Nirvair S Khalsa

REMEMBRANCE MARCH & FREEDOM RALLY SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2009 CENTRAL LONDON, UK COMMEMORATING 25 YEARS OF THE SIKH HOLOCAUST PLEASE PROMOTE THE FOLLOWING VIDEO FOR THIS PANTHIC EVENT:

This has been added to Post 1, as well as http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showtopic=44494.

In reference to this topic, the below was released on 15th September 2008:

REMEMBRANCE MARCH & FREEDOM RALLY SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2009 CENTRAL LONDON, UK COMMEMORATING 25 YEARS OF THE SIKH HOLOCAUST PLEASE PROMOTE THE FOLLOWING VIDEO FOR THIS PANTHIC EVENT:

Parkash Singh Badal of the 'Shiromani Akali Dal' is the current Chief Minister of Panjab. BJP is the 'Bharatiya Janata Party', a Hindu nationalist party and the main opposition in India. Politics is important as well. Sikhs should be fully aware of what is happening around them politically, and especially what is happening politically in Panjab. There is nothing wrong in posting such news items in this "Fun Section | News Articles" section of the forum. It is very important and excellent they are being posted for the Sangat.

Attached is an awareness poster in regards to the above, to be distributed in the UK, and put in the Panjabi/Sikh newspapers. Sikhfederation_1_.pdf

JUNE 1984 COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUES FOR UNVEILING IN YOUR LOCAL GURDWARA (OR LIBRARY, TOWN HALL,...ETC IF YOU HAVE PERMISSION) COMMEMORATING 25 YEARS OF THE SIKH HOLOCAUST The Sikh Federation (UK) used the opportunity of the Annual International Sikh Convention on 14th September 2008 to set out many of its proposals for the preparations and events to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of June 1984. One of the proposed projects to raise awareness and be a lasting memory to Sikh Martyrs was the production and distribution of plaques to pay tribute to Sikh Martyrs from Guru Arjan Dev Ji through to the Martyrs of 1984 and over the last 25 years. It was said the plaques were in the process of being designed and would go into production later in the year. The plaques would be provided to Gurdwara's upon request and the plan was they would be officially unveiled in Gurdwara's in the first four to five months of 2009. Important dignitaries, such as the local MP, local MEP, Mayor,...etc would perform the unveiling in the presence of the local media – press, radio and TV. It was suggested that in some towns it may be possible to have the plaques put up in prominent places, e.g. town halls or libraries, where more non-Sikhs will see them. These plaques will now be ready in the next few days. The plaques have been carefully designed and worded and will primarily be for Gurdwara's. We now urge you to arrange to get your local MP, MEP, Mayor to unveil the plaque at your Gurdwara (or local library, town hall...etc if you have permission) in the coming few weeks on a date and time that is convenient for your town. Also, make sure the local press and media are present to provide a report for the local community. Please confirm if you need a plaque. The cost is very reasonable at £100, as we wanted a good quality product. This will also help with other associated activities linked to the 25th Anniversary. Those that have seen the actual plaque think many individuals may also want the plaque to put up at home. We will be getting 10 plaques a week for the next few weeks. They will be supplied on a first come first served basis. If demand increases, we will continue placing orders until demand slows. Please ring Bhai Harjinder Singh on 07845 139136 to confirm your order. We may also need to charge for postage and package if the delivery address is not convenient. Feel free to circulate this information. For further information contact: info@SikhFederation.com www.SikhFederation.com

Please forward the information in post one and the poster in post two to all contacts via email, as well as post on other forums, websites, blogs, mailing groups,...etc.

Attached is the poster for national distribution.

REMEMBRANCE MARCH & FREEDOM RALLY SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2009 CENTRAL LONDON, UK COMMEMORATING 25 YEARS OF THE SIKH HOLOCAUST ...TIME FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO STAND UP AGAINST INDIAN INJUSTICE... Programme: - Gather for rally at Hyde Park from 11:30am. - March through central London to Trafalgar Square between 1:30-2:30pm. - Rally in Trafalgar Square 2:30-4:30pm. Contact your local Gurdwara for transportation. Please promote the following video for this Panthic event: For further information contact: Bhai Amrik Singh Gill: 07860 633 488 Bhai Amrik Singh OBE: 0121 558 6600 Master Avtar Singh: 01332 770 025 Bhai Balbir Singh: 01922 692 320 Bhai Gurmej Singh Gill: 0121 420 4015 Bhai ManMohan Singh: 07832 380 123 Never Forget '84

USE YOUR VOTE ON 4 JUNE 2009 STOP THE BNP IN THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS In the 2004 European elections the BNP polled over 800,000 votes across Britain. On the 4 June the BNP will be targeting Yorkshire & the Humber, the West Midlands and the North West regions where it was only 0.4%, 0.8% and 1.3% short respectively. The general public is outraged at politicians from the main political parties in Westminster following the scandal of MPs expenses. However, the protest vote that will almost certainly result in the European elections could let the BNP in. The BNP can only be defeated by mobilising all those opposed to fascism. To this end the Sikh Federation (UK) urges Sikhs throughout Britain to cast their vote on 4 June in large numbers. If any Sikhs are to cast a protest vote it is better if candidates of the Green Party are supported, which is the only major political party that has passed a specific motion in support of the Sikhs right to self determination. Sikhs should also vote for candidates from the main political parties if they guarantee to be a voice in support of the following five-point EU agenda for Sikhs. 1) Allowing practising Sikhs to carry the Kirpan into the European Parliament. 2) Protesting against the French or other governments for introducing laws or practices discriminating against the Sikh identity. 3) Supporting an exhibition on Sikhs in EU institutions and other awareness raising events. 4) Linking EU trade with India to India's human rights record. 5) Preventing those involved in torture and genocide in India from travelling to or entering EU countries. SIKH FEDERATION (UK) "Never flinch from performing righteous deeds" info@SikhFederation.com www.SikhFederation.com

Dhaas agrees with most of the posts above. Dhaas see's nothing wrong or against Sikh principles in the photograph.

That is true, Malwa historically has always been an Akali stronghold region anyway, they have just regained their support there. Congress campaigned everywhere in Panjab, and although Akali Dal did as well, they did consume a lot of their energy in Bathinda gaining support for Harsimrat Kaur.

Looks like the Badal family has won the big battle in Bathinda. They have been defeated overall in Panjab. Congress has won the India General Election, and will lead the UPA to form the next Indian government, possibly a majority. Manmohan Singh is set to become the first Prime Minister after Nehru to be returned to power after completing a full term in office.

UK school to foot £200,000 bill London, April 19 A British school has been asked to pay a £200,000 legal bill, including damages to a Sikh student, in a racial discrimination case over banning her from wearing a religious bangle. The high court has ordered the Aberdare Girls' School in Wales to pay the student damages believed to be at least five figures, leading British newspaper The Sunday Express reported. The legal bill also includes an invoice from human rights group Liberty, who actually brought the case on behalf of 15-year-old Sarika Watkins-Singh. The incident dates back to early last year when Singh was excluded from school for her refusal to stop wearing the bangle, which she claimed was fundamental to her religious belief. Though the school denied any racial discrimination, Singh spent nine weeks being taught in isolation as the bangle was against its uniform policy. She won the case last June, in which her exclusion was ruled to be “unlawful”. Critics have slammed the massive cost of the case as “a waste of taxpayers’ money” and claimed pupils will “suffer” as a result. — PTI http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090420/world.htm#4

Perhaps this topic full of false allegations should be closed.

This is an excellent endeavour which without doubt will be a success in all ways and highly beneficial for the Khalsa Panth. All Sikhs should support and take part.

As stated before in this topic, in addition to the Remembrance March and Freedom Rally, there are many professional level events being proposed and designed to take place throughout 2009 for the 25th Anniversary of the 1984 June massacre and November pogroms. All like-minded Sikhs and organisations with Panthic views and concerns should support morally, financially, as well as work together to make these Panthic events a success.

Golden Temple to have 100 CCTV cameras Varinder Walia Tribune News Service Amritsar , February 7 The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee will install more than 100 CCTV cameras for more security in the Golden Temple and Akal Takht complex. After a meeting with senior officials of the Delhi -based Consultancy Company, here today, SGPC chief Avtar Singh said all sensitive points would be covered with the CCTV cameras. Later, other historical gurdwaras would also have security cameras. Closed-circuit cameras will help keep round the clock check on all sensitive locations of Sikh historical places. A decision to this effect was already taken at an executive body meeting of the SGPC chaired by chief Avtar Singh. Earlier, the proposal was mooted when Bibi Jagir Kaur was headed the SGPC. The SGPC president said closed -circuit cameras would be installed by the end of April this year. SGPC sources said the decision on CCTV camera was taken following attacks on religious places in South Asia. Cases of picking of pockets, garment thefts in the complex and reports of children missing prompted the SGPC to act on the proposal. The SGPC will also bring accounts of all the historical gurdwaras online. The accounts could be accessed by any devotee, said SGPC .This is for transparency in the working of Shiromani Committee. History and accounts of important gurdwaras- 62, managed by the SGPC, would also be available online . Boards describing history would also be put up outside these gurdwaras. The SGPC president said mobile jammers would also be installed at various locations of the SGPC to prevent cell users to disturb serenity of Sikh shrines.

No queries on Anandpur pact please: Badal Varinder Walia Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 2 A virtually embarrassed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged mediapersons not to ask him any question on the Anandpur Sahib resolution even as Balbir Punj, national general secretary of the BJP and in charge Punjab affairs, said his party stand on the pact remained unchanged. While the BJP has already taken a firm stand that the resolution can't be on the alliance programme for the polls, the Congress has dubbed it "anti-national". Immediately after being sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal had announced that the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, passed by the SAD in 1973, would be part of the alliance manifesto. The Chief Minister seemed upset when a mediaperson sought his comments on the resolution at Jandiala Guru where he had gone to address an election rally. "Don't ask me such questions. The media should play a positive role instead," Badal said. Both Punj and Badal had come here in connection with the inauguration of Rs 82-crore Solid Waste Management Project, the brainchild of BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Anandpur Sahib pact row needless, says Badal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 1 Referring to the controversy over the Anandpur Sahib Resolution as needless, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has always stood for the unity and integrity of the country and will continue to remain in the forefront to defend it. "The SAD has always taken pride in being a party of great patriots and has made unparalleled sacrifices both for the independence of the country and for its defence since 1947. Any attempt to create misunderstandings about our true position on a strong and united India is the result of lack of understanding or of vested political motives," the Chief Minister said in a statement issued here yesterday. Referring to what he described as "needless controversy" about the resolution in some newspaper reports, Badal said the SAD had only demanded more fiscal powers for the states to make them financially strong. He said the SAD's demand for more financial and administrative powers for the states had been fully endorsed by all national and regional parties. It had also been vindicated by various commissions set up by the government of India for the decentralisation of fiscal powers and for recasting a formula for the devolution of funds. The Chief Minister categorically stated, "Let no one try to create any confusion on the subject. The SAD always was, is and will remain the sword arm of the country and the party has stood for a strong India capable of assuming its role as a leader in the international comity of nations. Efforts by some vested interests to create confusion about the demand for more fiscal powers would not be allowed to succeed," he said. Sukhbir prefers to keep mum Amarjit Thind Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 1 Unlike his diplomatic and serene father, who makes it a point to seem to reply to even unsavoury queries, Badal Jr is a bit "lordly" when faced with unpleasant questions from mediapersons. This was evident here yesterday when the SAD chief in the new role of Deputy Chief Minister paid his maiden visit to the city. So much so that he had to be cajoled by a section of the media to sit through the press conference with the promise that questions on the Anandpur Sahib resolution would not be posed again. This was done after he immediately got up on hearing the very first question on the resolution. "I have come to your city first time after becoming Deputy Chief Minister and you are asking me such questions," he objected before getting up to leave the venue. Only after when mediapersons assured him that they would not ask any further question on the resolution, Sukhbir agreed to sit back to reply on other issues. In fact, journalists were taken aback at his refusal to entertain queries on this crucial subject that is being touted as one of the main poll planks of the Akalis. They were expecting that the SAD chief would spell out the nuances of the matter and clear the issue once and for all. This at a time after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal stated last week that he would make the NDA understand the importance of the resolution for Punjab. "You see, as per the demand of the resolution, states should be given more financial powers, which is even advocated by the other states also. What is the harm in it, as every state has a right to get its due from the Centre", he added. Asked about his comments on other issues in the resolution, which was vehemently objected to by the BJP and even its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani in his book "My Country My Life" as a separatist activity, Sukhbir preferred to remain quiet. CM trying to shift focus from Sukhbir: Cong Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Sangat (Bathinda), February 1 Though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has now been terming the row over the Anandpur Sahib Resolution a needless controversy, the Congress is in no mood to let the controversy die down. Taking cue from the issue, Raninder Singh, general secretary of the PPCC and son of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, said: "It is just the opportunism policy of the SAD, as whenever the Badal family takes any contentious step, Badal try to divert the attention of people raising some Panthic agenda. Now, the demand for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution is also a trick to suppress the controversy over the elevation of his son as Deputy Chief Minister". Raninder, who claims himself to be in the race for Congress ticket from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, was here today to address a public meeting as part of his poll campaign. "After losing a number of leaders, including a Chief Minister, the people of Punjab now want to live in peace but the Badals are again trying to create havoc in the state," he added. At last Raninder accused the SAD leaders, particularly Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir, of having no agenda but groping in the dark to find issues against the Congress. Later, addressing a public gathering, Makhan Singh and Ajaib Singh Bhatti, MLAs, claimed Raninder to be the best of choice to give defeat the SAD in the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat. Badal, son fuelling communal divide: CPM Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 1 The CPM, Punjab unit, today alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal were fuelling communal divide in the state to hide failures of the government. CPM acting state secretary Charan Singh Virdi said here his party viewed the Anandpur Sahib resolution gave communal colour to secular demand for more powers to the states and provided fertile ground for secessionism. Virdi said real issue should not be to get the resolution included in the common minimum programme of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), but demand more powers to the states through people's struggle. The CPM leader said the party felt the Chief Minister owed an explanation to people of Punjab why an issue put on the back burner for many years, now had been brought out into public again. He said the state CPM felt the Centre should transfer Chandigarh to Punjab, settle the territorial claims and ensure just distribution of river waters as per the Rajiv-Longowal accord.

Congress posers to Badal on Anandpur Sahib Resolution Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 31 The Congress has asked some probing questions to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with regard to the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which is back in the political limelight in the state. Badal, who is SAD's chief patron, had stated recently that he would ask the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to make the resolution a part of its common minimum programme (CMP) during the Lok Sabha elections. However, the BJP, a senior political ally of the SAD, has strongly opposed Badal on the issue. Drawing his attention towards some of the clauses of the resolution, Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira has asked whether Badal and his family will surrender hundreds of acres of excess land owned by them. Khaira said one of the clause of the resolution says that "in order to remove the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the existing legislation on land ceiling would have to be revised and ceiling of 30 standard acres per family would have to be enforced with property rights to the actual tiller. The excess land would be distributed among landless tenants and poor farmers". Khaira said charity should begin at home and Badal should first donate excess land running into hundreds of acres held by him to poor and landless people. "Would you do it as a part of implementing one of the clauses of the resolution?" One of the political goals mentioned in the resolution is to ban the sale of liquor and other intoxicants and to press for prohibition on the consumption of intoxicants and smoking in public places. "Have you ever tried to implement this clause of the resolution despite being the Chief Minister four times?" Khaira has asked Badal. Referring to the clause related to the nationalisation of industry in the resolution, Khaira has asked Badal whether he was prepared to hand over his family-owned Hotel Orbit Resorts worth Rs 1,000 crore at Gurgaon to the government and also the fleet of 100 buses being operated by the family in the state. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution, for the implementation of which the SAD had launched an agitation in 1980, urged the Union government to bring each unit beyond Rs 1 crore under the public sector and also advocated the progressive nationalisation of the transport. "In case you fail to implement these few clauses of the resolution, you will have no moral right to speak on such vital issues," Khaira has told Badal, seeking a clarification from him in this regard. Khaira said Badal should answer as to what had stopped him in getting the Anandpur Sahib Resolution implemented in 1997-2002 when he was the Chief Minister of Punjab and the BJP government, supported by him, was in power at the Centre.

Until anything is actually done about implementing the Anandpur Sahib Resolution besides mentioning it in a speech or press conference, that too before elections, the majority of Sikhs will see it merely as a political stunt. Such issues are often brought up at various times in the past as well by the ruling political parties or during elections in order to gain support and votes of certain communities who they want to target. The situation in Panjab (perhaps in most politics) is such that action and effect is required for any proclamation to be taken seriously.

State to benefit: Sukhbir Tribune News Service Bathinda, January 30 Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said today that there was nothing anti-national in the Anandpur Sahib resolution. Sukhbir, who was interacting with media persons during his first visit here after being inducted in the cabinet, said the resolution was for the benefit of the state and even remotely it did not seek to fan separatism. He said more leaders in other parts of the country had joined Punjab in seeking more financial powers for the states and the issue would gradually take the shape of a movement. He accused the UPA government of discriminating the opposition-ruled states as a result of which the demand for more financial powers to the states had gained strength. Punjab was contributing about 65 per cent foodgrain to the country's food basket, but the price fixed for procurement was a pittance and the peasantry was suffering losses. No steps have been taken by the Centre to revive industry and pull the farmers out of debt. The reduction of Rs 5 and Rs 2 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel, respectively, was meagre in view of a steep decline in the prices of crude oil at the international level.