proactive

The fact is that Hari Singh Nalwa's military exploits divided the Pathan people between those who are now in Pakistan and those in Afghanistan. Prior to the Sikhs, the Afghan ruled Kashmir, Derajat and parts of Sindh. Taking Kashmir and Derajat off the Afghans may have hurt their self esteem but it did not affect then mentally as the loss of Peshawar did. For the first time in history the Muslim Pathans were being ruled by a non-Muslim people. Prior to the Soviet invasion in 1979, the Afghan government used to claim the Peshawar area as a part of Afghanistan.

The same video's been posted on here many times. I think rather than just posting this video, I suggest you get off you backside and go to Punjab and do something about it.

If they do give you a chance to make your point on the show the best point I can think of is that 'The controversy isn't that mixed couples aren't being allowed to have a Sikh marriage ceremony at a Gurdwara, the controversy is that a small number of Gurdwaras in the UK are going against the edict of the highest Sikh religious authority and performing a Sikh marriage ceremony, which involves making solemn vows to follow the Guru, for those who have no intention of following the Guru. We need to understand that the opposition is not to mixed marriages, but to mixed marriages in a Gurdwara, just as no synagogue would allow a non-Jew to have a Jewish marriage ceremony and no Mosque would allow a Muslim female to marry a non-Muslim male, then a Gurdwara should not be allowing mixed marriages'

Stop muddying the water. This is the exact excuse those 'Sikhs' marrying non-Sikhs will use to get their 'right' to have a Sikh wedding. Let's concentrate on one thing at a time, stop the Anand Karaj of non-Sikhs first and then when you have made sure that every Gurdwara in the UK is implementing the Akal Takht Hukumnama and then proceed onto the next stage. By bringing up the issue of non practising Sikhs having an Anand Karaj at this stage then you are just playing into the hands of those mixed marriage hypocrites,

I agree with you. We have an excess of people wanting to do sewa in the langar hall so maybe some of them could be told to stand outside the Gurdwara in hourly shifts to prevent anti-social elements entering. Signs in English outside the Gurdwara entrance are a good idea as people are more likely to see the signs at the entrance rather than those posted on a noticeboard inside. In the larger Gurdwaras maybe a sewadar could be available inside who can be contacted by any non-Sikh who wants to come to the Gurdwara and the protocol inside the Gurdwara can be explained to them. Although it might look like some non-Sikhs attend the Gurdwara just to get a free meal we should be aware that people like Peter Lowe who found the Gurdwara a sanctuary in his time of need will always have a positive attitude towards Sikhs and our religion. If we can handle the anti-social elements, then the current economic climate is a great opportunity for us to truly realise what a Gurdwara is all about.

If anything the Sufis are a corruption of Islam and the likes of Aurangzeb were true Muslims who followed the Sharia to the letter. Having Islamic names for God does not mean that the Guru Granth Sahib endorses Islam, read the Awaal Allah Noor Upaiya shabad which many Muslims like Nusrat Ali Khan used to sing because they thought it endorses their belief in Allah. In fact that shabad by Bhagat Kabirji negates the Allah of the Quran by describing all beings as being equal and thatr Allah exists in his creation, which is against the teachings of the Quran.

The EDL per se isn't racist, it's leader has given interviews in which he has condemned political Islam and has said that it is a danger to all non-Muslims. Because it is a loose organisation, it is easily infiltrated by die hard racists and the liberal media like the BBC then use this as a stick to beat the whole of the EDL with. I understand what the EDL stands for and in a way it is just goray who care enough about their community to do something about the menace of Islam. Just like the Shere Punjab in the 1980s, these goray aren't the most articulate from amongst the White community but when the most articulate amongst the White community are too scared to even mention Muslim Paedo gangs and refer to them as 'Asian' then there is no hope of an articulate, educated section of the White community rising up and forming an organisation that can take Islam on in the UK. The unfortunate thing is that in Europe, in places like Holland with Geert Wilders, politicians who are both educated and articulate are getting more and more votes but the closest that the UK has come to something like these political parties is UKIP which recently came second in the Eastleigh byelection. Although the party is more anti-Europe than anti-Islam, it did invite Geert Wilders to the house of Lords for the screening of his film in 2009. Rather than joining the EDL, we should have our own organisation that can mobilise the youth and protect our community from the menace of Islam.

If anything the NRIs especially from the UK are selling off land rather than buying it. I know of four families who have sold off all of their and rather than keeping the money in India, have bought it to the UK. The NRI problem if there is one is mainly from those who have recently migrated via family reunions to the USA and Canada. They have given out their lands on maamla and they demand top rates even though it could be uneconomic for the farmers taking the land on maamla. Recently I have seen more and more small farmers just farm their own land and not take any extra land on maamla which in essence just means farming land which would otherwise be left fallow and lining the pockets of the NRI owners whilst breaking their own backs for very little benefit. If this happens on a larger scale then land prices in the villages will start to go down and more and more land will be left fallow. Maamla in Ludhiana district is over 35,000 rupees per acre which if you count the cost of the inputs such as fertiliser, labour etc is clearly uneconomic. The small farmer are being shafted from all sides. The local labour doesn't want to work on the fields as they can work in the towns or their sons and daughters are getting into high paid govt jobs. The Bhaiyas demand high wages plus food and accommodation. The farmer have to even buy the sharab and doday as well. The local labour during the old days would work for a share of the produce but not now, yet even though they do not work for the farmers their women will still steal crops during the night from the fields. As I said the small farmer is shafted from all sides in Punjab.

The only opportunity that I can see here will for the first few farmers who go there and buy up land really cheap and make it productive and then sell out at a big profit. The others who will follow them will buy the land at a higher price and will be less able to sell when the land reaches it's full productive capacity. When this happens the ones left holding onto the land will either have to make their lives there or come back and lose whatever paper profit they sat on. It's a bit like a pyramid scheme, the first few rungs make all the money and the bottom rungs make some until the flow of new members dries up and then the bottom rungs lose all their money.

Ramandeep Singh Palhan bought 30 hectares of Georgian farmland on the cheap [Felix Gaedtke/Al Jazeera] Samgori, Georgia - Larisa Maisuradze was astonished to see the sudden proliferation of foreigners driving farm machinery near her sleepy village, about 25 kilometres south of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Her home is sandwiched between the lone street that runs through the small village of Samgori on one side, and a vast tract of underutilised farmland on the other. "I didn't know what was going on, I was so surprised," Maisuradze recounted on a recent afternoon. "There were all these Indian farmers driving tractors here." Maisuradze said the unusual scene from that day months ago are etched in her memory, as she never imagined she'd have so many neighbours from a land so far away. The Indians Maisuradze witnessed that day were the first wave of many who have come to Georgia to farm land in the Caucasus region in recent months. "I give them water and in return they always bring me some vegetables from the farm ... They are nice people, very hardworking and calm." - Larisa Maisuradze, Georgian citizen The government is seeking to bolster domestic agricultural production to help Georgia become more food self-sufficient. Most Georgians farm small plots of land for sustenance only, not enough for commercial production. Agricultural production has plummeted from 12.8 percent of the country's GDP in 2006 to just 8.3 percent at present. Georgia has stepped up the immigration of people with agricultural know-how and farmland sales to foreigners, as the country's abundant and agriculturally potent conditions have not been properly utilised by local farmers. Many Georgians, however, view the influx of foreign farmers as an "invasion". Estimates suggest thousands of Indian farmers - mostly from the northern state of Punjab - have immigrated since 2012. Maisuradze admits it was difficult to develop relationships with the new arrivals, but it didn't take her long to realise they were "nice people". "There's no drinking water in the fields, so they always come here to drink water. I give them water and in return they always bring me some vegetables from the farm - tomatoes or potatoes or something else. They are nice people, very hardworking and calm," said Maisuradze. Harvesting opportunity Ramandeep Singh Palhan, a Sikh farmer from Punjab, owns nearly 30 hectares (74 acres) of farmland that stretches beyond Maisuradze's home. One of the reasons Palhan chose Georgia is because land here is so inexpensive. "I can buy a hectare of land for US$1,000-$1,500. I can't imagine finding something that cheap in Punjab," the bearded farmer said. "You can't compare the prices. I sold one hectare of my land in Punjab and with that money I could buy 200 hectares [495 acres] of land in Georgia." Palhan grows wheat, potatoes, garlic, onion and a variety of other crops. The 42-year-old recently walked through a fresh morning mist that hung over his fields, and bent down to grab a handful of dirt. "Feel the texture of the soil, it's great. It's very suitable for the crops we'd like to grow. It's not very different from the soil we have back home," he said. Stroking his turban he added jokingly: "I am a true Punjabi at heart. We have this inherent hunger for buying more and more land. There's not one Punjabi who is satisfied with the land he owns." Though he is trying to adapt to Georgian life, Palhan faces some hurdles. The culture and language are "different", and the food is "not spicy". Agriculture Minister David Kirvalidze [Felix Gaedtke/Al Jazeera] "Of course, I miss my family and my friends but most of allmakki di roti aur sarso da saag [corn bread and mustard spiced curry]," he said longingly. Palhan found out about agricultural investment opportunities in Georgia through a newspaper advertisement by an immigration agency. Posters welcoming immigrants to Georgia are stuck on the walls of Crown Immigration Consultancy Services office on the top floor of a shopping mall in a Tbilisi suburb. The agency has facilitated the migration of about 2,000 farmers since last year, according to Dharamjit Singh Saini, executive director of the firm, who also hails from Punjab. Punjabi farmers find Georgia attractive because of the lack of red tape, said Saini. "Everything is transparent … and there's no corruption here - unlike India. If all goes well, there will be more [indians] to come." The agency is also planning to open a Georgian-Russian-language school in Jalandhar in Punjab state to prepare farmers before they head to their new home. Unhappy Georgians Not everyone is content with recent developments. Georgian farmers with small and medium-sized farms complain while the government facilitates foreign investment in agriculture, it doesn't encourage local farmers. Raul Babunashvili is the founder of the Georgian Farmers' Union. On a weekday the union's office in Tbilisi is buzzing with activity. Sacks of seed are brought in to the storage hall, and farming equipment is briskly bought and sold. Babunashvili, 71, sits in a quiet office far from all the distraction. "In the past, the government neglected agriculture. It wasn't a priority for them. That made the farmers so broke that they have no choice but to sell their lands at a pittance to foreigners - and here let me specifically mention the Indian farmers." The union founder admitted the inadequacies of local agriculturalists, but said the government should focus on Georgians instead of foreigners to boost food production. "Georgian farmers lack the know-how and skills. We don't have the resources to invest in building infrastructure. That's why Georgian farmers are lagging behind, while Indians come and literally grab their land for the cheapest prices." Babunashvili said he doesn't have any statistics on how much land Indian farmers own in Georgia, but he wants immediate government action to halt foreigners from buying up prime agricultural areas. "We must stop this invasion of land-buyers from India. I call it invasion because they are coming in massive numbers," said Babunashvili. Paying heed to 'black sheep' In an interview, Agriculture Minister David Kirvalidze was asked whether the government was ignoring the needs of Georgian farmers. Kirvalidze said they were not made a priority by past governments, but added his administration was paying attention to the "black sheep in the family" - Georgia's agriculture sector - after it came to power in October 2012. "We are trying to bring the rural Georgian population back to life, back to business. We are making huge investments, you will see the results in the coming months. I ask you to return after seven-eight months," Kirvalidze said. The government under Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has increased funding for agriculture by more than 60 percent from the previous budget, he noted. And a fund worth about US$600m was also created in January to provide credit for small farmers. "We are trying to bring the rural Georgian population back to life, back to business. We are making huge investments, you will see the results in the coming months." - David Kirvalidze, agriculture minister Georgia imports 80 percent of its packaged food products, a problem that negatively affects the economy. "It's nonsense, real nonsense," Kirvalidze said. "Georgian farmers have very good natural resources: soil, water and climate." Although Kirvalidze stressed improving conditions for Georgian farmers, he doesn't shun foreigners. "Any kind of investment, foreign, local or domestic - we welcome all. Every single investor who is looking to build up long-term relationships with us is welcome," he said. Ranjot Singh - who owns 150 hectares of farmland land in Georgia - saw yet another business opportunity with the wave of Punjabi immigrants. "We are running an inexpensive hotel and canteen for the new arrivals. When they arrive, they can come here and feel at home. They can speak Punjabi and eat Punjabi food and get to know other Punjabis in Tbilisi," Singh said. But for Singh, Georgia doesn't feel like home. "Georgians are very nice people. But we are very different from them. The culture is different, even the religion is different. But there's a business opportunity here." http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/02/201322081918452141.html

Beware of people using this forum to try and sabotage any attempt to create Schools, Media and other resources for our community. Unfortunately there are small minded people who think that unless a school or satellite channel adhere to their views 100% then they need to spread scare stories and sabotage it. I couldn't care less if a school is AKJ, Singh Sabha or Nanaksar orientated. It is a Sikh resource at the end of the days and open to Sikhs as well as non-Sikhs creating an awareness of Sikhism and allowing Sikh and non-Sikh children to to be educated in a Sikh atmosphere. A word of advice to serious gupt, why don't you get off your backside and start a Sikh school where you version of Sikhi is taught?

Cameron is a class A <banned word filter activated>! He is sucking up to the Indians thinking they are some kind of world power with a powerhouse economy when the fact is that the Indian economy is based on a huge bubble which when it bursts will make the whole country poorer and begging for charity from abroad.

Does anyone else see the irony of the Budha Dal buying registration numbers AK 0047 and AK 0056! That's the only AK 47 and AK 56 they will ever own!!

Beware of this channel. It might have Kirtan but the rest of the programming is bollywood bukwas. I hope people don't start turning to this channel and start to forget to watch the Panthic channels. Maybe this is the idea, start to get Sikhs viewing this channel and then take aware the power of the Panthic channels. The other agenda could be to get used to this channel and then when you have captured the audience then start to charge for viewing it.

Why would these 'brahmgyanis' want to stop an existing Gurudom when their whole intention is to start their own one? The reason you don't see these people taking an active stance against the Kukas, Radhaswamis or other fake cults is that they know that once these cults are eliminated or the whole Panth becomes aware of how they operate, then the Panth will also become aware of how these 'brahmgyanis' are also operating in a similar fashion. The amusing thing is how the chelas of these 'brahmgyanis' rationalise their hypocrisy by blabbing on about unity in diversity, common ground and other similar bukwas. Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa and gave it authority to even give tankhah to the Guru if he did anything against the rehat, these 'brahmgyanis' are turning the same Khalsa into sheep who cannot even understand when the 'brahmgyanis' are taking them for a ride!

The numbers for Sikligars and Vanjaras are highly inflated. For Sikligars, I would be surprised if there are more than 300,000 let alone 40 Million as claimed in the article. Vanjaras are probably 4 Million and Satnamis about the same number. Vanjaras and Satnams are not Sikhs but they do display many rituals which point to a relationship with Sikhism in the past. Some have converted to Sikhism in the last decade. Sikligars are Sikhs but are normally counted as Hindus in the Census due to their illiteracy and the bias of the Hindu enumerators. Assamese, Bihari and Johri number about 30,000 in total. The above being said, it is possible that the population of Sikhs in India is much larger than that which is published in the census reports.

I am sorry to hear about your mother's illness. Your whole family will need to rally round and be there for your mother. Cancer is different for everyone so the do not look into survival statistics which are on the web. Your mother needs emotional as well as spiritual support, so make sure that you have shabads playing in the house. The strange thing is that cancer is everywhere in society but few people talk about it, it's when your family is affected that you realise that other relatives and friends have also had it. You should also avoid the urge to look up miracle cures on the internet, although you should consider taking things like haldi with kali mirch with milk which from anecdotal evidence can affect the growth of cancer. You mother has remain positive because any operation and/or chemotherapy can be a strain for. I hope everything goes well and your mother recovers.

I think you need to check both your backgrounds in India. Are you from the same village or is his village close to your village? Same surnames matter when considering marriage if they are from the same village or close by because this means that you share a common ancestor some 10-20 generations ago. The further away both your villages are then the easier it would be for your marriage to be accepted. It also depends on how both sets of parents feel about the same surname marriage. On top of this it is customary for you parents and his parents if they agree to it to then ask their respective extended family members for their views and agreement.

I think stressing about what other Sikhs do is never the answer. The answer is-; 1. Improve you self and do not be a hypocrite like the ones you might see around you 2. Influence the people around you, parents,siblings, cousins, friends etc to improve themselve 3. Don't stress about the Sikhs you have little or no interaction with and over whom you will never have influence If enough Sikhs do this then there will be a lot less hypocrites amongst us.

Easy Day is part owned by Walmart and you will get pretty much everything there that you buy in the West. The bottled water there is also trustworthy as are the soft drinks/ juices. Do not drink any water at restaurants or even at relatives or friends houses. Take bottled water with you and drink it there.

That Mandeep 'singh' Bajwa guy is a total chumcha of the Indian govt. I remember debating his traitorous a.ss on the old Sikh history forum a decade ago.

Didn't the hotel manager smell a rat when the guy signed himself in as Bunty Chor :omg: He seems good at avoiding cameras so he may have done

I understand what you mean but we are talking about the UK here and I would say that a vast majority of these restaurant/kebab/fried chicken places are fronts for illegal activities the worst of which is paedophilia. I don't think the attackers would have attacked innocent diners, in these kind of situations if the diners run for it and do not try and act hard and attack the attackers then they would usually be left alone. The guys that were injured would probably be the workers or the owner.

Not really. If you know anything about the Musla mentality then you would know that can only be reformed by violence. Their mentality is such that if you talk of peace and brotherhood they take that to be a sign of your weakness. Even if it was just a rumour it tells the Muslay that we are not prepared to take any of their paedo acivities. If some goray had made a stand a few years ago and took action when they saw their young girls being abused by the muslay then these activities would have been nipped in the bud. As it is because the muslay think that the white community couldn't care less about their girls so that's why there's a muslay paedo gang case coming to light every week. Violence is never the answer is all cases but violence is always the answer in all cases that involve muslay

Nah, we haven't had his Royal Highness Dalsingh make a comment yet. So I think we should hold off deciding on what the most ignorant and casteist thing written on this site is until we have his contribution.