Search the Community

Well done analysis of the beginnings of the Sikh/Punjabi struggle under the Indian state. Taken From: http://sikhwithit.bl...discontent.html Seeds of Discontent Originally published in "Dedicated to the Sikh Struggle" Despite attempts to do so, the events before and after the 1984 Sikh genocide cannot be examined in isolation of their broader political context. Broken promises, the demand for greater Sikh sovereignty, covert intelligence operations, the state of emergency, and human rights abuses must all be accounted for in order to create an accurate reconstruction of the time period. The seeds of discontent in the Punjab region were sown decades before the explosion of violence in Punjab, in the streets of Delhi and other cities across India in the 1980s. The calls for communal sovereignty and provincial autonomy did not arise spontaneously. They were the manifestation of discontent with a post-independence reality unreflective of its roots. The imposition of emergency rule in the 1970s inflamed tensions and the crackdown in Punjab would lead to the creation of an untenable political circumstance. Broken Promises: The roots of discontent amongst the Sikh community, although plentiful and diverse, can be to a large extent traced back to pre-1947 commitments made by the Congress party. Two main points of displeasure amongst the Sikh community following India’s independence were that the Congress party had abandoned its pre-independence commitment to the reorganization of states based on linguistic homogeneity with regards to Punjab and the broader concept of provincial autonomy. The following excerpt helps to provide context into the position of the Congress party leadership with regards to provincial autonomy and linguistic homogeneity: “On 10 August 1928, the Nehru committee submitted its report on the future of the Constitution of India. Apart from reiterating the principles of provincial autonomy and reorganization of the states on the basis of linguistic homogeneity, the report also confirmed the reservation of seats in the Legislative Assemblies in the Provinces as well as at the Centre for Muslims of India in proportion to their population in the provinces. However, the report denied similar reservation to other religious minorities and went on to state categorically that there should be no reservation of seats for any community in the Punjab and Bengal. Following the publication of the Nehru report, Sikh leaders expressed anxiety over their future in India under a nationalist government which provided no statutory protection for them as a minority. To allay their fears the Congress Party organized its annual session of 1929 at Lahore and passed a resolution saying that on achieving independence no Constitution would be framed unless it was acceptable to Sikhs.” (Kumar: 120). The Congress report of 1928 is a pivotal document as it formed the basis of what the future state of India’s framework would consist of. It provided a blueprint from which those involved in the independence discussions could base their decisions with regards to accession and secession. As the Congress party moved further and further away from this declaration with regards to Punjab, the angst amongst India’s Sikh community would continue to grow. This is not to say that every Sikh in every corner of India was enraged, no community is so homogenous that it acts and thinks in perfect unison. However, the protests, political movements, and resistance prevalent amongst the Sikhs of Punjab in the decades following independence are telling. The population was not asking for the Central government to kneel, rather that the Congress party uphold its commitments. The excerpt discussed above is not unique in nature and Congress leaders would on multiple occasions re-affirm the party’s commitment to guaranteeing that no constitution would be passed if unacceptable to the Sikhs of India. In response to a question from Madhusudan Singh on what guarantees Gandhi could give with regards to the resolution passed by his party at Lahore in 1929, he responded “I ask you to accept my word and the resolution of the Congress that it will not betray a single individual much less a community. Let God be the witness of the bond that binds me and the Congress with you” (Kumar: 122). As he was further pressed on this issue “Gandhi said that the Sikhs would be justified in drawing their swords out of the scabbards as Guru Gobind Singh had asked them to, if it would recoil from its commitments” (Kumar:122). In 1950, when the Constitution Act of India was enacted (devoid of special protection for the Sikhs), representatives from the Akali Dal party declared in the constituent assembly “the Sikhs do not accept this Constitution: the Sikhs reject this Constitution Act” (Singh: 245). Yet, in direct opposition to their previous commitments, the Congress party would indeed pass a constitution not accepted by the Sikhs. Broken commitments such as the ones discussed above would help form the foundation of the Punjabi Suba movement, which rose to prominence post-1947. The Sikh community and its leadership would advocate for the greater autonomy and freedom that the Congress party had promised to it. The creation of a state of Punjab based on linguistic homogeny and the control of waterways (which were of particular importance given the agrarian nature of Punjab) were of particularly heated contestation. Rise of the Punjabi Suba movement Historically the Sikh community has viewed the Punjab region as its homeland due to its status as the birthplace of Sikhism and the fact that it is home to a majority of the Sikh community and many of the faith’s most revered sites; as such one cannot simply separate the reorganization of Punjab and Sikh discontent into two mutually exclusive entities. The Akali Dal and its leader Master Tara Singh would continue to advocate for a Punjabi speaking state (Lal: 55). The composition of this state would have been in line with the commitment to linguistic reorganization as per the Congress’ pre-independence doctrine. However, this commitment to linguistic reorganization was abandoned shortly after Indian independence upon the recommendations of the Linguistics Provinces Commission. In the eyes of the commission: “It (i.e. the formation of linguistic states) would unmistakingly retard the process of consolidation of our gains, dislocate our administrative economic and financial structure, let loose, while we are still in a formative states, forces of disruption and disintegration and seriously interfere with the progressive solution of our political and economic difficulties.” (Kumar: 177). In essence, the promise of linguistic reorganization in the case of Punjab had become a source of inconvenience for the Congress party and their new partitioned India. In the words of Nehru as he spoke to Master Tara Singh in 1954 who reminded him of the Congress’ commitments to the Sikhs, “the circumstances have now changed”. (Singh: 245) As the Akali Dal continued their campaign for a Punjabi speaking state, Hindu organizations had begun advocating that the community formally disown the Punjabi language in favour of Hindi (Kumar: 177). This act of collusion would further inflame the political unrest caused by the Congress’ unwillingness to abide by its 1928 resolution. As constitutional autonomy continued to elude the Sikh community, Sardar Kapur Singh would have this to say on September 5th, 1966 as he stood up to vote against the bill for the reorganization of the state of Punjab: “Madam Chairman, I have gone through this draft Bill most carefully and I have heard the Honourable Home Minister with the diligence and respect which his speeches and utterances always deserve. Madam Chairman, as it is, I have no option but to oppose this Bill. Like the curate’s egg, though it might be good in parts, it is a rotten egg. It might be edible, but only as a measure of courtesy, as it is devoid of nutritional qualities and since its putrefaction is far gone, it is really unfit for human consumption” (Singh: 239). The bill for the reorganization of the state of the Punjab would fail the test for the Akali Dal party as well. On July 20th 1966 Resolution 2 of the Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal was passed: “SIKHS RESOLVE AND PROCLAIM their determination to resist, through all legitimate means, all such attempts to devalue and liquidate the Sikh people in a free India, and consequently, DEMAND that the following steps should be taken forthwith by the rulers of India to assure and enable the Sikhs to live as respectable and equal citizens of the Union of India, namely, FIRST the Sikh areas deliberately and intentionally cut off and not included in the new Punjab to be set up namely, the area of Gurdaspur District including Dalhousie, Ambala District including Chandigarh, Pinjore, Kalka, and Ambala Saddar, the entire Una Tehsil of Hoshiarpur District, the areas of Nalagarh, called Desh, the Tehsil of Sirsa, the sub-Tehsils of Tohana and Guhla, and Rattia Block, of contiguous portion of the Ganganagar District of Rajasthan must now be immediately included in the new proposed Punjab so as to bring all contiguous Sikh areas into an administrative unit, to be the Sikh Homeland, within the Union of India. And SECOND, such a new Punjab should be granted an autonomous constitutional status on the analogy of the status of Jammu and Kashmir as was envisaged in the Constitution Act of India in the year 1950” (Singh:1948). The resolution does not call for unique wide ranging powers, rather it points to the “autonomous constitutional status” of Jammu and Kashmir as encapsulated in the Constitution Act of India. As this set-up was achievable to the north of Punjab, why could it not be feasible for Punjab itself? The powers requested would have been relatively analogous to that which already existed for other states in India. The resolution was focused on creating a place for Sikhs in India, who had decades prior chose accession over secession. Additionally, this Sikh homeland was to be an administrative unit within the “Union of India”. The focus here was to create an autonomous Sikh land of freedom in the north of India, a notion Nehru had decades prior accepted. In July 1946 Nehru would be quoted as saying “The brave Sikhs of the Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area and a set-up in the North wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom” (Singh: 242). Yet, when the time had come for these commitments to be put into action, they had been forgotten; as resistance to this autonomous state was evident even before Resolution 2 of the Akali Dal working committee and the 1966 statements of Sardar Kapur Singh. Jawaharlal Nehru would go so far as to “tell a correspondent of the Times of London that he would not concede a Punjabi speaking state even if he had to face a civil war” (Kumar: 182). This statement was made following the release of Master Tara Singh who had been jailed preemptively following his vow to fast until death in demand of a Punjabi Suba (state). In 1960, “newspapers were prohibited from publishing news regarding the Sikh agitation. Raising slogans for a Punjabi Suba were made illegal” (Kumar: 182). The repression of discontent and freedom of speech in response to the Punjabi Suba movement would become a reoccurring theme in the Central governments dealings with the Sikh community. As opposed to reaffirming their pre-independence assurances, the Indian government would instead meet peaceful assembly with repression, calls for justice with an iron fist, and freedom movements with oppression. An interesting line for the descendents of a movement whose chief figure head (Mahatma Gandhi) would be defined in the Indian history books by his approach of non violent protests, calls for universal justice, and slogans for a free and independent India. State of Emergency: When Indira Gandhi instituted a State of Emergency, all corners of the nation were covered by the cloud of undemocratic rule. This State of Emergency was born not out of a deep concern for the nation, but out of personal survival: “ The declaration of the state of emergency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the night of June 25-26, 1975, to save herself from the aftereffects of Allahabad High Court Judgement unseating her for corrupt practices, as laid down by herself, shook the very foundations of the democratic spirit underlying the Constitution. Armed with the draconian powers including rigorous press censorship, it ushered an era of arbitrariness and arrogance for personal survival and family aggrandizement, with new upstart Sanjay Gandhi and his goons creating terror and wreaking havoc with the system” (Singh 2: 311). The Shiromani Akali Dal would be the only party to take up the cause of opposing Gandhi and her emergency rule. Figures from Amnesty International state that 140,000 people would be detained during emergency, 60,000 of them Sikh. Emergency may not have been declared against the Sikhs, but the resistance to it had a strong Sikh component (Singh 2: 311). As Sikh resistance to Emergency rule grew, in the words of Sangat Singh “Indira got into her head that it were only the Sikhs who constituted a threat to her imperious and dynastic rule, and decided to inflict blows from which they will take long, if at all, to recover” (Singh 2: 312). In 1976, using section 78 of the Punjab Reorganization act Indira Gandhi would allocate the hydel power and waters of the Punjab rivers to Rajhastan, Haryana, Delhi, and Punjab. The Gandhi government would now “award over 75 percent of waters to neighboring non-riparian states and create in them vested interest to the detriment of legal rights in Punjab” (Singh 2: 312). This diversion of water would have devastating effects on the Sikh peasantry, a segment of the population who formed the Akali Dal’s mainstay. Sikhs would also be targeted in the military ranks, as the Defence Ministry would for the first time issue recruitment quotas based on population. The institution of this move would curtail the intake to and composition of Sikh soldiers in the Indian army to just two percent, in line with their proportion of the Indian population as a whole. (Singh 2: 312). The treatment of Sikhs during the 1982 Asian games provides a piercing example of the degree to which Sikhs had been targeted during the emergency period. Haryana’s Chief Minister had instructed the police to cut off all Akali’s entering the state. The following is the account of prominent Indian journalist and author Kuldeep Nayar: “Since the police had no way to differentiated a Sikh who is a terrorist and one who is not, every Sikh travelling to Delhi was searched. Trains were stopped at wayside stations at midnight in cold December and the Sikh passengers were made to get down to appear before a police official on the platform. Buses were detained to get Sikh passengers down and at some places the rustic policemen said ‘All Sikhs should come down’. People travelling in cars were no exception. Many senior retired military officers were stopped and among them were Air Chief Minister Marshal Arjun Singh and Lt. General Jagjit Singh Arora; their disclosure of identity did no matter; luggage in every car was thoroughly searched. Maj. General Shabeg Singh, who later joined hands with Bhindranwale, had gone on record as saying that after the humiliation meted him in Haryana, he decided to join Bhindranwale. Even Swaran Singh (a cabinet colleague of J.L.Nehru who had served India well for many tenures as its Foreign Minister) was stopped and searched despite telling the police who he was. Congress(I) Sikh MPs were no spared and Amarjit Kaur Congress MP, was in tear when she narrated in the Central Hall of Parliament how she and her husband were treated by the Haryana police…. The Sikhs felt humiliated because the Hindus crossing into Delhi from Haryana were not touched, even for the sake of form. The government expressed no regrets and no statement came from any ruling party members that what had happened was reprehensible. Very few Hindus spoke against his. Newspapers also did not report any incident lest it should add to communal tension. The Sikhs felt the government was now against them as a community” (Kumar: 260). The relationship between the Sikh community and India’s governmental bodies had degraded considerably by the 1982 Asian games incident, and yet the worst backlash against the Sikh community was yet to come. As mentioned at the onset of this piece, the events before and after the 1984 Sikh genocide cannot be examined in isolation of their broader political context. The examples and chronology of events above are testaments to this. The untenable situation of the 1980s was not an overnight development. Rather, it had built up over decades and decades, slowly reaching the human rights atrocities of 1984. As the streets of Delhi were filled with burning Sikh corpses and dismembered youth, historical context disappeared from the political discourse. Sikhs were terrorists and a threat to India, no shades of grey existed. The decades of peaceful demonstration and political movements were forgotten, for there was no place for these trivial memories. The here and now was all that mattered, an enemy had been constructed and how its existence was constructed was not up for debate. As we delve into the atrocities of 1984, it is pivotal that we realize that this genocide was the apex of a devilish journey seeped with mistruth, mistrust, and misinformation. Sources Gill, Tarlochan S. (1989). History of the Sikhs. Toronto: Asia Publications. Grover, Verinder; ed. (1995). Master Tara Singh. Delhi: Deep & Deep publications. Kapur, Rajiv A. (1987). Sikh Separatism: The Politics of Faith. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. Kumar, Ram Narayan; Sieberer, Georg. (1991) The Sikh Struggle. Delhi: Chanakya Publications. Lal, Mohan. (1984). Disintegration of Punjab. Chandigarh: Sameer Prakashan. Singh, Kapur. (1979). Sachi Sakhi. Singh (2), Sangat. (1995). The Sikhs in History. New York: Sangat Singh.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/19/jonathan-kay-three-decades-after-operation-bluestar-deadly-sikh-radicalism-still-stalks-western-streets/ The words “Operation Bluestar” are little known in the West. But in South Asia, the Indian army’s June, 1984 invasion of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar is considered one of the most important, and infamous, events in the region’s modern history. Many Sikh activists call it a “massacre” — and even compare it to the Sikh holocaust perpetrated by the Mughals 250 years ago. To this day, Bluestar represents a rallying point for Sikh militants seeking greater autonomy from India. In truth, bloody though it was, Bluestar cannot be called a deliberate pogrom. In the years leading up to the assault, Sikh separatists and radicals had turned much of the Punjab into a war zone — with peaceable Sikhs being the primary victims of the chaos. Amidst the upheaval, the Golden Temple — which contains the holy text of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib — was taken over by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a charismatic Sikh fundamentalist (some saw him as a full-on prophet) who’d surrounded himself by gun-weilding zealots. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister (who later paid with her life for the events that would unfold at her command in 1984) realized that the situation in Punjab was untenable. Some feared that Pakistan, which already was making common cause with India’s hardline Sikhs, would recognize the independence of a breakaway Khalistani state, should one be declared, and send soldiers into Indian territory. Khalistani separatists were beginning to distribute their own currency. It was clear that taking the temple back from the zealots was a national imperative for India. And so Gandhi sent in the army. Bhindranwale and hundreds of his fighters went down fighting inside the temple compound. Many innocents — pilgrims whom Bhindranwale effectively had taken hostage — also were among the victims. The Indian military estimated that about 500 civilians died in the crossfire. Unofficial tallies are an order of magnitude higher. Yet Bluestar was in no way intended as a campaign of extermination by Hindus against Sikhs, even if that is how it is sometimes presented in propaganda tracts. In fact, the military commander of the Bluestar operation was himself a Sikh: Lieutenant-General Kuldip Singh Brar, a veteran of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. A majority of his senior commanders also were Sikhs. In a series of interviews he conducted in 2004, on the 20th anniversary of Bluestar, Gen. Brar said that he saw no conflict between his duty to his nation and his religious faith: I am religious but in moderation. I am not a person who has to be in a temple every single day, but I have a fear of God. I respect religion, and respect the fact that I am a Sikh. But as I said earlier, a Sikh or a Hindu has no meaning here [in the armed forces]. You don’t even think about it. You are convinced you are not acting against any religion but against a section of misguided people [led by Bhindranwale] who have held the country to ransom, who are ready to fragment this country. Nor was Gen. Brar the only Sikh in the Indian military who felt this way. Prior to the assault on the Golden Temple, Gen. Brar announced to his men that if any one of them did not feel he could participate in the operation, he should step forward and leave the staging area without fear of reprisal. “In the fourth battalion, one hand went up,” the former commander recalls. “It belonged to a Sikh officer, Second Lieutenant Jasbir Singh Raina … [He] had a request: he wanted to be the first person to enter the Golden Temple to wipe the militants who had defiled his holiest shrine. I was very happy and [said] that Raina must be allowed to lead the first charge. The moment Raina entered, he came under a withering fire and suffered serious injuries to his legs. Yet, he refused to pull out … Months later, when he received the Ashoka Chakra [the highest bravery award in peace times], he came to receive the award in a wheelchair. I had tears in my eyes.” Gen. Brar retired from the Indian Army in 1992. But civilian life proved just as hazardous as life in the military: In the years following Bluestar, militant Sikhs went on a spree of assassination attempts against commanders who’d been involved in the operation. Gen. Brar lives in a well- guarded compound, and spends much of his time radical monitoring Sikh web sites with names such as “Kill Brar.” The former commander also is dismayed to see a resurgence of exactly the sort of Sikh radicalism he sought to extinguish back in 1984. “There are increasing signs of the youth in Punjab being motivated and indoctrinated by hardcore pro-Khalistan elements abroad,” he told an interviewer earlier this month. “This is happening, particularly in the US, Canada, UK and West Europe by glorifying the deeds of the Bhindranwale cult and by circulating doctored footage of Operation Bluestar … Pakistan’s Intelligence agency ISI is also collaborating with pro-Khalistan cells abroad to propagate the ideology of separatism.” Much of this is happening right out in the open. Recently, Gen. Brar notes, a memorial function was held inside the Golden Temple complex — with the honorees being the men who assassinated Gen. A.S. Vaidya, a fellow Bluestar commander. And here in Canada, Sikh activists earlier this year staged a noisy public campaign called “I am Rajoiana” — a reference to an unrepentant Sikh terrorist, Balwant Singh Rajoana, who masterminded the killing of a Punjab chief minister (who himself was a Sikh). At Sikh parades in British Columbia, other Sikh killers have been memorialized as “martyrs” on parade floats. This month, while Gen. Brar was in London, England on a private trip with his wife, a group of four people attacked him near the east end of Oxford Street. In the melée, he was knifed in the neck and face, but survived without life-threatening injuries. British police arrested a dozen suspects. Two are being charged with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The crime itself is shocking. But it’s also disturbing to see that the Sikh community in England is divided in its reaction to it. A Tribune India reporter who visited Southall (aka “Little Punjab”) in recent days interviewed some moderate Sikhs who found the attack on Gen. Brar to be appalling. But others embraced conspiracy theories to the effect that the assault was a “false flag” operation, hatched by India as a means to discredit Sikhs. Here in Canada, similar anti-Indian conspiracy theories circulated in regard to the destruction if Air India Flight 182 in 1985. The fact that men such as Gen. Brar still live in fear for their life 28 years after the Bluestar operation shows that murderous violence has become institutionalized within radical Sikh circles. This radicalism, and the general schisming of the Sikh diaspora into Khalistani and non-Khalistani factions, is damaging Sikhism as much as anything that happened in 1984. Yet Gen. Brar himself tells an interesting, personal tale about such schisms — and how they can heal on a personal level. My own mama [mother’s brother] who lives in London — he didn’t keep long hair, he used to smoke, visit pubs, and I used to stay with him whenever I was visiting the UK — suddenly changed [in the 1980s]. He began to grow his hair and beard; he used to regularly participate in the functions at Southall [in London] where the Sikhs vowed revenge [for Bluestar]; he went to Pakistan; he swore he’d have never have anything to do with me. He broke ties with my parents — his own sister. [but] then, just three years ago, I was in London and found out he was dying of cancer. I decided I must see him and went to the hospital. The staff told me he had about 24 to 48 hours to live. When they informed him of my presence, he told them to bring me to his bedside and he held my hand; he had tears rolling down his cheeks and he told me he now understood I had to do whatever I did. The recollection provides a hopeful symbol of the spirit of reconciliation that, one hopes, will eventually render Sikh political violence a thing of the past. Like Gen. Brar and his late uncle, Khalistani Sikhs — in the Punjab, Canada and everywhere else — should step back and look at what their cause has done to their communities and even their families. In that respect, this month’s shameful knife attack on a 78-year-old man, walking the streets of London with his wife, perhaps can serve as a wake-up call. jkay@nationalpost.com — Jonathan Kay is Managing Editor for Comment at the National Post, and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @jonkay. Adapted from an article originally published by New Europe.

Sadh Sangat Jeo, Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh, An online petition has been created calling for the UK Government to reckognise the aftermath of indira gandhi's assisination as genocide of the Sikhs. The Australian government has highlighted this issue, and we need to get the ball rolling in the UK too. Please Please Please lets try and get 100,000 signatures so that this issue can be given a chance to be debated in Parliament. Theres nothing we cant achieve if we act as one nation under one nishan! Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41156 Anti-Sikh violence in November 1984 in India should be classed as Genocide Responsible department: Foreign and Commonwealth Office We the signatories of this E-Petrition urge the UK government to the anti-sikh violence committed in India in November 1984, following the death of Indra Ghandhi and classify it as an act of genocide. There is more than enough evidence from Sikh groups, Human rights groups and eye witnesses to show the violence was carefully orchestrated and police, congress members and high ranking officials were not only complicit in the violence but provided support for those carrying out murder, looting and rape. To this day Sikhs (who have a long and proud connection with the UK) have had no real closure. So now we urge as in Australia that this issue be debated and then the acts of November 1984 be classified as Genocide. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41156

http://news.national...e-in-new-delhi/ NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh were set to announce Tuesday they have finally sealed a nuclear deal that will see Canadian companies ship uranium to the energy-hungry South Asian nation. A nuclear co-operation agreement had been signed two years ago between between the two nations, but its actual implementation had been stalled over the details. Canada had wanted more oversight over where the products wound up, something India had resisted. Now a joint committee will ensure that Canada gets the kind of follow-up it had required. The two prime ministers were scheduled to announce the finalization of the administrative agreement at an event at Hyderabad House, a former royal building now used by the Indian government. They also signed a social security agreement that would shield businesses in the two countries from double paying for pensions and benefits. Harper told reporters Tuesday that Canada was satisfied with the checks and balances it gets under the deal. The prime minister touched on other issues beyond trade Tuesday, including some that go directly to the Indo-Canadian community. The Indian government once again pressed Canada to be on guard for Sikh extremism, a warning that comes at the same time as some Indo-Canadians call for justice for a 1984 Sikh massacre. India’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Preneet Kaur, raised the issue of extremism during a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and officials from the two nations on Tuesday. Harper is on a six-day visit to India, primarily focused on trade and investment. “Prime minister, there was another area of great concern for us, which was the revival of anti-India rhetoric in Canada, and I am from the state of Punjab, which we are very happy you will be visiting…,” Kaur said, referring to his upcoming stop in Chandigarh. “We have after very hard times got a good situation of peace and progress back in Punjab and in India and we would like that to continue, so it does concern us I think, and we do appreciate very much that you have very been forthright and open about your stand on this.” This was not the first time India has raised the issue with Canada. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird also heard the Indian government’s concerns during a visit earlier this year, and the Indian Overseas Congress has gone so far as to accuse Canadian politicians of Indian origin of ignoring the issue. Kaur was likely referring to the appearance, particularly in British Columbia of flags and seals bearing the Khalistan flag at parades and on temples. Khalistan is the name of proposed separate Sikh state, and pockets of the Indo-Canadian community support the idea. The 1985 bombing of an Air India flight that killed 331 was believed by the police to have been orchestrated by Sikh extremists based in Canada. Hundreds of Sikhs protested on Parliament Hill in March against the death row sentence of an acknowledged Sikh terrorist, Balwant Singh Rajoana. Harper responded to Kaur by saying that Canada is a supporter of a united India, painting the pro-Khalistan movement as marginal. “This is a view that is shared not just widely in Canada but very widely and very mainstream among our Indo-Canadian community,” said Harper. “We have over a million people who trace their origins to the Indian subcontinent and among my very large delegation on this trip are a considerable number of prominent Indo-Canadians, and certainly the support for the great progress India has made over the past generation is virtually universal in this community.” But the Indian government’s pressure on the issue has been poorly received in Canada by some in the Indo-Canadian community and even the federal opposition, particularly when taken in the context of the November 1984 massacre of more than 3,000 Sikhs. The remains of murdered Sikhs in razed villages were uncovered as recently as last year, and many believe the Indian government has not done enough to bring the perpetrators to justice. The massacre occurred in the aftermath of the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The bodyguards were believed to have been retaliating for a bloody military operation in June of that same year aimed at extricating Sikh militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Groups such as the World Sikh Organization and the Canadian Sikh Congress argues that the community has a right to engage in a peaceful dialogue about a sovereign homeland, and the Indian government is meddling in the affairs of Indo-Canadians. Another group, Sikhs for Justice, recently called on Harper to advocate for human rights for Sikhs while in India. NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair referred to the events of 1984 as “pogroms” in a recent release. “The victims and survivors of 1984 have waited too long for recognition of their plight and frustration,” Mulcair said. “Rehabilitation and support for the broken families, especially the widows, must be prioritized.” Harper also met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday during an official ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the former seat of the British viceroy in India. The enormous building, fringed by fountains, acres of groomed lawns and monument-sized stone stairways, is now the home of Indian president Pranab Mukherjee, who Harper met midday. Harper and Singh were expected to meet again late Tuesday afternoon to sign a series of bilateral agreements.

I just had a thought after discovering many unseen pics of Sikh history and other Sikh texts which have been forgotten (just about) online, that there must have been Sikhs who stored Lala Jagat Narain's garbage and other anti-Sikh media reports in Indian newspapers somewhere. Pictures, videos, newspaper cuttings etc if someone has such material then can you please let me know? I will be very happy to receive such material to spread on social media etc. Especially any material related to controversial actions of Punjab Police etc.

Alleged Atrocities Committed by War Criminal Brar in June 1984 Attack on The Golden Temple A cursory glance at the more heavily GOI propagandised Indian newspapers, shows that opposition by the Indian National Congress Party (itself, by no means united on this issue), to the memorial to the martyrs of the June 1984 attack on Shree Harimandir Sahib, shows no signs of abating anytime soon. When considered with the wider perspective of a minor alleged assault on Brar, the hysteria eagerly whipped up by collaborating media about the memorial is a sure way of deflecting attention away from its self-created problems that threaten to topple its government. It is a tried, tested and proven method of scaring the Indian electorate into allowing Congress to retain its loose grip on a population that is day by day losing confidence in its ability to properly utilise the vast funds available for its disposal (as the GOI). At least, that is, to the benefit of anyone other than its senior ministers and their families(!) See "Robert Vadra" and "Salman Khurshid" (for a couple of more recent shambles out of the broader series of illicit dealings to emerge from the corrupt Congress machine). Revelations about rampant corruption within the Congress Party are now emerging so fast that a new exposee emerges before the last had any time to settle down. It must be ruing the day Anna Hazare came out of nowhere to emerge as its nemises. The way things stand, Congress looks set to receive a humiliating drubbing at the next polls. Its UPA allies are already withdrawing support and we haven't even reached election time. Amidst this backdrop, it becomes clear why the Congress Party is reverting to its yellowy divisive and diversionary politics of yesteryear (think "Indira" and "Rajiv"). Its desparation will only increase as it approaches the Elections, so expect to see more of the same. That's why I see the minor alleged assault on Brar as part of the above struggle to retain power. Therefore, I am not too concerned with the Congress Party controlled Indian media spin on Brar. The truth will out. And to an extent, much of it already has. Let the investigation reveal the rest. I have read some excellent articles by several commentators, not least by T Sher Singh, Dal Khalsa and SF-UK, which in my opinion are the best pieces of analysis I have read on the topic, that have already comprehensively taken Brar's allegations apart to pieces and ripped his continuously changing story to shreds. Enough has probably already been said about the Brar alleged minor "assault" episode/stunt.

Sikh Research Institute UK Tour 18th October - 21st October Harinder SIngh of SikhRI will be delivering a series of interactive and thought-provoking seminars on current affairs for Sikhs. 18 October Religion in Modern Society University Building, City University 6:00pm–7:00pm London, England 19 October Governance & Politics of the Sikh Gurus *** RSVP mandatory: randeep.s.sidhu@uk.pwc.com *** PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 6:00pm-7:15pm BST London, England 20 October Sikh Civil Rights Movement Gurdwara Singh Sabha Barking 7:00pm-8:30pm BST Ilford, England 21 October 1984 & You Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara12:00pm-1:30pm BST Leicester, England For more info visit www.sikhRI.org/events of contact the UK co-ordinator on Jagdeep.Singh@sikhRI.org Watch the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfoKI_KTsvU&feature=player_embedded This is no way Satirical but an absolute Mockery of the Sikh roop, the 1984 massacres and Fauja Singh! Warning. You will find elements of this video offensive, I certainly did!

BBC News website, 4th April 2012: Indian families say Punjab compensation inadequate Families of victims killed by police in the Indian state of Punjab during a separatist insurgency say compensation just awarded is "too little, too late". The National Human Rights Commission has announced that 279.4m rupees ($5.5m; £3.4m) be paid to the families of 1,513 victims killed from 1984-96. (comes to just 1.8 lakh rupees each) The extra-judicial killings took place at the peak of Sikh militancy for a separate homeland of Khalistan. The commission investigated 2,097 cases but many bodies were unidentified. Cremations Case "The families have waited years and this amount of monetary compensation is not enough," Navkiran Singh, a lawyer for one of the families, told the BBC. "The courts have not answered the question of culpability of the police officers who killed the people and disposed of the bodies," added Mr Singh. Mr Singh represents Paramjit Kaur Khalsa, whose husband was killed at that time. He said the courts believed the police were carrying out "their national duty" while fighting Sikh insurgents. The state has to pay the money, yet "no process of rehabilitation has been started for victims of the police killings," said Mr Singh. The families feel this is discriminatory as victims of militants have already been given compensation by the state. The commission also found human rights violations in many of the killings in the three districts of Amritsar, Manjitha and Tarn Taran that it investigated. Mr Singh said they will now send an application to Punjab's chief minister for the state to rehabilitate the families since the commission has recognised they are also "victims of injustice". Otherwise he said the state is giving the families "a reason to pick up the gun again". The NHRC is investigating what has become known as The Cremations Case. While the official figure for the number of people killed during the violent insurgency from 1984-1996 is 15,000, many human rights groups claim it is much higher and could be more than 25,000. http://www.bbc.co.uk...-india-17607930

**THE TRUTH** REALITY ABOUT BHAI JASPAL SINGH JI'S SHAHEEDI DAY. WHY ARE ONLY SIKHS KILLED? SANT DHADRIANWALE MUST WATCH:

Jaspal Singh, an 18 year old Sikh Boy, was an Engineering Student and was killed by Punjab Police, while he was peacefully protesting against hanging of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana. In a related video on what is going on in Punjab, one can clearly see bunch of Punjab Policemen brutally beating and firing gun shots at unarmed Sikh youth who are running away to save their lives. And what is more appalling is that these Police Officers are themselves turbaned, and so at the least they look Sikh. So that leads me to the question - Why was an 18 year old Sikh Engineering Student shot dead by State Police, while he was clearly unarmed and was peacefully protesting? In an oppressive regime, there are broadly 2 ways in which a minority can survive. For the ease of understanding, let us classify the people belonging to the minority faith into Type 1 and Type 2 people. Type 1 people wake up every morning, and then make an effort to prove their allegiance to the Majority led State Establishment in every possible way. A simple example would be to sit in the middle of your friends, and crack jokes at your community, and show them that even though I am a Sikh and look different, but I am a harmless, spineless creature and hence, you don’t need to fear me. In return, these people are rewarded by the State, sometimes even offered leadership positions in the Government. Case in point is Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has proved that he is the weakest Prime Minister that India has ever had. I can go on and on about Manmohan, but that would be digressing from the point. Type 1 people come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, these people in their urgent and desperate need to appease the majority would commit the most heinous atrocities on people belonging to their own faith. The name of Prakash Singh Badal, the Punjab Chief Minister immediately comes to my mind. Other names include the so-called Butcher of Punjab, the super cop – KPS Gill and ex-Chief Minister of Punjab Beant Singh. It is not surprising that whenever Badal is in position, even peacefully protesting Sikhs are attacked and murdered ruthlessly in broad day light. This phenomenon is not new. Two Sikh boys were killed on March 29, 2012; however in the past also, 13 peacefully protesting Sikhs were shot dead in 1978, during Badal’s regime. How Badal protected the murderer of 1978 Sikh victims would be a topic of another discussion. One of the video very clearly shows the Punjab Police chasing and attacking peacefully gathered Sikh youth. They are firing as if they are at war, at war with the Civilian Sikhs, who are all hiding and running away for their lives. On their return, these so called police officers are hugged and cheered by the Shiv Sainiks, who are shouting slogans and chanting “Har Har Mahadev”; and hence these Type 1 Sikhs feel comforted by the precious approval of Shiv Sena that they have attained by attacking and firing gun shots at unarmed protestors. For me, the face of Type 2 Sikhs is people like Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana, as well as the people who are protesting to show solidarity with him. Such people would rather die than accept an oppressive regime, where the mass-murderers of Sikhs are protected and rewarded, while innocent Sikh civilians are killed in a State Sponsored Genocide. For me, the face of the Type 2 Sikhs is a young boy shown in one of the videos. This boy is clearly unarmed, but he is not even running away or hiding for protection, when the policemen attack him. He is just standing their quietly and taking pride in being beaten brutally by the Police Officers because he does not expect anything else but gross injustice from the Indian Justice System. These Type 2 Sikhs are not irrational or stupid; instead they just want to live with their head held high. They demand justice. They want to see the perpetrators of 1984 genocide convicted and punished. They want to see the people who killed thousands of innocents in Punjab during 1990’s through fake encounters and illegal abductions being punished; and until that happen there cannot be any sustainable peace.

An appeal to all my friends taking the videos and pictures of Punjab Police committing atrocities & firing gunshots against unarmed Sikh protestors. WE NEED TO TELL THE WORLD WHO THE REAL TERRORISTS ARE! Please upload your videos on any or all of the following links: (there might be other great channels as well, but these were the few resources I could find) BBC http://bbcnewsupload.streamuk.com/ CBC http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourvoice/yourvideo/upload.html CNN http://ireport.cnn.com/ If you have trouble uploading them, please email them to whoever you think can upload or to us at: sikhbroadcast@gmail.com

Source: Times of India timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Why-Balwant-Singh-Rajoana-never-appealed-against-his-death-sentence/articleshow/12458451.cms Balwant Singh Rajoana was to be executed on March 31. This would have been the first execution in India since 2004. His execution has been stayed - for the time being - in response to the rising whirlpool of politics that's engulfed Punjab on this issue. That India should sully its record again after 8 years with state sanctioned murder is a matter of distress, but this consideration seems largely removed from the politics of Rajoana's execution. However even in addition to principled opposition to the death penalty, the cynical considerations swirling around his execution, the specifics of the case itself are significant. Opposition to capital punishment is removed from the specifics of the case, basing the argument on human rights, the range and extent of power given to the State, citizen's right to equality before law, the inherent arbitrariness in the exercise of power by individual state functionaries, and irrevocability of the punishment especially given the possibility of wrongful conviction. In contrast, the proponents of capital punishment argue on the specifics, seeking justification in the heinousness of the crime, recidivism, retribution, and deterrence. In this the proponents are almost vigilante in their perspective, with their preoccupation with punishment for the alleged lawbreaker than the state, its powers and processes, and civil liberties Nevertheless in this instance, the specifics too raise some disturbing questions. Balwant Singh is on death row for his role in the suicide bombing of the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh in 1995. 17 persons, including the Chief Minister were killed. The history has some relevance. Punjab had been racked by insurgency since the seventies, with the regional autonomy movement progressively hardening into a secessionist movement over the decades. President's Rule was established in 1987 in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar and the Sikh pogrom in Delhi in 1984. After five years of President Rule checkered by militancy and heavy police crackdown, elections were called in 1992, but were postponed twice. Protesting that the elections were unlikely to be "free and fair", the Sikh parties boycotted the elections. With voter turnout in the low twenties, Beant Singh's ascendancy was widely disparaged by the Sikhs as lacking legitimacy. Militancy and consequent police clampdown continued unabated. Beant Singh was assassinated in 1995 by suicide bomber Dilawar Singh, aided by Balwant Singh and others. During trial, Balwant Singh refused counsel, asking instead to be allowed to represent himself. He did not cross-examine witnesses. He was awarded the death penalty. In 2009, when his death sentence came for conviction in the High Court [as part of the legal process], he again refused counsel and asked to be allowed to argue his own case. His intent in each instance was not to seek acquittal. In the 14 years that the case made its way from the trial court to the High Court, Balwant Singh held to his story, claiming that he strapped the bomb on to the body of Dilawar Singh. The High Court, noting that there was no evidence in favour of Balwant Singh in order to "have a second thought on the murder reference of Balwant Singh, coupled with his three confessional statements, there is no other alternate with us but to confirm" the death penalty. Balwant also refused to appeal against the death penalty administratively through mercy petition to the Governor and/or President. In a letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court, he writes, "legal system, judicial system of this Country and the rulers of this Country have been discriminating" [and that] "slavery of such system is not acceptable to me". In embracing 17 years of imprisonment including solitary confinement and ultimate execution, Balwant Singh is making a political statement. In his letter and statements, he brings out his search for justice in the democratic framework, his feeling of marginalization and his desire for rebellion. He sees the injustice of the swiftness of response when a five star hotel in Mumbai is under siege and the dilatory tactics of commissioning enquiry committees without any accountability for the thousands who perished in the 1984 Sikh pogrom. He writes, "thousands of Sikhs were massacred. It is submitted that these murderers have neither been punished nor been punished by any Court of law of the country even after 25 years [...] Here I would like to ask your Lordship that the persons who have killed thousands of innocent xxxx, xxxx, and xxxx [redacted] are not the terrorists. Why not the law of the nation, [redacted] try to interfere in the matter. On the contrary, when the hotels of Mumbai are attacked then the military of the country immediately interferes. The commandos of Delhi initiate immediate action after reaching Delhi. This is made to known as to which in which village the assailants reside in [redacted]. Contrary to it, the [redacted] of [redacted] of people in Delhi could not be identified. How the security can be assured without the law when everybody knows the killers" [sic]. He locates the justification for the suicide bombing in this persecution by the state (as per his contention) and the lack of accountability saying in a statement to the District and Sessions Judge, Patiala, "conscience of a person have self respect refuses to accept the authority of callous rulers. Such feels instigate a person for becoming human bomb rather than to become a human being [sic]" The purpose of this article is not to romanticize Balwant Singh or terrorism. But surely some introspection is required when an obviously bright individual seeks political expression in the rejection of the "democratic" government itself even at the cost of his own life? Our democratic systems are discriminating - on class, caste, and religious lines. After 64 years of democracy, which by definition means people's control over the state to ensure propagation of their interests, more than 3 quarters of our country still ekes out a living on just Rs 20 per day. In our ostensibly secular state, all significant minorities have been persecuted (1984, 1992, 2002, 2008) without any accountability. Likewise the constitutional promise of equality before rule of law is flouted routinely. The poor are routinely displaced, their rights violated, their very being often declared illegal. The poor overwhelmingly populate our jails; around 70% are under-trials, not convicts. The death penalty too is disproportionately administered to the poor. Balwant Singh's execution is now embroiled in cynical politics from all sides, however whatever the outcome, we all share some blame in perpetuation of a system where meaningful political expression, redress and justice is denied to all but a small minority. (Ruchi Gupta works in a think tank in Delhi. The views expressed are her own.)

It is disgusting for me to see news articles, where there are reports of Sikh Bodies, including the official parliament of Sikhs - SGPC, requesting Indian President to interfere in the capital sentence of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana, and grant clemency to him. But I have a very strong objection to the use of word – “Clemency”. Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation (in whole or in part) of the penalty associated with it. Hence, by asking for Clemency, these bodies are agreeing to the inferred statement that what Balwant Singh did was indeed a crime, which is absolutely not right. Instead, we are failing the great legend, who has stuck to his ground for last 7 years, that what he did was absolutely right; because Beant Singh was a murderer, and no less evil than the likes of Kony and Gaddafi. Beant Singh was responsible for overseeing the mass killing of Sikhs and was responsible for giving police officers such as KPS Gill (known as ‘The Butcher of Punjab’), SSP Sumedh Saini, SSP Mohammad Izhar Alam (leader of the infamous Black Cats) and others a free reign to run operations that deliberately targeted the civilian population of Punjab. The suicide operation conducted by Balwant Singh & Dilawar Singh put an end to a decade long period of State Organized killing of Sikh youths (almost 50,000 Sikhs were killed in fake ‘encounter’ killings, brutal torture, illegal detention, and mass rapes). What is even more inspiring, and mark of personal integrity and spiritual strength is that he has never asked Indian Government for Justice. He had even refused to hire a lawyer, because he does not believe in Indian Judicial System. He has openly called for the death penalty recognising it as the only form of justice available to him under the Indian legal system. And, is he irrational or wrong? No, because the State that organises and sponsors Sikh genocides to teach Sikhs a lesson, and rewards the Sikh mass murderers (read Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler) who were the perpetrators of the 1984 genocide, with plum government posts and state protection has absolutely failed in its duties towards its citizens, and is not worth asking justice for.

Gurfateh! Dass is a university student from London and has just published an article on the history of Sri Harmandar Sahib. It is the 6th article to be published as part of the 'Sikhi Explored' project. The writing style is targeted at Sikh Students and Sikh Youth, and gives them a detailed account of the sacrifices sikhs have made throughout the 18th and 19th centaury to protect Sri Darbar Sahib (as well as an overview of how it was constructed etc) Please check it out and share with other Sikhs. Website is www.kclsikhsoc.wordpress.com I'm confident all readers will learn at least something new, so do please read, regardless of your background knowledge. Forgive me for any mistakes, and feel free to leave comments or suggestions

Dear Mr Singh, Thank you for your email, I also reply on behalf of Malcolm Harbour MEP, as I take responsibility for constituent enquiries from your area to Conservative MEPs in the West Midlands. As this is quite a specialist issue, I contacted my colleague Dr Charles Tannock MEP, the Conservative Party Foreign Affairs Spokesman in the European Parliament. Dr Tannock has been very active in calling for a review of Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar's sentence. He has also written a parliamentary question to the European Commission and co-authored the European Parliament Resolution on the issue which passed on the 7th July 2011. Both the EU and the UK government do subscribe to the universal abolition of the death penalty. As far as the accusations against Minister Kamal Nath are concerned, the Conservative Party opposes universal jurisdiction for domestic courts and the UK government is in the process of abolishing it for our courts as it makes it difficult for politicians to visit our country on official business without immunity guarantees. There is a role for the International Criminal Court in ending the climate of impunity for crimes against humanity but India is not a Rome statute signatory and I regard the alleged crimes of Minister Kamal Nath as for the Indian criminal justice authorities to investigate. Yours sincerely, Philip Bradbourn OBE MEP