AJ111

It's fashionable to blame it all on the Indian government, but it was the Punjabi Suba and Khalistani movements that did everything possible to destroy the pan-Punjabi identity by always fighting for Sikh separatism and violently alienating and frightening the Punjabi hindus. Do you think Haryana and Himachal would want to be associated with that ?

The "Republic of Punjab" was killed.

Surely not insulting. More like mockery.

I had read figures of 75m Punjabi speakers in Pakistan and 25m in India a few years ago. Although there are efforts by the government to promote and preserve the language in Indian Punjab, there is a deliberate attempt to kill it in Pakistan.

Apparently it is not even taught in schools and has no official status. Parents who speak between themselves in Punjabi will however speak with their children in Urdu. To create a national muslim Pakistani identity they have sacrificed Punjabi in favour of Urdu. Even in the Pakistan Punjab assembly, legislators are not allowed to speak in Punjabi.

Read the comments on this blog.

http://mastmalang.wordpress.com/2006/12/24/the-punjabi-language/

Obviously I am in the wrong place ......................but I can still hope that there will be a re-conciliation one day between the hurt Sikhs and the rest of Indian society.

Upset to see the Indian flag being disrespected. It will put off a lot of otherwise sympathetic Punjabis/Indians.

Yes I have seen that article before and was quite surprised to see even Jains named.

What happened cannot be defended in anyway. It was the most shameful episode in Indian history. I wish I had the power to deliver justice to the victims and help bridge the emotional divide.