The State Of Affairs

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No 11

Source: http://www.akalidalamritsar.com/punjab/Aug...ail20070801.htm

Dachau-Central Jail,

Ludhiana, Panjab,

30th, July 2007.

Thought’s from Jail

Sodomy as Torture:

I am simply shocked. How perverse can the police get here in the Panjab? On the one hand Indian Premier Manmohan Singh has been asking the Australian Prime Minister Mr. Howard to ensure that the Australian’s treat Mr. Mohammad Haneef, the Indian detained and now thankfully released for his suspected assistance in the Glasgow bombings, in an humane manner. On the other hand Premier Manmohan Singh pretends, as he has always done that the police in the Panjab deals with its captives with kid gloves. Way back in the 1990’s when he was the Union Finance Minister in Premier Narsimha Rao’s Central cabinet, the Chief Minister then in the Panjab. Beant Singh killed, tortured and maimed some twenty thousand Sikh’s and an equal number disappeared. No trials for the butchery have taken place, though after the Rome Statute we have an operational International Criminal Court at the Hague to catch perpetrator’s of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. India doesn’t want to open its cupboard of skeletons, so it is not signing the Rome Protocol. With his suave and cultivated exterior Premier Manmohan Singh, like Mr. Vajpayee, Mr. Advani, Mr. Modi, Mr. Thakre and other Indian politico leaders, is really a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.

Otherwise how wouldn’t he be knowing what happened to Mr. B.I. S. Chahal the former media adviser to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ? If you will recall I wrote on his torture because his co-accused in the Ludhiana City scam were in jail here with me. Chahal spent a night in this jail here, before he was taken to be lodged in the Patiala jail. Now what I hear just about takes the cake. Chahal while under interrogation by Superintendent of Police Mr. Kawaljit Singh Sandhu and Mr. Surjit Singh Grewal, supervised personally by the Director of the Vigilance Bureau Mr. summed Saini(he’s currently under investigation for murders by the CBI) was got sodomized and human excreta put into his month. Every step of his interrogation was relayed alive through a mobile phone to Sukhbir Singh, the immature, nit wit son of Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Panjab’s Chief Minister. I think his extreme perversity, mental retarded growth, dependence on his mother Mata Surinder Kaur, his Saala Bikramjit Singh Majithia and their Media Adviser the extremist Arya Samajist Harcharan Bains is going to make him into a megalomaniac, just like Pol Pot, Saddam Hussain, Dada Amin, Beant Singh, Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi. He’s going to spoil the career’s of a lot of bureaucrats and police men. One policeman here in Ludhiana is going about enticing our partymen into the Badal’s party, though politicking and breaking political parties is not in the charter of a bureaucrats or police officers duties.

Torture of Police Constables:

Torture is prohibited by any officer holding government office. But in the case of Dimpa a former M.L.A from Beas constituency, his security personnel (constables) have been brutally tortured by a Senior Superintendent of Police in Amritsar District, Mr. Iqbal Singh. Mr. Iqbal Singh has a bad record for human right violations. When Mr. Parkash Singh Badal took office as Panjab’s Chief Minister in 1997, he appointed Mr. Iqbal Singh the Senior Superintendent of Police, Kapurthala district. Used to previous barbaric regimes of Beant Singh, KPS Gill, Ray, Rabeoro, Mr. Iqbal Singh tortured to death our party’s youth leader Kashmir Singh of Hushiarpore district, whom he had abducted from outside his jurisdiction and put to rest in an extra-judicial murder. Though our party’s hue and cry of a foul murder Mr. Iqbal Singh enjoys immunity from the law because of his close ties with Mr. Sukhbir Singh and Mr. Parkash Singh Badal. Even otherwise policemen who kill, torture, abduct and maim Sikhs are given a broad licence by the Indian State to commit crimes against humanity.

This practice of torturing Police constables is pregnant with mischief. What we see in Kashmir, should be learnt by Mr. Badal and his son Mr. Sukhbir Singh. The security forces there are on a very short leach, because they are fighting their own countrymen and at short notice are dropping their officer’s dead with their rifles or fire arms. In criminology we learn that the murder weapons will invariably be from the profession one acquires. For instance, a farmer will kill with his sickle or an axe or any other implement he uses. A nurse or a doctor invariably will use a syringe. A soldier or policeman a fire arm. So I would warn Mr. Badal and Mr. Sukhbir Singh not to use the tool of torture to even the score with their rivals. In the past Partap Singh Kairon, Darbara Singh, Zail Singh, Beant Singh didn’t do too well by using such methods. Today Mr. Amarinder Singh and Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Mr. Sukhbir Singh, Mata Surinder Kaur, Saala Bikramjit Singh and Arya Samaji Media Adviser are all placed on the Z security list, a not very healthy prospect for what India calls and labels herself as a democracy.

Judge Uma Nath Singh:

Justice Uma Nath Singh of the Panjab and Haryana Court is not from our region i.e. Panjab, Himachal, Kashmir or Haryana. He’s practiced law in Delhi before he was elevated to the High Court. Lawyers and Courts in Delhi are smarter than the lawyers and Courts in our northern region. Delhi being cosmopolitan, the lawyers and judges fraternity is more aware about the human rights movement, internationally. I am sad here in our region the lawyers and judges don’t know the ABC of human rights, the Magna Carta, the American and French revolutions, the Vienna Conference of 1815, the Geneva Conventions, League of Nations, the UN charter or the Human Rights conventions, statutes and treaties. Happily though all these laws are directly or by implications included in Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution, our lawyers and judges haven’t read this major shift from a totalitarian state to a humane, welfare state where the citizen has inalienable rights to life liberty and freedom which the state can’t take without “the procedure laid down by law”, I quote article 21 of the Indian Constitution and all constitutions of free democracies have the meaning if not the words preserve the life, liberty and freedom of their citizens.

Now in Chandigarh it was reported to Justice Uma Nath Singh that an advocate of the High Court one Tahar Singh took perverse pleasure in torturing his wife. It was reported by the wife to Judge Singh that her husband Tahar Singh also threw her into a river and asked her to swim back. Besides that he tortured her daily. This wayward and absurd behaviour pricked the conscience of this Judge and he ordered that he be sent to the Lunatic Asylum in Agra and got examined for his mental imbalance. Promptly the whole High Court Bar went on a strike and served notice to the Chief Justice Mr. Jain, who has been appointed to this high seat under very peculiar and suspicious circumstances, who immediately appointed a special bench of judges who promptly sat late into the night and stayed Mr. Tahar Singh being taken for a medical check up to ascertain his mental equilibrium. The Bar has further decided to boycott the court of Justice Uma Nath Singh. The last time in this very High Court when Justice Roy was the Chief Justice the whole fraternity of judges went on a strike because Justice Roy had checked the waywardness and corrupt practices of the Judges who are supposed to dispense justice free of cost or asking for favours. Now my advise to all wives who suffer cruelty by their husbands or whose husbands are in the habit of throwing their wives into rivers should refrain from approaching Justice Uma Nath Singh, lest they offend the members of the Bar and bestir Chief Justice Jain from his easy pace so that he doesn’t have to constitute a special bench. One of the judges on that bench Justice Surya Kunt who dispenses injustice to Sikhs, promptly activated himself in giving a stay to Mr. Tahar Singh.

Bharatinder Singh Chahal who was sodomized by the police, while in police custody was called by Justice Uma Nath Singh to the High Court and asked to narrate how he was tortured. Chahal broke down and was ashamed to recount in an open court how he was tortured and humiliated. So Justice Uma Nath Singh asked him to write down the entire ordeal and hand over the paper to the Court’s secretary. Hopefully Chahal will get justice.

My advise to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not to lecture the Australian’s on human rights and justice. Sardar Manmohan Singh should set his sights on cleaning his Augean stables. Chahal is from Sardar Manmohan Singh’s own political party and since our party is dagger’s drawn with the Congress party since 1984, Sardar Manmohan Singh should do better in looking after his flock, rather than leave minding his flock to us. His party leader’s Ms. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Mr. Shamsher Singh Dullo are in cahoots with Mr. Badal who is on a vendetta drive with his political rivals. Mr. Amarinder Singh, has returned from Kathmandu and London where he went on feigned visits. He did no historical research in Kathmandu or got himself treated for illness in London. All his life he has run away from his responsibilities. Every one knows what trouble he has in his heart. It’s more metaphorical than physical. All, the doctors told him in England was that the was over weight by sixteen kilo’s much like the Empress of Blanding’s Castle of the P.G. Wodehouse world.

Sleep, Sleep the Prime Minister, let torture, extra-judicial killings, sodomy, disappearances and maiming’s of the Sikhs, the Muslims, the Dalits and the Christians be the hall mark of your ruthless and wicked regime.

Simranjit Singh Mann,

President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 12

Source: http://www.sikhsangat.org/news/publish/asi..._of_Sikhs.shtml

Independence of India and Oppression of Sikh

15 August marks India’s Independence Day and prolongs the suffering of the Sikhs. We are clear about our nationhood, but it is denied by the Indian State and the Indian political class which are not prepared to allow us basic rights.

Sikh sacrifices for freedom

Prior to independence Sikhs were less than 1.5% of the population, but their contribution to the freedom struggle was immense. 77% of those sent to the gallows were Sikh as were 81% of those sentenced to life imprisonment. During the Quit India Movement many indiscriminate arrests were made and Sikhs contributed 70% of the total Punjabis arrested. More than 60% of the 20,000 who joined the Indian National Army were Sikhs.

100-150 million refugees resulted from partition in August 1947 with 40% of all Sikhs becoming refugees. Partition resulted in up to 2 million people being murdered and another 10-50 million being injured.

Sikhs betrayed and promises broken

India’s founding fathers gave numerous solemn promises that the Sikhs freedom and dignity would be safeguarded. Jawaharlal Nehru said that “the brave Sikhs of Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area set up in the north of India wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom”. These promises were conveniently forgotten after independence and the Sikhs were dismissively told by the same Nehru that the “circumstances had now changed”.

Sikhs have rejected India's Constitution

Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru gave the Sikhs assurances that after India achieves political freedom no Constitution shall be framed by the majority community unless it is freely acceptable to the Sikhs. This promise was repeated throughout the period up to independence. When the Constitution was produced in 1950 it failed to deliver any safeguards or political rights for the Sikhs as a people or nation. The Sikhs therefore refused to sign the Constitution and have never accepted it. Article 25 even denies Sikhism, the fifth largest faith in the world, separate recognition as a religion – an affront that is widely seen as a deliberate act of suppression of the Sikhs.

Demands for greater autonomy were dismissed

The Indian authorities have systematically discriminated against the Sikhs since 1947 and subverted or suppressed all legitimate political demands for greater autonomy. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 1973 set out the basis on which the Sikhs were prepared to accept a political union within India, as a federal state. This demand for internal self-determination was pursued through decades of peaceful protest and attempts at negotiation with the central government. The demands were never seriously considered and given the history of the conflict between the Sikhs and India since 1984, this would now be too little too late.

Gross violation of Sikh human rights

In the last 30 years the Indian authorities have unleashed a rein of terror through gross violation of human rights of Sikhs in an attempt to extinguish the calls for freedom and Sikh independence.

In June 1984 the Indian army attacked the Golden Temple Complex and 125 other Sikh Gurdwaras in Punjab and massacred tens of thousands of innocent Sikh pilgrims. This laid the foundation stone for an independent sovereign Sikh State, Khalistan.

In November 1984 tens of thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred in Delhi and over 130 other cities throughout India by well-orchestrated mobs under the direct supervision of senior Indian politicians and officials.

Over 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered and disappeared since 1984. Many Sikh political prisoners still languish in Indian jails without charge or trial and others have been falsely charged and sentenced to death by hanging. Illegal detention and torture of Sikhs is common place and well documented by independent human rights organisations.

Sikh nationhood and independence

Sikhs first secured political power in the form of an independent state in 1710, after suffering centuries of foreign invasions and alien domination. The larger sovereign Sikh state was established in 1799 and was recognised by all the world powers. The Sikhs, after the two Anglo-Sikh wars, lost their kingdom and the Punjab came under British rule in 1849. However, in giving up power Sikhs were party to several Treaties with the British.

Gurjeet Singh, Sikh Federation (UK)

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 13

Source: http://worldsikhnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=936&Itemid=29

At 60, India hunts villains, avoids mirror and Sikh nation completely excluded

Written by Ambri Pukhraj

Thursday, August 16, 2007

and partition is a forgotten tale

Indian Independence Day celebrations would have played out in myriad colours a few hours before this issue reaches your hands. By all available accounts, the blood and pain of dismembered Punjabis seems to have been decisively left behind as Indian media searched for its heroes and villains.

Not one of the mainstream Indian dailies even referred to the fact that a brave nation of Sikhs went through hell and more and was separated from its beloved Sri Nankana Sahib and other gurughars. Not one news channel even broached the subject that every single day, and several times in a day, every Sikh wants to be reunited with its heritage and legacy left behind due to short-sighted policies and ambitions of small men in the years leading to the August 15, 1947 Partition.

Never has history witnessed so much of blood and shared pain going waste amidst corporate din and crafty politics.

When the WSN team planned a Special Report on the State of the Media in India as it marks 60th anniversary of its Independence (see page 15), it had no idea that a leading English language weekly magazine will rush to vindicate that decision. Outlook magazine, zeal overflowing in presenting the new India, drew up a list of villains and bunged in Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and someone it named "The faceless terrorist" alongwith the likes of Nathu Ram Godse etc.

How seriously should one take this list is clear from the fact that while recounting the difficulties of life in Kashmir for the common people in another story in the same issue, it thought the long queue at the airport is a major problem for the valley residents. Such is the worldview of journalists sitting in Delhi's cozy magazine offices.

A few years back, it was none other than the Outlook which had a sketch of a donkey on the cover and a story called "Dumbing Down of the Media" to go with it. It might as well have put the Outlook's thinking brains on the cover of that issue, or perhaps it did.

No serious contemplation of the national or international problems was undertaken before declaring that the unnamed terrorist is a villain and "His existence is symptomatic of India's hopes gone awry." Yes, but how? Did Outlook even try to understand what it takes to tie some RDX around your stomach and blow yourself up at a time when the only punishment that the Indian justice dispensing system can think of is capital punishment? In times of Jihad, capital punishment is a temptation. Beant Singh was killed because the Indian state was apathetic to a Chief Minister and a DGP letting loose a regime of fake encounters, and the Centre was actively backing that. You can call Dilawar Singh a terrorist, and hang Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh, but the history's verdiict is still awaited. The little kids in the streets of Gaza throwing but only a small stone at the marauding tanks are the kind of terrorists such thinking is nurturing.

Sant Bhindranwale refused to participate in the politics of falsehood, and with his steadfast stance, exposed not only the Indian establishment's hollowness but also the falsehoods of some fellow Akalis. Since when has Outlook carried a dispassionate analysis to reach the conclusion that he ordered killings of Hindus? But then its editor Vinod Mehta can't be blamed in times when world powers went with open eyes to look for WMDs in regions where their best sleuths told them none existed. Oh, by the way, was that Mr Mehta's sketch on the cover about dumbing down of media?

Outlook's real face is becoming increasingly visible in recent times. It did a story sometime back saying more than 80 per cent of Sikh youth are getting their hair cut, a clear lie. Then, while painting the Sant as a hero, it says the Sant wanted to reform Sikhs who "had taken to drugs and clipping their beards." We did not know it was such a villainous aspiration. But this is exactly what Indian establishment had a problem with. A rennaisance among the Sikhs would have been a real problem for New Delhi, and agents of the establishment would paint anyone a villain. Mr Mehta, every son born to a Sikh woman is a 'Bhujangi', so there you have all the villains. How many photos can you publish in your magazine? Do look up what 'Bhujangi' means in any dictionary, and you won't be able to get a good night's sleep.

And if you would just check how many posters of the Sant are sold at every religious fair in Punjab, the Outlook might as well plan its next issue in new light.

Of the 500 plus districts in India, more than 200 are directly affected by naxalite violence, violence at the roots of which is poverty, discrimination, stupid development policies, a stubboorn refusal to understand that other ways of life and living style exist, officialdom's apathy, and Indian state's decision that everything can be handled by its security forces. In the north, Kashmir has been in ferment for so long that no Urdu poetry about the Dal Lake brings joy anymore. The north-east has been smouldering for decades. In India's west, entire swathes of Gujarat and Maharastra are swamped in either rank communalism or parochialism while media focusses on the colour of Sanjay Dutt's shirt. The combined Indian opposition and sections of the ruling UPA are accusing the Congress of flouting the will of the Parliament and surrendering the sovereignty of the country.

Every single protest is handled now by the police, paramilitary and army. Fake encounters are not stopping. Police custody deaths have stopped making it to front pages. Hundreds of thousands are dying simply because they want to cross rivers in rickety boats; hundreds die because buses roll over into khuds regularly. Millions sleep on hungry stomachs when grain godowns are bursting at the seams. Official India does not hear the cries. It is dumb and deaf and blind but not helpless. New Delhi talks of cell phone density when farmers commit suicide. Landless labourers are unable to understand why every inch of India's visible skyline suddenly supports huge hoardings asking everyone to buy foreign brands, wear Gucci shoes, sport Channel bags, and ad lib.

This Independence Day, India's Jana Gana Mana on myriad TV channels was paid for by Airtel, a cellular provider company. The state has turned on against its citizens so that a few can have a good life, the state has obliterated the concept of human rights, the state has given up the idea of welfare state, the state has turned into an oppressor. Official India has taken a side, and it is not in favour of the millions of oppressed, poor, deprived, and discriminated against. If we do have an outlook, any Outlook would have identified it as the villain. Some years ago, at least sections of the media used to do that, but then Delhi's cozy offices and nice evenings among the Indian power elite do change a magazine man. Some times he looks like the sketch on its cover.

[Singh, Mahan]

Article N0. 14

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle2283238.ece

From The Sunday Times

August 19, 2007

Attlee: the unnamed guilty man of India’s slaughter

On the 60th anniversary of Indian partition, the part played by Clement Attlee in facilitating mass killing is still ignored

Patrick French

Ten years ago I got into trouble when I published Liberty or Death: India’s Journey to Independence and Division. The Calcutta Telegraph called me “the most hated man in India”. The reception in Britain was better, but in India I was banned from appearing on diplomatic premises and had to be given security protection when I made a speech in New Delhi.

My crime was to depict Mahatma Gandhi as a ruthlessly sharp political negotiator and Mohammad Ali Jin-nah, the founder of Pakistan, as an underestimated historical figure who had protected the interests of his people. A decade ago India was less confident than it is today and a foreigner taking a bite out of the father of the nation was not appreciated.

Memories of the events surrounding independence and partition are still raw even 60 years on – the anniversary was last week – particularly in the north, where the violence was worst. About 1m people were murdered in communal massacres in 1947 and at least 14m people were displaced, making it the largest mass migration in history.

The legacy is still visible in the social composition of New Delhi, a city of one-time refugees, in the unresolved conflict over Kashmir and in the shaky position of Indian Muslims, despite their near-universal loyalty to the idea of India. Over the past 60 years India and Pakistan have fought four wars against each other and remain bellicose.

en years on, looking at the archive material again, I see the events of 1947 in a slightly different light. What strikes me now is the extent to which the architect of the political chaos of that time has been sold a pass. Whatever the rights and wrongs were of the strategy pursued by the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, it is apparent that British policy at the time was dangerously inept. Clement Attlee, quiet and uncharismatic – like John Major but without the circus background – makes an unlikely villain, but he was responsible for the key decisions.

Attlee hated the camera as much as his last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, loved it. A recent biographer repeats the common claim that in India he “achieved what virtually no one else, in any country, has achieved, before or since: to withdraw in good order from a vast slice of Empire”.

This is palpably untrue: through his action and inaction, Attlee facilitated mass slaughter but never took the blame for it. In later life, he said that giving India independence was his greatest achievement. As Stalin observed, one death is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

During the second world war, Attlee chaired the India committee as deputy to Winston Churchill, who regarded Indians as “a beastly people with a beastly religion”. Attlee followed Churchill’s line that India should supply troops for the allied war effort but receive nothing in return. A Labour colleague on the committee, Lord Listowel, found Attlee “a muted echo of his master’s voice”.

Leo Amery, Churchill’s school-friend who was secretary of state for India, complained that Attlee did not have “the courage to stand up to Winston and tell him when he is making a fool of himself”. Even during the Bengal famine of 1943, when 2m people died, the cabinet refused to send grain to India; and when food was sent to Holland, the viceroy Lord Archibald Wavell noted “the very different attitude towards feeding a starving population when the starvation is in Europe”.

When Attlee became prime minister in 1945, his policy was no more competent than Churchill’s had been. In one of his rare pronouncements, he said he found India “particularly intractable and nearly insoluble”.

Freddie Pethick-Lawrence – “a foolish old dodderer” according to Woodrow Wyatt, the Labour MP – was made secretary of state. Although the country was in a state of incipient breakdown, it took nine months for a delegation led by “pathetic Lawrence” to go there to seek a constitutional settlement.

Wavell wrote in his diary that he was “a charming old gentleman but no man to negotiate with these tough Hindu politicians”. He began each meeting “by giving away independence with both hands and practically asking Congress to state their highest demands . . . he is no poker player”.

Pethick-Lawrence returned to London having done nothing but increase tension. Violence spread as political and religious groups tried to secure their position. Despite repeated warnings, Attlee ordered the chiefs of staff to discontinue preparations for the military reinforcement of India.

By the end of 1946, many troops had left and Britain’s ability to keep the peace in India was reduced: each British soldier was in theory responsible for keeping 40,000 restive Indians under control. As a privately educated turn-of-the-century socialist with sentimental, doctrinaire ideas about the British working class (his maudlin poetry has to be read to be believed), Attlee’s main interest was in building the new Jerusalem and strengthening the power of the state in their support. India was an irritant.

Busy creating the National Health Service and the welfare state with borrowed American money, Attlee took two months to respond to an important letter from the viceroy. As Wavell wrote to Pethick-Lawrence: “We are very near what will amount almost to open civil war between the communities . . . the absence of a definite policy on the part of His Majesty’s government is a very serious matter indeed at a critical time like this.” After meeting Attlee and the cabinet, Wavell told his private secretary that he was “really horrified by their lack of realism and honesty”.

n early 1947 the prime minister solved the problem by installing Mountbatten as viceroy. His instructions were to get a deal and get out. Although in old age Mountbatten liked to pretend he had been given plenipotentiary powers, it is apparent from cabinet minutes that the crucial decisions were all taken by Attlee. He reversed earlier promises and blocked India’s princely states from deciding their own future; he weakened Pakistan by denying it many assets under the partition agreement; he decreed that all British soldiers should be withdrawn from the date of independence and could not be used to prevent disorder. Crucially – despite requests by Wavell from 1946 onwards – he still refused to confirm the borders of the new Pakistan.

Instead, Attlee gave Cyril Radcliffe, a British barrister, six weeks to invent a new dividing line. This uncertainty over boundaries was the proximate cause of the mass migration and ethnic cleansing. It meant Indian electors had no idea what they were voting for when they chose to accept or reject partition and Pakistan. Some presumed Delhi, given its Mughal heritage, would be in Pakistan; others thought Lahore, with its Hindu businesses, would be in the new India.

When the border was announced two days after partition, the refugee crisis multiplied as people fled in their millions. Muslims were burnt out of east Punjab and west Bengal, and Hindus and Sikhs were driven from east and west Pakistan. Villages were looted and destroyed. Women were kidnapped, raped and forcibly converted. No preparations were made for the vast movement of peoples. They died of thirst and disease and babies were left by the roadside. According to independent witnesses, about 1m people lost their lives.

On the day when Radcliffe’s boundary was announced, Attlee held an emergency cabinet meeting over a currency crisis: the meat ration was cut, foreign holidays were banned and the convertibility of sterling was suspended. India was the last thing on his mind.

Ultimately, it was murderous neigh-bours, religious gangs and criminal militias who were responsible for the slaughter of partition. Nobody was held to account and it was in the interests of all the politicians to play down the scale of the bloodshed and praise their own role in making India free. The Indian leadership, and Jawaharlal Nehru in particular, did not want British troops to remain in a peace-keeping role after independence.

Today the carnage is often presented as the product of atavistic rivalries and larger historical forces, rather than the consequence of gross political incompetence. The BBC2 epic The Day India Burned: Partition – which was shown last Tuesday – has the best broadcast interviews I have ever seen with survivors and perpetrators of the 1947 massacres, but ignored Attlee altogether.

I was the historical consultant on the programme and fought and lost a battle with the producer to pin more blame on the single figure who, I now believe, bears the greatest responsibility for the debacle.

Focusing on the photogenic Mountbatten and “the British government” is like blaming the American regime for the invasion of Iraq without bothering to name-check President George W Bush.

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 15

Source: http://www.sikhchic.com/article-detail.php?id=291&cat=12

The Man Who Changed India

by KHUSHWANT SINGH

The following is one of the many stories that are to be found in Khushwant Singh's new book, Sikhs Unlimited, which was recently released in India. Chandigarh-based young Khushwant is a regular sikhchic.com columnist and also writes for "The Times of India". As well, he frequently contributes to "India Today".

If I could outsource it, I would.

Imagine waking at 2.30 a.m., to catch a flight at 5.30 a.m. from Chicago with change-overs at Atlanta and New Jersey, to reach Washington, DC's Dulles airport at 3.30 p.m. And, of course, the airline had left my luggage behind. Continuous travel, hopping in and out from hotels, houses and airports for almost two months had starting fatiguing me, and the luggage episode was the last thing I needed.

"Sat Sri Akal", I said as I immediately recognized the white American Sikh, though he looked more like our Bhais in the gurdwaras. A paunch and a white kurta-pyjama, a similar coloured turban and a flowing beard.

"Khushwant Singh?" he asked.

I heaved a sigh of relief at the baggage claim area as I had been running from pillar to post trying to trace my luggage.

"I'm Sri Daya Singh, brother of Gurujot Singh", he quickly added, "and he is waiting for us outside in the car, probably doing laps, as you cannot park here".

"'Ah, OK", I replied, and hurriedly scribbled my contact details for the United Airlines Lost Baggage Claim agent.

Gurujot Singh was not to be part of the book, until I reached America and was told that I would be naive not to include one of the pioneers of off-shoring and outsourcing to developing countries, especially India.

Driven by the late Harbhajan Singh Yogi's desire in 1989 to create employment opportunities in India, Gurujot Singh had humbly obeyed his master's orders. Harbhajan Singh Yogi had instructed his disciples to transfer American technology into India, but Gurujot Singh went a step further.

Based on the philosophy that there is $200 billion being spent on jobs performed in the U.S. that could be off-shored to less developed countries at one-half of the current cost, he set about creating call centres, technical help-desks, telesales, customer service and other services that could be provided over the telephone, internet, mail or facsimile for American corporations in less privileged countries.

Gurujot's HealthScribe Inc., a medical transcription firm set up in Bangalore in 1993 and now valued at over $1 billion, had set off a chain reaction that was to have a far-reaching impact on Indian socio-economic life.

The back office business processing project, that was meant to be based on a model to boost social engineering to create wealth and employment in developing countries, rather than to only make money, kicked off a new lease of economic freedom amongst youth, especially young women who, because of their economic dependence on a male-dominated society, were at times subjected to physical and mental abuse.

And what Punjab missed, but Bangalore gained and Pakistan's Punjab and South Africa are also getting, is a story that would be unravelled after I reached Gurujot Singh's office at Sterling, Virginia.

"Welcome", said Gurujot Singh as I got into his car, unhappy with the events of the day. Gurujot Singh, an army man, wore an aqua shirt and white trousers, had a paunch - though not to compare with his brother's - and very bright eyes, probably hawkish enough that made him see the opportunity that lay in India.

"We are putting you up in the Marriot Suites", said Gurujot Singh.

Interestingly, by now the trend of interviews had changed, as I moved from one entrepreneur to the other. Unlike before, where I was staying with families, starting from Cleveland onwards, I was being checked into luxury hotels by my hosts and the interaction was more over meals or in offices, rather than the usual at-home chit-chat that I had become used to.

"Worldbridge International", read the signboard on the door that Gurujot Singh opened with a click of a key, guiding me to his office. As it was a weekend, the office had zero attendance, except the three of us.

"So what are you looking for?" he asked.

"I am at the door of a man who I believe triggered what the world calls BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) activity. I have simply come to have a peep into your life and your work", I replied, and like any other corporate meeting, we got right down to business.

The digital recorder was switched on, and Gurujot Singh began: "It was Yogiji who set the idea rolling, when he said that he had got the Indian technology of yoga to America and it was time to transfer American technology to India and asked us to go to India".

"You mean it's so simple - off-shoring in exchange for yoga? This aspect has not been revealed to the public, surprisingly", I added.

"Yes it is, technology for technology", he replied emphatically. "Yoga is nothing but a technology, a science of living that was introduced in the U.S.A. by various yogis in the early twentieth century".

A veteran traveller to India to spread Harbhajan Singh Yogi's yoga, Gurujot Singh showed up in India for the first time, for the purpose of technology transfer only, in 1990.

"Thinking about it, the first seeds of offshoring were sown when we started to digitalize manuscripts under back office processing in New Delhi and Chandigarh for an American publishing company, Simon and Schuster", he explained.

Sikh Dharma (an offshoot of 3HO, the organization founded by Harbhajan Singh Yogi) - under its company, Kriya Systems - in 1980 had launched an educational software called Typing Tutor, which went on to become one of the highest-selling software in the world (1983-1991), with over twenty million users. In 1990, Kriya Systems, using the Typing Tutor, trained young English-speaking, semi-literate Indians in typing and then shipped off-shored data entry work to them from the USA.

In publishing, three persons would work on one book and separate software would detect an error if one of the typists keyed in a different spelling for the same word. Before this, the entire "legacy inventory" was converted into digital files with the help of a character recognition process called Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which was only eighty percent accurate.

OCR included feeding paper to the scanner that, in turn, tried to read the character. The proof-reader had to still go through it and correct it by reading each and every word.

With the new method, the software would indicate any mistake, and highlight it, thus making it simpler for the proof-reader to correct it. Through this technique, 99.9 percent accuracy was achieved and all at a cost of $100 per person per month - a good wage for a simple graduate in 1990 India!

"Off-shoring was the cheapest way to digitalize books", said Gurujot, laughingly.

"You see, software development was already taking place in India in the late eighties, whereas we were only looking at doing business processing".

But then, it did not come without its glitches. India did not have an earth station at that time, so no real-time data transfer could happen. First, the books were shipped to India; data was transferred and then shipped back.

Gurujot, in the meantime, also began a dialogue with the Indian government, highlighting that there were a couple of hundred thousand jobs in the offing if the government brought in new laws and created infrastructure to enable real-time transfer.

Now there are two million jobs, Gurujot said.

And the man who saw the opportunity in the then Indian cabinet was none other than the present Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh (then, the country's Finance Minister), whose policies gave a new lease on life to a beleaguered Indian economy (1991-1996).

Manmohan Singh immediately saw the potential and got infrastructure moving. "It is largely due to his efforts that India is where it is", commented Gurujot Singh.

"We were almost at the same level socially as the top political leaders, including the former President of India Giani Zail Singh and former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Yogiji used to regularly dine with them, so having access to the top leaders was not a problem", informed Gurujot.

"If Harbhajan Singh ji had such proximity to senior politicians, then why didn't Chandigarh and Punjab become the hub of BPO activity?" I asked, interrupting the monologue.

A shocking revelation followed. "We did start our first activity in North India, but the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao from Hyderabad was keen that all new development should take place in southern India. His logic was that Punjab and other north Indian states had already ushered in the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, whereas South India had been deprived of any such revolution.

Hence the first earth station was installed at Bangalore in December 1993, which led to Bangalore becoming the "Silicon Valley" of India.

"We went to Bangalore because we had no option, and HealthScribe became the first commercial subscriber of the earth station which used the satellite for data transfer."

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandak Committee ("SGPC" - a Sikh body that manages gurdwaras) also failed to rise to the occasion after Sikh Dharma approached them as far back as 1991 to set up an earth station in Mohali, Punjab (a satellite city near Chandigarh) at a shared cost of two million dollars.

"The SGPC probably thought its own importance might decrease if people became financially more independent", said a fuming Gurujot Singh. "You set up an earth centre when you want to enable your people and maybe you set up gurdwaras because you want people to come to there and pay obeisance. In my parlance, gurdwara management is a controlling technology.

"The late Gurcharan Singh Tohra seemed to have little vision for Punjab, except religious politics", continued Gurujot, who couldn't have cared less how his candour could raise a storm.

"Clubbed with the agriculture revolution, if anybody had the brains, Punjab would have been the IT capital of India. But then, in Punjab, the politicians don't even seem to know how to use a telephone - they ask their P.A. (personal assistant) to make a phone call for them.

"So, such an attitude was expected", said Gurujot, revealing the inside story of Punjab's missed opportunity and how Punjab's bureaucracy and political leaders proved to be as technology savvy as stones.

I listened to the entire saga dumbfounded, till I remembered the joke I had once heard in the corridors of the Indian agriculture ministry. The only time a Punjab politician or bureaucrat opens his mouth is when he yawns.

And, as if just to rub salt in the wounds, Gurujot told me about the whole new BPO activity, including voice and data transfer, that is mushrooming across the Wagah border, a mere twenty miles inside Pakistan in West Punjab's capital city, Lahore. And how General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, was personally taking a keen interest in the project.

"Anyway," said Gurujot, continuing with his story, "HealthScribe Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of HealthScribe Inc in the U.S., was the first BPO company in India, connected to the earth station, from where we could do direct medical transcription that meant digitizing reports for forty of the biggest hospitals in the U.S., their billing and coding for insurance purposes".

Gurujot Singh became its first CEO and, later, its Chairman.

"One of the unique things about HealthScribe Inc was that the company was initially funded by Indians. We approached very successful Indian doctors in the U.S. who wanted to help India".

Even though this was a difficult concept to explain one and a half decades earlier (1993), the doctors still contributed $2.5 million, the first outside investment in the company after it was set up with an initial investment of $200,000.

Twelve people from Sikh Dharma, including Gurujot's brother, Sri Daya, his daughter - who now owns a new age music production and distribution company - and son-in-law, were involved in setting up the business.

"We approached the Indian doctors for four reasons: a) they had money, that's obvious; b) they understood India because they were Indians; c) they understood the business, but most importantly; d) they held high-ranking positions in the hospital managements. They knew exactly where the medical transcription, billing and coding was done for their hospitals. They ultimately became customers and a web was cast that made us successful".

But, in the entire scheme of things that became an all-Indian affair, Gurujot was simply fulfilling a self-inflicted mandate - to be a catalyst to empower youth. It was Harbhajan Singh Yogi, an Indian by birth, who had initiated the idea. The Indian diaspora was financing the project and it was ultimately the Indian youth and Indian economy that was benefitting from the entire exercise.

Perfect. That first outsourcing venture became typical of how Gurujot Singh set up businesses, made them successful and moved out of business by selling his majority shares, to a start a new venture.

HealthScribe soon became a successful medical transcription business model and there was a huge inflow of corporate visitors to see the HealthScribe model.

Sitting quietly until now, Sri Daya Singh suddenly shot out his comment: "At one point, I thought we were running a tour company for the executives", at which we all laughed heartily and broke for a round of coffee.

The company was sold after five years - from a mere four hundred employees, it had grown to having a staff of twenty thousand, with a $200 million dollar revenue. HealthScribe, now Spheris - after it was bought by the same company in 2003 - is presently the second largest medical transcription company in the world.

1998. Fibre Optic cables had been laid in Bangalore. It was time for a second revolution.

First Ring Inc. was set up in the U.S. and its own subsidiary, under First Ring Pvt. Limited, showed up at Bangalore. Its focus: to generate wealth and employment in India. If HealthScribe was the first back office business company doing data transfer, then First Ring became the first company to do voice transfer.

"We were doing call centre work for financial service companies in America that included Fortune 500 companies like Providian Financial Services, American Express, MCI, and Morgan Stanley".

For example, if you have an American Express card and you called a toll-free number for assistance, all calls would be diverted to India. The call would be taken by an executive who would assist you with your bank balance queries or guide you to pay your bills through the phone or any other question you might have.

The profile also included making calls for the purpose of marketing various products to Americans, like insurance policies, new credit cards, and so on and so forth.

First Ring soon moved to the International Technology Park, Bangalore. By now, GE had also initiated to offshore its back office processing on its own. "Hang on", I said. "Can you clear the off-shoring and outsourcing ka fund to me?"

He looked at me, probably thinking - "sari Ramayana padh ke, ab poochte ho Sita kaun thi" ("after reading the whole Ramayana epic, you now ask me who Sita is!").

"Let me explain the whole concept, though these are terms that came in much later. We were just interested in creating jobs", said Gurujot, clearing his throat. "What we were initially selling was outsourcing and off-shoring, and India as a destination came later, after Harbhajan Singh Yogi asked us to go. Originally, we had planned to outsource work to Native Indian American reservations and since we had the model ready, we implemented it in India".

"Outsourcing means giving work to a vendor and that could be within the country. For example, American Express could have outsourced work in the state of Iowa at a much lower cost than New York City. So companies could save up to ten percent within America due to a different taxation plan. For example, if the total cost is $100,000, the company, by outsourcing within America, would only pay $90,000. But if they off-shored it, they could save $35,000.

"There are three kinds of off-shoring: a) companies set up their own off-shoring like GE Capital did in 1998 in India; or b) 'Outsourcing-Off-shoring', i.e., vendors offshore their work; or c) simply both, which is a very strategic process.

"For example, what companies do presently is: set up a primary outsourced-off-shored vendor; have two other vendors besides having their own off-shore operation which they treat as parallel with the other off-shoring operations. Every week, the companies then take out a progress report listing cost and quality, comparing all the four separate operations.

"At the end of each quarter, for example, American Express would say that we have five hundred people more we want to offshore and whoever has scored the best gets fifty percent of the chunk, the second, thirty percent and the third, twenty percent. The fourth guy gets nothing. This, from the company's point of view, is the best way to ensure low prices and best quality.

"First Ring was later sold and is now First Source with $200 million in revenues".

ICICI group has a holding of a little less than fifty percent in the BPO.

It must have been seven o'clock in the evening when we broke for another cup of coffee. "Can we call it a day and start afresh in the morning?" I asked, exhausted by the hectic travelling.

The concern of whether my luggage had reached the hotel was also bothering me as it carried my cameras, and other electrical equipment, important to proceed further with my work.

But there was no luggage waiting for me at the reception of Marriot Suites. A hot water bath was on top of my priority list, after which I had planned to venture out to the adjoining mall for dinner.

TGIF attracted my attention, though I still don't know why, as the mall was lined with other authentic cuisines. Nevertheless, I soon found myself in TGIF and lost in thinking about the evening's conversation.

I remembered how Gurujot had explained the whole social change Bangalore had undergone after they had started the off-shoring activity, also referred to as the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) in India.

How labour laws in the state of Karnataka, of which Banglore is the capital city, forbade women from working after six in the evening and how, due to the time difference between India and the US, medical transcription or call centre work would only start by 9.30 in the evening.

Of how tough it was to fire inefficient people, due to the stringent labour laws.

"Businesses don't work with such laws", he had remarked. "When you hire somebody, you don't know whether he or she is going to be good. After two months of training, if the guy ain't good, you have to be able to let them go".

Of how difficult it was for women to open bank accounts, as public sector banks would insist on an account in the father's name or ask the girl to be accompanied by a male family member. In other words, despite earning independently, because of banking regulations, the women remained financially shackled to the men in the house.

That's not what Gurujot had come to India for.

Gurujot and his team worked towards getting these laws and regulations changed and HealthScribe, which started with a five percent female workforce, was ultimately working with sixty-five percent women employees when it was sold.

I was reminded of how Gurujot felt that his goal had been achieved and his presence in India was not required anymore and there were other underdeveloped countries of the world that needed him to repeat the same phenomenon.

Moreover, there were plenty of Indians doing similar work and all companies by now knew how to reach India.

According to him, there are three parameters that are important for off-shoring to take place: a) two-way optic fibre technology, b) ten million strong, low-cost English speaking human resources, and c) political stability. Only three countries meet this criterion in the world besides India: the Philippines, South Africa and Pakistan.

"How do you justify Pakistan as a politically stable country?" I had countered Gurujot.

"There are issues everywhere", he had replied. 'When we started in India, people in America didn't have the slightest idea of what India was like. For them, India was a crazy country where rioting, train crashes and floods were the order of the day. Don't these things happen in the U.S.?

The L.A. riots, or for that matter, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and its aftermath, are only two examples.

"Lahore in Pakistan is a great destination for off-shoring. If you were to blindfold me in Delhi and remove it in Lahore, I wouldn't be able to make out the difference, except that traffic is more orderly in Lahore and there are no cows on the roads. Musharraf is great. I simply love Manmohan and Pervez, for they are interested in empowering their youth, though the latter has supposedly changed his rhetoric post 9/11".

By now, I had started feeling drowsy and wanted to head back to the suite. Taking out my notebook at the restaurant, I hurriedly made notes of the questions I proposed to ask Gurujot the next day. What kind of work was he doing in Pakistan's Punjab that the Indian Punjab had missed? Almost regretting the missed opportunity, even though Punjab today is wooing IT investments, I soon lost my thoughts to deep sleep.

I woke up fresh and checked with the reception for my luggage. "No, sir", said a man's voice on the telephone. My enthusiasm was immediately reduced to half as I cursed the airline, yet again.

Dressed in the same clothes - not that the Americans minded it, for they love the scruffy look - I ordered breakfast and waited for Gurujot to pick me up. He was supposed to go to the gurdwara in the morning for a congregation and sadhna before coming to the hotel.

"Before you ask me more questions and since you are writing on my life, I must apprise you of an incident", said Gurujot as we pulled out chairs on reaching his office. I could not guess what to expect, but I think it takes great courage to be frank and share the horrific moments in one's life, especially when it pertains to drugs.

"Shoot", I replied. Infuriated with Gurujot Singh for having transferred white jobs to brown people in India, the white supremacists uploaded an incident of 1987 on the web where Gurujot was falsely implicated in a case for conspiring to peddle drugs.

"You see, many people from different spheres visit our ashram. A man had moved into our ashram and raised his family as Sikhs, but five years before, he had been involved in marijuana peddling, whereby he used to import the drug into the U.S., though he did not do it after moving into the ashram. The police had nabbed some of his past associates, who had turned into informers, as that drastically reduced the jail term - drug peddling being one of the most heinous crimes to commit in America.

"The informants moved into the ashram, pretending that they wanted to be weaned away from drugs and soon became friends with this guy. After becoming friendly, they suggested that he do one last marijuana operation, make a lot of money and then lead a pious life in the ashram. The guy refused and said that he was "out of it". But just because they were talking about it, what they were trying to do was show him as part of a conspiracy to import marijuana.

"And since he was talking about it, they were recording the conversation. The informers shared the same thought with me, and I snubbed them and told them not to even mention it. "Talk about drugs, we are even against use of caffeine", I had replied sternly.

"Soon, the guys became yoga students and handed a letter to me to give to this guy". And when the police arrested the 'guy', Gurujot was also arrested. Luckily for Gurujot, the judge saw the ridiculousness of the charges and Gurujot was let off with a fifty-dollar fine.

"So, when the white supremacists and anti-cult people (twenty-five million Sikhs is a cult?) wanted to get back at me for the whole off-shoring phenomenon, they got hold of this case. For a long time, whenever we approached big corporations, they would e-mail or post this history of mine. Imagine something like this landing on the table of American Express's CEO or the head of Goldman Sachs, whom you are trying to woo as an investor.

"As it is, for many investors, I was a peculiar man, who stayed in an ashram, dressed differently and was talking about a new concept in a faraway country. I had to do a lot of convincing, carrying court orders, taking my lawyers to tell people - look, I'm not guilty.

Somehow, everybody understood. But imagine the due diligence one is put through. And now, since I'm working in South Africa, which virtually means that first I transferred white jobs to brown India and now it's to the blacks, the season is on me".

We laughed heartily, diffusing the serious atmosphere that had suddenly engulfed the empty office space of Worldbridge.

However, Gurujot was not finished yet. The informants had also got the alleged marijuana dealer talking of dealing in arms, which meant larger accusations. Since Gurujot was part of Akal Security, a Sikh Dharma-owned company, the anti-cult people tried to insinuate that Sikh Dharma Sikhs were trying to smuggle in weapons through airports, as Akal provided security to major airports.

"I mean, it's crazy", he said. "In this day and age, airport security is one of the most critical issues of the world. Only fools can think of doing such a thing and making such statements. I don't know how much you know about US security".

"I respect it, as I'm a peace-loving citizen of the world", I replied.

"These miniscule anti-cult/white supremacists that form just a fraction of the population, fail to understand the benefits off-shoring has for the American economy. When that graduate sitting in India earns, the first thing he wants to do is imitate a Yankee. Levis jeans and Nike shoes".

Sure, check out my Levis tag. Which reminded me to call the airline about my luggage again. "Yes, Mr. Singh, your bag has arrived". What a relief it was to get back into fresh clothes, after Gurujot drove me to the airport to collect the luggage.

Going back a few more years, Gurujot claimed to have been to jail over forty times in earlier days, due to his involvement with the Civil Rights movement and anti-Vietnam War protests in America.

When South Africans learn that he had been to jail for the Civil Rights movement, they actually applaud and welcome him.

Another round of laughter, that allowed us to switch gears and presented me with the opportunity to ask the questions that I had scribbled the previous night.

"So how did you reach South Africa?" I asked.

"We are simply driven by the formula that private enterprise plays a pivotal role in eradicating poverty and unemployment. It also saves exploitation of the environment, as people get empowered".

Highly impressed with Nelson Mandela, Gurujot wanted to help him by contributing his bit. Soon, the World Bank, after conducting a feasibility report, approached Gurujot for South Africa.

"Though we went there, work in South Africa is slow, because of the transformation that is taking place in that country. The power has already been transferred to the blacks, but ninety-five percent of the money is still with the whites; slowly but surely, there is a transfer of wealth taking place, where we fitted in perfectly. The process is happening in a regulated manner, unlike in Zimbabwe.

"However, with this process going on, it became difficult for us to find funding, as everything and anything requires funding in South Africa. As a result of which, the capital that we were looking for was not available. All the capital is being used for real asset wealth, whereas we were talking about venture funds. For example, the capital is being spent in transferring diamond mines from white ownership to black.

"We told the World Bank that things were not working in South Africa, at least for the time being, after which the World Bank suggested Pakistan".

Gurujot and Co. were introduced to one Adeel Shah in Washington D.C., who was head of the Pakistan-U.S. business council, who took them to Pakistan, where they held a meeting with UBL Bank, the leading investment bank.

"Between UBL ($2 million), Rupali Group ($2 million), and two smaller banks ($500,000), World Bridge Connect raised investments worth five million US dollars. A facility with a four hundred seating capacity was set up in Lahore and Fortune 500 Company Dish Network became the first company to off-shore forty revenue seats in Lahore.

"Women form a big part of our workforce, even though Pakistan is more conservative than India. Similar to Bangalore, we started plying company buses to pick and drop our employees. The buses have the company name in bold fonts so that people know where the women are going. Pakistan is what India was ten years ago.

"But let me tell you", Gurujot warns, "if India does not take stock of the situation - serious issues like handling its attrition rate and quality - there could be tough times ahead. See, the perception about India ten years ago is what it is in Pakistan. But today, nobody thinks about perceptions, the concern is of quality, as you can hardly get good work in India.

"And companies today want to diversify their location risk. Today, companies are sending seventy percent of their work to India, but they do not want to put too much risk in a single location. They might as well have multiple countries. And, mind you, experimenting in another country is no big deal. Just give twenty seats for starters.

"For example, the companies have hundreds of millions of dollars in India and if something were to go wrong, where can they take it? Only to America - and that would cost them twice as much. So to mitigate the location risk, they have to spread themselves across countries".

China is out, for they don't speak English and, according to Gurujot, it will take the Chinese at least twenty-five years to become accent-neutral.

"The best accent-free English in India is spoken in north India, though we faced huge challenges and made enormous investments in training accents. We hired speech pathologists specializing in this area, which is a science. There are eight diphthongs or sounds made by your articulators: the tongue, lips, teeth and the palate. These four interact in a particular way, to form your or my accent.

"Indians made certain diphthongs which Americans never made. When we trained people in western accents, the idea was not to hide the fact that they were from another country, but to train them to diphthongs that the Americans could understand. We were looking for more global accents, not American, or anything that would make the dialogue comfortable.

"It's a very simple process and takes about forty hours to train someone. But, one of the other problems was that Indians speak very fast, whereas Americans speak slowly in syllables".

Time was running out, for I had an evening flight to catch to New York. "India has to be very careful because it's getting trapped in a vicious cycle. Companies are not training executives because attrition rate is high and global companies are not giving work because quality is sub-standard", Gurujot continued, after a business call interrupted our conversation.

"By the way, what time is your flight?" asked Gurujot. "In three hours time", I said.

"Let's hurry then. We'll have dinner and I'll drop you".

"The next big focus is on stem cell research. And India seems to be the right destination to off-shore research. America is just caught up in an unnecessary debate of morality", he added as we chatted over dinner at an Italian restaurant.

"People only think that you are a genius when they look back at your work, but what you are actually doing at that point of time is simply using common sense", he said.

Postscript: In a significant development, World Bridge has shut its Lahore operations since May 2006. U.S. clients shied away from Pakistan, after a U.S. consular officer was killed in Karachi on 1 March 2006, in a suicide bomb attack. Moreover, owing to the growing political uncertainty, there are few takers for Pakistan.

World Bridge is looking to start afresh in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2007.

(Sikhs Unlimited is published by Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 2007. 254 pages. ISBN 978-81-291-1207-1. It is available at EthnicIsland.com)

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Conversation about this article (comments).

1: Jagdeep Singh (London, England), August 22, 2007, 7:48 PM.

What an utterly infuriating and frustrating story regarding the SGPC and Punjab government's incompetence regarding these investments. Is this not emblematic of so much that is wrong with the Sikh establishment? They would rather have their selfish fiefdoms than really usher in modernity because the status quo is to their gain, and they fear intellectual and social liberation of the Sikh people. What a shame that such a far sighted people, the Sikhs, are being held back by small-time narrow-minded clique with no vision or real concern. And Gurujot Singh is an authentic Sikh hero of the 21st Centruy. As long as there are men and women like him, we will succeed and break barriers despite all those amongst us who hold us back and fear modernity. You cannot keep this spirit in shackles.

2: Inder (U.S.A.), August 23, 2007, 3:58 AM.

I completely agree, Jagdeep. Leave it up to the buffoons supposedly representing the Panth to wreck us from the inside. These are the same people, like the heads of some Gurdwara committees, who decide who is a Sikh and who isn't, and yet blindly follow rituals. All the while, the youth in Punjab are lost in drugs, forgetting their roots; farmers are losing their land; and female foeticide is rampant. If only we held our own destiny in our hands ... I pray that one day we will. How can it be any other way? We must invest in our own people, through education, science, social and economic infrastructure.

3: Sukhpreet Singh (Kingston-Upon-Thames, England), August 23, 2007, 8:49 AM.

Punjab has to move into the new competitive information economy of the 21st Century that India is at the cutting edge of. Sikh leaders and Punjabi politicians need to get out of the way if they cannot facilitate this. As long as people treat politics, office and influence as feudal roles, nothing will be done to challenge Punjab to step up to the plate and compete, channel the natural entrepeneurial spirit of Sikhs, and plug into the new global economy rather than just complacently relying on providing food for the rest of India as the mainstay and base of the state's wealth. And Punjab will continue to fall behind the rest of India, never mind the rest of the globalizing world. I also believe that it is these "leaders" and politicians who stoke up religious feelings in a quite wicked and cynical way in order to cover up their failings and lack of vision or concern for the modern world, and their narrow-minded mentalities. When a great entrepeneur like Gurujot Singh is frustrated by them, we know that something is deeply wrong with those who are supposedly our leaders at a religious, institutional and/or political level in Punjab.

4: Amrit Kaur (U.S.A.), August 23, 2007, 10:21 AM.

We all know how the S.G.P.C. functions - that is, certainly not for the benefit of the Sikh community, but instead, to secure their own place and boost their own ego. Can these wrongs be redressed now? Can Punjab be made a kind of satellite of Bangalore's Silicon valley by the Sikh-American enterpreneur at this late stage? Maybe, the Punjab Government has learnt its lessons. Is it too late ?

5: Mahanbir Singh Grewal (Adelaide, South Australia), August 23, 2007, 5:59 PM.

Excellent story. We in the diaspora should back Gurujot's vision and have him guide the community worldwide. We should divide up the community into "misls" and proceed with developing it, step by step

6: Charan Singh (Toronto, Canada), August 24, 2007, 8:53 AM.

Those who really want to help, do it despite any challenges. That is the Sikhi way. Punjab remains distressed, the youth remain alienated, there aren't enough jobs, the politicians remain uneducated ... Help can only come from God! Men who bring change don't regret difficulties or get distracted by failures, or gossip or write mere stories of the wrongs done by others: they actually help! That is the Sikhi way. Dear S. Gurujot Singh ji: you can still do so much. You have overcome so many other hurdles. The ones you face in Punjab are but mere challenges, waiting to be overcome.

7: H.S. (New York, U.S.A.), August 24, 2007, 11:22 AM.

Investment, money, prosperity and growth can still be seen in Punjab, if the successive governments keep the interest of Punjab over petty politics & political vendetta. Both Chief Ministers Badal (SAD) & Amrinder Singh (Cong) have or had the will to change things and a desire to do so, but were so engrossed in politics that they missed golden oppounities ... and did nothing meaningful. In fact, during most of their time in power, their energies were wasted in undoing some of the good projects of the previous governments. We Sikhs and Punjabis, wherever we live, whether we like any of these politicians and their parties or not, MUST start rethinking about our Punjab. We can't let it suffer in the hands of any short-sighted politician/person. The priority should be to male Punjab prosper ... I'm sure each one of us can help. Gurujot Singh and other wealthy entrpreneurs like him will pour in, the moment they are sure their investment in Punjab will not be subject to the whims and vagaries of petty politics. We need to remember: Punjab is much more than a land of five rivers; it is where every Punjabi's heart resides. Like the tough times of the past, these too will pass!

8: Tejwant (U.S.A.), August 24, 2007, 12:29 PM.

What one can gather from the above great article is, that we may be good parrots as far as chanting Gurbani is concerned, but we refuse to learn the tools from the same Gurbani about how to put Gurmat values into practice. If we had learned that then, Punjab would have become the web of mini Silicon Valleys rather than the place where desperation is rampant and suicide is the only way out for many. If our honchos of the Panth and the Sikh politicos of Punjab follow Miri- Piri concept, rather than the meri-meri one, then there may be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and it would not be the train coming towards us, loaded with Punjabi moonshine.

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 16

Source: http://www.punjabilok.com/misc/freedom/org_nonviol.htm

A Saga of Sacrifice & Struggle

ORIGINS Of NON-VIOLENCE MOVEMENT IN INDIA

By: Alice Basarke

As fate would have it Mahatma Gandhi is credited with starting the non-violent movement to oust the British out of India. Gandhi deserves a lot of praise because he did implement the principles of non-violence, but he certainly was not the originator of that concept. He learnt that from the Sikhs. The Sikhs drew their inspiration from their very Gurus, two of who had suffered martyrdom in order to make their point. Over time, the principle of non-violence was used again and again.

In 1861 the British had introduced the Waqf Act which gave control and management of the holy places to their respective communities. The Hindus and Muslims were given control of their places of worship. But in the case of Sikh Gurdwaras, the Act was not applied. The British knew full well that the Sikhs drew their strength and inspiration from their scripture and ideology. They also knew that Sikhs had a long history of fighting oppression and injustice no matter what the cost. For well-planned political reasons, the properties of Sikh places of worship were transferred and given over to Hindu caretakers (Udasi Mahants) and who could be more easily controlled by the British masters. Most of these caretakers had very little understanding Of Sikh religion and its practices. These caretakers received their instructions from the Deputy Commissioner, a Britisher. The government needed to maintain the Gurdwaras as channels of indirect control of the Sikhs. Naturally the Sikhs were not happy with this arrangement. It was a major factor in the first uprising against the British.

At that time there was a small group of Sikhs known as the Namdharis. Ram Singh (1815 -1885) was their leader. He once served in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In 1849 when the British annexed Punjab, his army unit was disbanded. Ram Singh hated the British whom he called ferengis (foreigners). He was further incensed at the takeover of the Gurdwaras in 1861 by the British, and the fact that nobody was able to do anything about this. He was very perturbed at the intrigue and duplicity all around him. Sikhs who fought and died to keep the British out of Punjab were now starting to admire all things British. The fact that they were most intolerant somehow did not register on the conquered Sikhs. Yet in the words of Brigadier-General John Jacob a leader of Indian cavalry, "the British were the favorites of heaven, the civilizeres of the world. They were masters of India because they were superior beings by nature to the Asiatic. Their superiority, both in science and religion, induced them to look down upon dark-skinned heathens".

After the collapse of the Sikh Empire, Ram Singh turned to religion and meditation, on God's name, hence the name Namdhari due to his intense piety, he had many admirers. However, his military training and political preoccupation soon emerged as the main topic of his sermons. He started the non-violent movement to oust the British out of Punjab. He preached the Sikh gospel with great fervor, both to fight the progress being made by Christian missionaries, and to stop the evil political and cultural effects of foreign rule. He asked the people to boycott all British goods. "Do not accept service with the government; do not send children to government schools; do not go to court of law but settle disputes by reference to panchayats (village council); do not use foreign goods; do not use government postal services."

His followers spun their own cloth and dressed in pure white cotton, and boycotted all that was even remotely British. His following grew very rapidly, which alarmed the British masters. The East India Company had a great monopoly going. Cotton was being shipped to England, where it was processed and made into cloth. British economy was booming. Every one had a job. The cloth manufactured in England was shipped back to India and sold at a great profit. Ram Singh's preaching was a threat to the British system. Moreover, he fed the people prophecies of a Sikh resurgence. He truly believed that it could be won by peaceful means. However, because his following grew too rapidly, he soon lost control of some members of the group. A small group of Kooka fanatics, as the Namdharis came to be known, murdered some Muslim butchers in Amritsar and Raikot (Ludhiana district). For this, eight of them were hanged. Though the passions of the Kookas were inflamed, Ram Singh was still able to persuade his followers to return peacefully to their homes. L. Cowan, the deputy commissioner of Ludhiana saw this as an opportunity not to be wasted. Using the pretext, of the above mentioned incident, he captured 68 Kookas, including 27 seriously wounded as they were making their way home. Smt. Hookmee, a popular preacher of this sect was one of two women also captured. Cowan sent a note to his commissioner, T.D. Forsythe, and without any further formality, or pretence of trial blew up 66 of the prisoners by tying them to the mouths of cannons. Two were hacked to pieces with a sword. Forsythe then joined Cowan at Malerkotla, where 16 more Kookas were rounded up and blasted off cannons. The reasons for this barbarism was not the murder of Muslim butchers as is evident in these words of Cowman: I propose blowing away from guns, or hanging, the prisoners tomorrow morning at daybreak. Their offence is not an ordinary one. They have not committed mere murder and dacoity; they are open rebels, offering resistance to constitutional authority, and, to prevent the spreading of this disease, it is absolutely necessary that repressive measures should be prompt and stern. I act for the best, this incipient insurrection must be stamped out at once."

The commissioner T.D. Forsythe supported the action of his deputy. He wrote in a letter dated January 18, 1872; "My dear Cowan, I fully approve and confirm all you have done. You have acted admirably."

For those who may wonder just what blowing from guns means, the following graphic description has been found- "Only those with the strongest stomachs, however, could remain unaffected when prisoners were blown away from the mouths of cannon, a punishment inflicted by the British in India. This was a "frightful sight", Dr. John Sylvester thought; and for the victims a peculiarly horrible punishment since, though hanging in itself was sufficient to make paradise uncertain, death by mutilation after defilement made its attainment even less likely. The victim was latched to a gun, the small of his back or the pit of his stomach against the muzzle, then "smeared with the blood of someone murdered by a member of his race if such could be procured". [sylvestees diaries] When the gun was fired the man's body was dismembered. Usually the head, scarcely disfigured, would fly off through the smoke then fall to the earth, slightly blackened, followed by the arms and legs. The trunk would be shattered, giving off "a beastly smell", and pieces of the flesh and intestines and gouts of blood would be splashed not only over the gunners but also over any spectators who stood too close. Vultures would hover overhead and with grisly dexterity catch lumps of flesh in their beaks. "The pent up feelings of the bystanders found vent in a sort of loud gasp like Ah-h! Wrote an artillery officer who was required to supervise such an execution. "Then many of them came across the ditch to inspect the remains of the legs, and the horrible affair was over." This horrendous slaughter took place on January 11 - 12, 1872. Cowan was right. Ram Singh was a dangerous Sikh. Had he not been dealt with promptly and sternly, he would have gone down in history as the real father of the nation, for the British would have been thrown out almost a hundred years sooner. Many years later, Mahatma Gandhi had only copied the plans of Ram Singh to earn this title. Even the boycott of British cloth was copied. The spinning of cotton, and the wearing of only white, hand spun cotton was exactly as Ram Singh had prescribed.

The second major non-violent revolt against the British was again enacted by Sikhs- It was known as the Singh Sabha movement and was started in 1873, only one year after the Namdharis were murdered so brutally by the so called civilized British. It took some time, but the Singh Sabha movement steadily gained momentum. Things took on an added urgency when in 1919, 1,500 unarmed civilians, Mostly Sikhs) were shot down in cold blood at the Jalianwalla Bagh in Amritsar, on orders of the British General Dyer. Winston Churchill had described the massacre: "as a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation in the annals of British history"

The early 1920s were very difficult times for the Sikhs in Punjab. The Singh Sabha movement organized campaigns where groups of ordinary unarmed people would march to their places of worship and ask peaceably to be given possession of their shrine. Every day one hundred volunteers, men, women and children would march peacefully to make their demands known. The first groups were arrested. Each morning a new group was ready to take up the march. The policy of arrests was abandoned. Now the police took to beating the passive resisters. They were clubbed mercilessly, dragged by the hair and thrown in the mud. Still, wave after wave of Sikhs would go to their Gurdwaras and demand to be given their rightful control. First there was a disturbance at Taran Taran, which resulted in a few deaths. A month later at Nankana Sahib, 130 Sikh worshippers were butchered by the hirelings of the caretaker of that place. The campaign continued. Unarmed men and women suffered beatings with bamboo canes and faced gunfire, still they kept on coming. Thousands were arrested. Still they kept on coming. The Maharaja of Nabha was deposed because he made no secret of his sympathy with the cause. The police fired upon a batch of passive resisters, which marched to Jaito to offer prayers for the deposed Maharaja. At least 40 were killed.

The struggle ended in 1925 with the passage of the Sikh Gurdwara Act. In the last 5 years of agitation for regaining control of their places of worship, 30,000 men and women had gone to jail. 400 had been killed and over 2,000 seriously wounded. The political results were far reaching. The British lost forever the support and loyalty of the Sikhs.

The struggle for independence continued, and Sikhs made a tremendous contribution before independence, the Sikh community was only 1.1% of the total population of India. What they achieved is nothing short of phenomenal, as the following table will show:

----- Type ---------- All communities --- ---Sikhs ------ Percentage

Prison term over 1 year ------- 2125 --------- -1550 ----------- 73%

Deported ------------------------- 2646 ---------- 2147 ---------- 81%

Death sentence ------------------127 ------------- 92 ------------ 72%

Indian National Army (I.N.A.) -- 20,000 ------- 12,000 --------- 60%

Gandhi was there, watching when the Sikhs were struggling to regain control of their Gurdwaras, through non-violent means. Indeed he admired their courage and their tactics, sending congratulatory notes on more than one occasion. One such telegram dated Jan. 19, 1922 and addressed to the Sikh leadership, read: The first decisive battle for independence won. Congratulations.

Source: Punjabi Heritage

-------------------------------

I took the article from another website where the person who posted it there had added the following note. It is worth noting that there is no mention of Baba Karag Singh (then Akali leader) in history of India's Independence Movement, even though the event mentioned below had one of the greatest impact on the British.

**** Poster's note.

After the success of Gurdwara Movement,in late 1920s, Baba Karag Singh took out a procession of 500,0000 (half a million) Sikhs in Lahore for the freedom from the British. At that time the total estimate of Sikh population was about 6 millions. It is about 8.5 % of all Sikhs joined the demonstration. It is this type of demonstration that put the fear into the British. Many historians believe that it is then Nehru and Gandhi invited the Sikhs to become the part of independence movement and promised that Sikhs would be given their share when India got freedom. Most of the Sikhs who joined the congress party, and played a significant role during the independence movement were the Akalis from

the Gurdwara Movement. They joined the Congress party because of the promises made by Gandhi and Nehru. They naively believed that Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress party would keep their promises.

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 17

Source: http://worldsikhnews.com/index.php?option=...5&Itemid=29

Playing Cats

PLAYING CATS! Top police officer exposes India's "national strategy" to fight terror

Written by Daljit Singh

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Ex-DGP Virk validates all accusations of Sikh Panth regarding fake encounters

CHANDIGARH: Rarely have Sardar Parkash Singh Badal done such remarkable service for the Sikh Panth in recent years, though the credit goes to him only by shameful default. Himself embroiled in serious corruption cases but now wriggling out by riding on the power of his own regime, his government arrested former Punjab Police chief S.S.Virk in a case of alleged corruption but in the process has opened the Indian central government's cupboards bursting with skeletons from the years of militancy in Punjab.

Virk was caught in a swoop by Badal's Vigilance Bureau sleuths on Maharashtra Bhawan in Delhi and recovered from him were allegedly details of his property deals, his political activities in advising the Congress about electoral prospects in Punjab and much else, but it is what Virk himself revealed later which greatly interests the Sikh Panth.

Virk seems to have been deeply piqued by the allegations of harboring 'Cats', the renegade militants whom the police used in illegal manner to spot other militants and then kill them in fake encounters, later rewarding the 'Cats' with money or false identities, showing them as 'dead' in encounters and then rehabilitating them for future use. For the first time in life, he himself got the taste of a politician not on his side and spilled the beans about the entire concept of 'Cats'. Virk was accused by the Akalis of harboring a particular 'Cat' called Sukhi who was exposed by the media as a man officially dead but in good books of Virk and company and good financial health.

Virk at that time had bluntly told the media that there were some 300 such 'Cats'. The then CM Amarinder Singh had stoutly defended him on the floor of the Assembly, and when someone asked who was killed when Sukhi was alive, Amarinder had said that the police used to pour tomato ketchup on boys to show it as blood. The Punjab Assembly records clearly depict the CM having made the statement but the Indian nation has learnt to live with so much violation of human rights that it did not raise the hackles of civil society.

In custody, Virk has now made damning revelations, though the newspapers reporting it surprisingly fail to see the import of his remarks and reported the conversation in a deadpan straight faced manner.

Here is what The Tribune reported on September 12:

VIRK: "All officers during those times had their own sets of 'Cats'."

Clearly, Virk is telling us on record what militants were alleging throughout, that the police officers were outside the power of law and were keeping their own set of killers and spotters.

VIRK: "Cats are a reality...Sumedh Singh Saini is an erratic chap and now he has exposed the national strategy to fight terror."

Read it again for the worth of the statement. Here is India's decorated hero police officer still in service telling you that employing illegal 'Cats' and killing young men with their help in fake encounters was India's "national strategy to fight terror". Thankfully, at a time when the United States is leading a global war against terror, not a single soul in the US has ever advocated deployment of such tactics.

Why is no one asking India how it controlled "terror"? Simple, because India's strategy was to have its own terror mechanism.

The Tribune also reported that Virk asked "the government to find the real identity of police inspector Gurmit Pinki. Also, who got him recruited in the police." But the Indian media did not ask Virk what was stopping him to reveal the truth himself. Was some national interest being served by hiding the godfathers of beasts like Pinki, currently in jail for killing a young man in broad daylight because he took a few extra seconds in stepping aside to let Pinki's jeep pass?

Here is classic Virk, the politician in a uniform: "I am paying the price of not being a turncoat as several others did and sided with SAD in the run-up to the elections." Bravo, Mr Virk, for telling us that you stuck to the Congress of Amarinder Singh instead of turning a turncoat. This is exactly what we have been saying for years now. That the police officers in Punjab are henchmen of the politicians and belong to one or the other party and shift parties just like politicians. Thank you Mr Virk for informing us that everything being said about the police by civil society was correct. Just like Amarinder Singh, Badal too has his set of officers, and may be some may turn turncoats one day, but you have the distinction of putting things on record.

Read The Tribune report: "On keeping 'cats', Virk said, 'Whatever I did was in line with my duty. I was a middle-level official and part of the system fighting militants while the policies were made by the seniors."

Thank you, one again, Mr Virk. Since you were at the helm and for long years did not deny the credit for bringing the 'Cats' system into practice, you must be knowing the real decision makers. Under which Constitutional article were you duty-bound to accept illegal orders, illegal policies of the seniors, and what kind of a line of duty is using renegades to debunk all notions of civil society and legal functioning and instead kill young men in fake encounters by making them run in the fields and shooting from point blank range and sharing the rewards for such bravery?

“Everyone knows about those who have amassed wealth and those who have links with terrorists. I am not one of them.” Name them, Mr Virk. Each of us gets but one opportunity in life to be a hero. This is yours. Badal arrested you, quite possibly, because you were not a turncoat. You were genuine political reptile, clinging on to the bosses who ensured your 'Cats' free run and smoothened your gravy trail. Badal will have his own genuine 24-carat reptiles. It is we, the people, upon whom you both unleashed the cats. Have you heard of the mouse that roared?

.

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 18

Source: http://worldsikhnews.com/index.php?option=...9&Itemid=29

Beware of Saviour

Written by Ajmer Singh

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The shrill right-wing noises in India about the alleged evangelical exercises aimed at effecting religious conversions have often come in for some strong criticism from the liberals and right-thinking strata of society, but the other side of the mirror cannot be ignored because it is equally sleazy. Efforts by some of the sects and cults to impact, wean away, brainwash or coerce members of the Sikh community into accepting Christianity have been very serious and diligently undertaken, something that has raised the hackles of the community.

The WSN has always been a votary of freedom of expression and way of life, which includes the freedom to follow and propagate one's religion. People should be free to tell others about how great their religion is, or how better a way it is to attain salvation. The WSN also opposed the anti-conversion legislation advocated by the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in India and the unnecessary opposition to Christian activities by the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS), an adjunct of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the federal Hindutva umbrella body which is single-mindedly against evangelism.

But the WSN is also against the practice among some sects and cults of identifying and targetting a particular community or section of it with the sole purpose of effecting religious conversion. But what is surprising is the seriousness and diligence with which some bodies are indulging in such a practice.

A recent article in the Baptist Press by an author called Kari Wynn, described as "a writer stationed in south Asia" has drawn the ire of many Sikhs. The article quotes from Gurbani right in the beginning but only to add that "this plausibly may sound like worship of the God of Christianity, but then comes these words: 'By the Guru's grace he is obtained.'"

The BP article singles out the Jatt Sikhs as the most eligible section of the Sikhs for conversion, and calls them the "least evangelized people group among the Punjabis of India."So serious is this effort that there is even a designated Southern Baptist strategy coordinator for the Jatt Sikh people group. The incumbent person currently is called Irene Wayne.

"When I learned that the Jatts were the largest of the Punjabi-speaking people groups in India and one of the least reached, I got a real burden for them," Irene Wayne is quoted as saying in the article.

That the conversion activists are already active in Punjab is clear from the article which says that "Christians among this people group already have seen a difference since missions strategists initiated the day of petition and intercession for the Jatt Sikh on the first Wednesday of October two years ago."

One Sydney Singh, described as a Jatt Sikh-background believer in Christianity, is quoted as saying that "Prayer supporters are helping us and are part of this whole mission."

Here are the most objectionable excerpts from the report available at

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=26541 :

"The Jatt Sikh cultural identity also can act as a barrier to their acceptance of the Gospel. Jatt Sikhs take great pride in their Sikh heritage and traditions and never come to see that Jesus is different from their own gurus, or teachers. They do not understand that He came

to die for them. To them, Jesus is a foreign guru."

In fact, the Baptist Press article writer almost expresses surprise at the fact that the Sikhs do not consider Jesus as their Guru and consider that “Christianity is so different from their culture."One Sikh’s quote that "Your way is good for you, and our way is good for us" is projected as almost a joke and the writer is surprised that Sikhs think that “Christianity … has no bearing on them as followers of the Sikh religion."

Then comes the most disturbing revelation. The BP article reveals that people are already at work trying to infiltrate and tie up with the prayermen and being trained to use lexicon of Sikh scriptures and prayers in order to wean the Jatt Sikhs away from Sikhism and into Christianity. Read the BP article excerpts yourself to see how seriously is the mission being undertaken: "Barriers are being overcome as Christians use references to grace in the Sikh scriptures as a bridge into conversations about how Jesus is the way to grace and salvation. Also, Jatt Sikh-background Christians are implementing a "satsang" style of worship that more closely relates to their culture. Satsang, which literally means "true company," is a lecture and reflection style of worship. Someone reads a Bible passage

and then the group discusses it."

It also reveals that "along with the prayers of intercessors, these new methods are bringing a growing number of Jatt Sikhs to a saving knowledge or Christ …We've really seen more happen over the past couple years since there has been global, focused, intentional prayer for the Jatt Sikhs."

So far the Sikh bodies like the SGPC, the Akal Takht and various forums of the Sikh Diaspora are silent on such activities but the efforts of those trying to indulge in such conversion activity are bearing fruit. It is impossible to even guess how much damage has already been done but the BP article does reveal that “Three years back there was no revival of sorts among the Jatt Sikhs, but now people are becoming aware of the Jatt Sikhs and more are working among them, and more Jatt Sikhs are coming to faith."

"The primary prayer need is for the Jatts to hear and respond to the Good News of Jesus…Along with this, a real need is prayer for faithful men and women who have come to the Lord to be bold in sharing their story with others, and for more house churches. Also for men of peace who will become the ones sharing and starting new house churches." So, very soon the Sikhs may hear that alongside the attack from the Derawaad, they also will have to contend with this new type of Satsang where the satsangis will be innocent Sikhs being weaned away from the bani of the ten Sikh Gurus and asked to think of someone else as the Saviour.

[Singh, Mahan]

Article No. 19

Source: The following article may have been published somewhere before . But it copied it from

http://www.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/news.nsf/Ne...7257385005F9A6A

Posters Comment : This is a great article that give one an insight into the methods used by Christian missionaries in conversion. Should be read by all Sikhs even those who do not know much about their own religion (Sikhism). It is the gullible Sikhs and the ones with very little knowledge of Sikhi who get convinced into conversion - not only to Christianity but also by others from their religions. S. Rawel Singh is based in India. I have also read his articles and discussions in The Sikh Spectrum ( web site : http://www.sikhspectrum.com/ .But this article was taken from Sikhnet.com )

The Conversion Agenda of Christian Missionaries -

-

an article by Rawel Singh

Wide networks of Christian missionaries of various denominations exist all over the globe. Missionary work is a legitimate activity if its purpose is to impart religious education to adherents of one’s own faith and to inform others. Many Christian missionaries, however, have an agenda of obtaining conversions from other faiths. Their approach is twofold. Firstly, they present their faith in a manner that would attract people. Secondly, with the considerable resources at their command, they establish facilities like schools, hospitals and charities avowedly for service, whereas the real intent is to obtain conversions to Christianity. It is not the intent of this essay to denigrate Christianity although the criticism is likely to be on those lines. The intention is to present the truth so that we are cautious when approached by them.

Jesus, who was a Jew, is the preceptor but not the founder of Christianity, which came into being after his death. Their scripture the Bible has two parts, the Old Testament (OT) which covers the period hundreds of years before Jesus and the New Testament (NT) that of Jesus and shortly afterwards.

Fairy tale like accounts are used to create interest and attract people. Here are a few examples with comments:

1. An angel visits a virgin and informs her that she would give birth to a son and later she gives birth to Jesus. However, the original Hebrew OT uses the term ‘Almah’ and the Greek NT ‘Parthenos’, both meaning young woman, for the mother. Only the Christian Bibles use ‘virgin’. The Bible published by the Oxford University Press calls her young woman. Virgin birth of Jesus thus has question marks.

2. Jesus died for the sins of all. However, in the NT there is no evidence in this regard. On the other hand, there is evidence to show that he did not want to die. Sikh history is replete with sacrifices for others. Guru Nanak was imprisoned for raising his voice against atrocities on the people. Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred opposing the forced conversions of Hindus. The Tenth Guru sacrificed his all for the people. Sikhs freed women being taken by raiders from the west and restored them to their families against all odds.

3. Jesus is the son of God. We the Sikhs believe that all creatures are children of God. Bhagat Kabir asked a Brahmin that if he claimed a special status, why did he not come by a route other than the mother’s womb. The same question needs to be asked about Jesus. All scriptures including the Bible state that God can do anything.

4. Jesus alone can save. However, the Bible clearly says that Jesus had lost his virtue and was forsaken by God. How can he then save others?

5. Jesus is coming again; they call it Jesus’ second coming. The Bible however clearly says that a generation would not pass before that happened. I have asked this question on many Christian websites but they have not replied.

Christians do not seem to be able to agree about their religious beliefs and practices. As a result there are numerous denominations all having different churches. Many even have their own versions of the Bible and seek conversions from one another. A lot of blood has been shed because of inter-denomination fighting as in Northern Ireland, but they still want others to be converted. Let us beware.

The Bible prohibits adultery but it is rampant in countries where Christians are in a majority. Some people seem to have taken the assertion that Jesus died for the sins of all seriously. They seem to believe that they are at liberty to do what they like and Jesus will still save them. Christian missionaries concentrate more on dogmas like ‘Jesus saves’ rather than belief in One God and good deeds. The educated man of today cannot accept such blind faith.

Christian missionaries quote the miracles of Jesus to prove that he was superhuman. The Bible mentions John the Baptist preceding and announcing Jesus’ coming as a messiah. However seeing what Jesus was doing, he questioned whether Jesus was the messiah or they should look for another. The only thing Jesus could say in reply was to mention the miracles. Guru Granth teaches that those who perform miracles go away from God. Jesus being forsaken by God is confirmation of this. A man of God is ashamed even to talk of it. Let us not therefore be taken in by miracles.

The Christian concept of God is far from that of the Perfect Master that Gurbani teaches. In the OT, He is shown as errant because he repents having created man, He is jealous and he belongs only to one nation, Israel. In the NT, He is not the God of the universe but of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He is not sovereign but part of the trinity, He has no role in the four gospels as everything is said and done by Jesus. On the other hand, in the Guru Granth, God is supreme, He is not the monopoly of a group or person and He is the Father of all the creation.

Christian missionaries choose those areas for their operations where the people are poor and need help. With considerable resources at their command, they first establish facilities like schools and hospitals. They tell the people that they have come there to serve. Then slowly they try to attract people to their faith either by offering concessions or preference in employment to Christians. Because poverty is a fertile ground for their operations, Christian missionaries say that poverty is a gift of God. They literally try to buy the poor people’s conscience with their resources. Is that service? All religions teach that tempting people is sin. We the Sikhs, have a proud heritage and should not fall to temptations. Gurbani teaches us to be vigilant against this saying falling pray to greed makes one repent later.

We need to take urgent steps to counter nefarious activities against our faith. The Sikh faith is one of the seekers as the name Sikh means a student. The most effective way to counter nefarious activities against any faith is to be steadfast in one’s religious beliefs and a commitment to them. Teachings of the Gurus as enshrined in Guru Granth are so simple and straightforward that the Christian Missionaries feel threatened and hence concerted efforts on their part to target the Sikhs. Our weakness has been in not putting across the teachings to the common Sikhs and others. Once this is done, that itself will act as a deterrent against possible conversions from the faith. This requires all round efforts. There has been an unfortunate tendency in the recent past to undermine the status of our established institutions like the SGPC and Akal Takhat Sahib by self-serving politicians. This has demoralized well-meaning people. The pristine status of these institutions must be restored.

- By Rawel Singh

brgrsa@yahoo.co.in

Phone: 516-679-1179