SevadaarEKhalsa

Yes. Why? Read this link and you'll get your answers: http://www.searchsikhism.com/khalistan.html

Again Guru Gobind Singh said: 'Koi Kissi Ko Raj Na Deh Hain, Jo Leh Hain, So Nij Bal Se Leh Hain' (Nobody gives one a kingdom, you have to take it with your own strength). Those areas are historically linked to Sikhs. BTW, we can't claim from West Punjab from Pakistan since that was decided in 1947, we can only ask OUR share with which we went into India. If we are 'fighting' against a country for freedom, you don't expect us to cheer for their games. Its as if a (German) Jew was cheering for a match by Nazi Germany.

Please note that Khalistan won't be achieved till we have these type of Sikhs (the one you mentioned). It will be when there are Sikhs with uchey-suchey jeevan and high thinking. Then these matters won't be important. India didn't have a constitution up till 1952, while it was independant from 1947 onwards. On a side note, Panj Pyare could be given power, but that is another discussion. Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and parts of Uttarakhand/Rajasthan/Gujrat. We were offered our lands by the British, but corrupt politicians sided with India. So our opponent shifted from the British to the current corrupt state of India. We don't paint all Indians with the same brush, we just want to be seperated after all what happened to us 1947 onwards. Maybe you don't know, but Amritsar Sahib was not only attacked in 1984, but also in 1955 (where one praying Sikh was killed), 1986 (Operation Black Thunder) and 1988 (Operation Black Thunder II). There is a huge difference between a few racist attacks and massacres of 250,000 people, burning of hundreds of Gurdwaras, rapes of our sisters/mothers. You can't compare both situations. I. Guru Gobind Singh sent Banda Singh Bahadur to Punjab along with 5 Singhs and 5 Arrows to punish Wazir Khan, other Dushts and establish Khalsa Raj. II. Guru Gobind Singh said 'Raj Karega Khalsa' and 'Raj Bina Na Dharam Chaley Hain, Dharam Bina Sab Dalley Malley Hain'. III. Satguru can't be limited to any piece of land, 'ghat ghat main har ju basey, santan kaho pukaar' (Salok Mahalla 9)

Mahan Singh, I know of a few incidents in Himachal in the last years, but not last few days. Could you link them please for awareness amongst Sangat. Thanks.

In my opinion, Ajitnagar is a little bit offensive. In informat situations we do call Singhs by half names, but actually older Rehatnamas say that we shouldn't call a Singh by half their name. Putting this half name for the city would be kind of inappropiate. They could use the abbreviations, maybe ? SAS Nagar.

Not Nagalanders brother, but Nagas. Some others: Gorkhas Sindhis Baluchis Kurdis Abhkazians Inner Mongolians Tibetis

Only Nation without country? No. There are Kashmiris, Bodos, Gorkhas, Tamils, Sindhis, Baluchis, Kurds, etc who have no country. Only major religion (out of 5 largest) without a country? Yes. Christians, Muslims (50+), Hindus (2), Buddhists all got their countries. Even Jews with smaller number than us have got their own country.

About 250 Jujharus and 1600+ innocents were amongst the martyred in Operation Blue Star. You can easily find the names of the fighters (a book with each ones picture was released a few years back), but you won't really find much about the innocents killed. Nor will you find the names of the ones murdered in Delhi, Indore, Kanpur and many other cities during the November 1984 massacres. Just on a note Avtar veer, please do not call it '1984 (anti) sikh riots' but 1984 Sikh Massacre or genocide. A riot is when people from two sides harm each other, but here, ONLY Sikhs were systematically singled out and killed by mobs supported by politicians.

Samurai Sikhs The story of Sikligars of Maharashtra caught in a centuries-old time warp. Moiz Mannan Haque NAGPUR: Khadak Singh Joone has lost count of the years he has lived. “I'm a hundred and ten,” he says, more by way of a question, as he peers through thick glasses which haven't been wiped for probably that long. He caresses a country-made muzzle-loader gun as if it were his only child and takes pride in whipping out his firearms licence issued by the Government of Bombay under a GR of September 17, 1895. He's acquired the surname ‘Joone’ not because he's so old but because he was the first one in a settlement of more than 400 in the tiny highway village of Talegaon, about 90 km from Nagpur. Khadak Singh is a Sikh. He swears by the Gurus and the Granth Sahib. He adorns the kesh, kangha, kirpan, kachha and kada. But the similarity with the popular image of a ‘Sardarji’ ends there. He does not know a word of Punjabi nor can he read the Gurmukhi. He's dark-skinned and he's very, very poor. He's a Sikligar. This tribe, with its roots in Rajasthan, lives in scattered pockets in central and eastern Maharashtra. As Sikhs all over the world celebrated 300 years of the Khalsa, for Khadak Singh and his tribesmen, this Baisakhi was no different from any other. They sat hunched over their anvils in ramshackle huts, bathed in sweat, hammering away to turn strips of iron into swords, daggers, guptis and kitchen implements. It's been like this for centuries. Recollections are hazy now and history survives only in word of mouth. It is believed that their ancestors were brought over from Rajasthan by the Sikh Gurus because they were exceptionally skilled in making swords and spearheads. When Gurudwara Hajoor Sahib was established at Nanded, several hundred families of Sikligars were brought in. Nanded then formed a part of the estate of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Perhaps it was the threat from the Muslim Nizam which prompted the Sikh Gurus to enlist the services of the sword craftsmen here as well. As time passed and their numbers grew, the Sikligars had to strike out on their own. “Our ancestors would buy iron strips in Hyderabad, turn them into swords and daggers and sell in the villages around Nanded,” recalls 80-year-old Maya Singh Bawri. The Sikligars fled Nanded during the communal riots in 1947-48. Interestingly, Maya Singh refers to the Independence as ‘Gandhi Raj.’ Small groups of Sikligars made their way eastward. In their struggle for existence, they had obtained firearm licences from the British and later the Indian government. Local farmers would hire them to protect their fields. “We may be very poor but the one thing we've been able to uphold always is our honesty. That's why wealthy agriculturists would entrust us with protection of their property,” says Maya Singh. By the late '50s and early '60s, some families had settled on the outskirts of Amravati in Vidarbha. Khadak Singh recalls that he first came to Talegaon, which lies on the Mumbai-Calcutta National Highway No 6, when offered a contract by some big landowners of Arvi. Arvi, now in Wardha district, was a prosperous township. It is off the national highway about 15 km from Talegaon. The entire area was once covered by thick forests and the farmers were plagued by herds of wild boar and deer which ruined their crops. Khadak Singh, Maya Singh and a few other families migrated to Talegaon one after another. The yearly contracts were worth anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 which was good money in those days. Also, being on the highway and within striking distance of two major towns, Nagpur and Amravati, the tribesmen had easy access to raw material to make their swords and daggers. Even now some youths from the settlement are hired by local farmers to guard their fields. But, with forests being chopped down and wildlife shrinking they cannot depend on this as a source of livelihood. For their livelihood, they still depend on what they've been doing for centuries -- selling swords, daggers and guptis. Youngsters between eight and 15, who are not yet strong enough to beat the ironstrips into shape all day, sell their wares on the highway and at the bus stand. They've fallen into the bad books of local policemen. “Each one of us has four or five cases against his name,” says 26-year-old Leader Singh Bawri. The Sikligars admit that the cops are only doing their job and bear them no grudge. “They do their job and we ours,” adds Bharat Singh Tak. Bharat Singh holds a bachelor's degree in science but can't find a job. “We come under Nomadic Tribes but are numerically and politically too weak to derive any benefits,” he said. According to him, the average household income in the settlement is not more than Rs 8,000 a year. Of the 52 huts, only 12 are on regularised land. The rest is encroachment, the Sikligars readily admit. “Whenever there is a good crop of tur dal in the fields, we're happier than the farmers,” said Manohar Singh Tak. The tribesmen use dried tur stalks to make walls and roofs of their huts. Isolation and poverty have made them wary of strangers. Once inside the settlement, an outsider gets the feeling of having travelled back in time -by a few centuries. Courtesy: Indian Express 21 January 2009

First of all, I am happy that Sikhs have started giving some importance to numbers. Quality over quantity any day, yes. But with quantity we could get benefits for the quality Sikhs. By numbers we could get subsidies from several governments in the west, which could be used for Parchaar and betternment of Sikhi. More people would know about us and there would be less ignorance about Sikhi in the world. If you have between 2 and 5 children, it is all good. But this is only of use if you can assure them a good worldly and Sikhi education (meaning that you need to be financially stable). But if we want to increase our numbers tremendously, why not think of this : Guru Nanak Sahib did 4 Udasis, where each time they visited a specific region and preached the Truth (Sikhi) there. This way the Sri Lankan King, Shiv Nabh, embraced Sikhi and appointed missionaries to spread Guru Nanak Sahibs message far and wide in his Kingdom. Many other Sikh communities were established all over Asia (Uzbekistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, ...) After Guru Nanak Sahib, the community of Punjab (mostly in Majha region) lost contact with these Sikhs outside the Indian sub-continent. Most of these (if not all) reverted back to their previous beliefs in the course of time. 1. Several tribes became Sikhs of Guru Nanak Sahib in India. They live outside Punjab so had little or no contact with Sikhi afterwards. Some of them do have Guru Granth Sahib, but most of them don't have the Sikh appearence (no turban and beard). Some of these tribes include Vanjaras, Lobanas, Satnamis (mostly became Sikh under time of Guru Tegh Bahadur), etc. 2. Several tribes became Sikh after Guru Nanak Sahib, such as the Sikligars (originally from Rajasthan) who made weapons for 6th Guru, Guru Hargobind Sahib and lateron became Sikhs. These Sikhs do have beards and turbans, mostly due to the fact that their ancestors passed one saying 'baal nahi katane, chahe jaan chali jaye' (do not cut your hair, even if your life is at risk). So basically even they have no knowledge of Gurmat, Sikh itihas, Gurbani, … Both sort of tribes (1 & 2) live in utterly bad conditions. Most of them survive with less than 1$ a day. Many of them are forced to sell toys, hand made knives, etc on streets, even this has became difficult after Chinese made cheap stuff is preferred by the clients. They have no acces to clean drinking water, education, etc. Some of them have cut there hair, and many have been converted to other religions, especially Christianity. From my research these tribes number anywhere between 5 and 15 million. Why are these people not in the census ? Well Census India counts them under 'Tribals' section or even 'Hindu' section. Same way Pakistan has about 30,000 Sikhs. Sikhs in Northern Pakistan are well off due to business but are constantly threatened by Taliban and have to pay a monthly tax of 1100 rupees per person. Situation in West Punjab and Sindh/Baluchistan provinces is bad. Most of the Sikhs are poor. Many of them were 'lower caste' ex-Hindus who embraced Sikhi in the 1970s. The 'higher caste' better off Sikhs in these provinces don't help these Sikhs. One of these tribe includes the Baagri tribe who live in Northern Sindh especially. Total number of these Sikhs is anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000. Besides that many Christians and Hindus have been embracing Sikhi, we need to do more parchaar there (in Pakistan). Many lower caste Hindus would easily embrace Sikhi if they get to know about Gurmat and Sikh history. What do you all say ? Do we need to help these Sikhs or not ? We, Sevadaar e Khalsa, thought that we need to help these poor Sikh brothers and sisters. As of now, our first mission is in Pakistan. After solving the issues of Pakistani Sangat we shall focus our shift on the poor Sikh tribes of India. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh