risk from Punjab-based Sikh militant groups. As per a communique, agencies have received fresh inputs about Jagtar Singh Tara of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and Lakhvir Singh Rode of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) coming together to smuggle in explosives from across the border and provide logistics to target BJP leaders, sources said. The agencies had received inputs about the two organizations planning to target Modi rallies before the elections as well. Moreover, the agencies have received fresh information about two groups of 10-15 militants belonging to the Khalistan Commando Force planning attacks on PM Modi and other top leaders of the Sangh and BJP. "A meeting to target Modi was held recently in Islamabad which was attended by Dr. Khalid Rashid and Md. Ghalib from UK, Azmat Khan from JKLF and Wadhwa Singh of BKI," reads the communique. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/BJP-Sangh-leaders-face-terror-threat/articleshow/36081930.cms

PATIALA, Punjab (June 6, 2014)Sikhs have responded to threats from Shiv Sena by putting up posters of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other martyrs across Punjab. Particularly in parts of Patiala and Anandpur Sahib, where Shiv Seniks had vandalized posters of Sant Bhindranwale, Sikhs have taken measures to install even larger posters. Shiv Sena mobs had vandalized posters of Sant Bhindranwale, warning Sikhs of consequences if more were put up. A minor scuffle was reported in Patiala where members of Shiv Sena tried to threaten the Sikhs, however students of Baba Manmohan Singh Ji (Patiala) made them apologize on spot. The following picture has surfaced on the fan page of Jatha Shaheeda In addition, Sikhs online have resolved to change their profile pictures on various social media sites to that of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Messages are being sent on Facebook, Whatsapp and other social media networks asking Sikhs to change their profile pictures. This years anniversary of the Indian army attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib is special, in the sense that a large number of Sikhs living worldwide are taking part in commemorating the martyrs of 1984. In addition to Punjab, commemoration programs are being held worldwide and Sikhs are asking international bodies to break their 30 year silence and address the issue of human rights abuses in India. http://www.sikh24.com/2014/06/sikhs-respond-to-shiv-sena-threats-on-operation-bluestar-anniversary/#.U5E1PfldUZ4

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh Bhai Jagraj Singh jeeo. Welcome to Sikhsangat.com!

You might want to ask that question here: http://gurmatbibek.com/forum/list.php?3

* BREAKING NEWS - CULPRITS RESPONSIBLE FOR SACRILEGE OF GURU GRANTH SAHIB IN AMBALA HAVE ADMITTED THEIR GUILT OF THE HEINOUS CRIME * On 18th May, the locks of the Shalimar Bagh Gurdwara in Ambala were broken into and the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji along with many ‘gutakas’ (prayer books) were missing. Later they were found thrown in the bushes some distance from the Gurdwara building. The culprits were arrested by the Police and presented in court today, where they have admitted their guilt and said they did it out of greed "for the money". After the incident which caused a deep hurt to the sentiments of the Sikhs, the accused ran away until they were apprehended as they were leaving Ambala. Courtesy of Sikh Channel.

We have these on one hand, and these on the other: http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/49632-the-psychology-behind-the-reason-why-some-non-sikhs-converted-to-sikhism-and-joined-the-khalistani-movement/

source: Sikh Channel Facebook page India News: Suspect held in Ambala beadbi case. The police claim to have arrested one person in connection with the 18 May 2014 incident of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji at Shalimar Bagh Gurdwara. Deputy commissioner of police Surinder Pal Singh said the suspect has been taken into daylong police remand while 10 teams, headed by assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Hitesh Yadav, have been formed to nab another suspect who, he said, would be arrested soon. The DCP said raids were being conducted at several places in Punjab and Haryana. Meanwhile, representatives of several Sikh organisations, including Bhai Amrik Singh from Amritsar, Amarjit Singh of Damdami Taksal , SGPC member Harpal Singh Pali, Sant Singh Kandhari and others, held a meeting at Manji Sahib Gurdwara and gave an ultimatum to the administration that if the culprits were not arrested by May 28 an agitation would be launched the next day. Earlier, the community had formed an 11-member action committee to put pressure on the administration for bringing the culprits to book. They added that additional deputy commissioner Aurbind Sharma and senior police officers assured the gathering of strict action and appealed them to maintain calm. Condemning the incident, in a statement, deputy commissioner Saket Kumar said the administration was serious regarding the matter and nobody will be allowed to hurt religious sentiments of any section of society. In his complaint with the police on 18 May, Gurdwara Parbandhak committee president Manjit Singh had alleged that sewadar Gurpreet Singh had found the locks of the shrine broken and Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and ‘gutakas’ missing and were later found in the bushes some distance from the Gurdwara.

ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਵਿਚ ਸਿੰਘਾਂ ਨੇ ਪਾਰਲੀਮੈਂਟ ਦਾ ਬੂਹਾ ਭੰਨ ਛੱਡਿਆ, ਤੇ ਅਮਬਾਲੇ ਚ ਆਪਣੇ ਵੀਰ ਮੋਮਬੱਤੀ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਘੁਮਦੇ ਰਹਿ ਗਏ !

kaar vihaar perhaps? like daily chores, job, etc. i guess?

N30S1NGH, I possibly disagree with a number of things you say, but this comment of yours some 7 years ago sums it all up. http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/30096-sukh-sagar-radio-playing-vichaar-of-rss-beware/?p=282202

I guess he wasn't falling within the "acceptable" category, wasn't Punjabi speaking, wasn't born in a Sikh family, and most likely wasn't born in one of the "preferred castes" perhaps.

Which is why we are Sikhs first. Lets not forget there were Hindus, Muslims, and perhaps even Buddhists and Jains in Punjab before 1469. Lol, we can't just tell them "You guys are not Punjabis because you are not Sikhs". In fact , if you go by religion, perhaps Muslims (Pakistani Punjabi ones) are a majority of the Punjabi speaking population in the subcontinent. My point is no one has the copyright for Punjabiyat or for being called more Punjabi than someone else of another religion. So once again, we are Sikhs first, that is a choice we make (not exactly a choice but a blessing I'd say). Being an Indian or Punjabi is not something you choose to be born into. Thats again just my opinion, and I can be wrong.

My identity is not defined by or dependent on which place I was born, or which family I was born into, or what language they spoke, or what religion they followed, or what culture they were part of, or what ancestral lineage they had allegiance to, or which was their ethnic homeland. None of that was my choice. Thus my sole identity is only what I chose to be in life, i.e. Sikh. And if you think about it, even that wasn’t my choice, it was a blessing I was destined and chosen for. Thank you Guru Sahib! Mehtab Singh Jan 21, 2014