Kerry Comments on sikhs

[nanosecond]

Still he has called those true gursikhs who died fighting for fredom as terroists.....isn't it

Had he callled that Sikhs suffered at the hands of ind gov spons terror than he cud hav won our votes

[Guest SikhForLife]

screw this.. he had a chance to fix it.. but he made it worse.. he has lost my vote.. damn then.. i refuse to vote this year

[S1ngh]

Still he has called those true gursikhs who died fighting for fredom as terroists.....isn't it

Had he callled that Sikhs suffered at the hands of ind gov spons terror than he cud hav won our votes

that's exactly what piss me off... arghh even clinton was damn smarter than this guy @

[mschawla]

We have started a petition drive to President Bush to withdraw/amend the State Dept. video "Terrorism: A War without Borders", in which Sikhs were called terrorists in the segment of 1984 Golden temple attack. You can go to the petition by clicking on the link in our web page "www.passionfortruthtv.com" Please sign that petition and ask your friends and other contacts to do so and circulate this petition to others through your resources.

Here is an other news item I read in Sikh Sentinel. It is reassuring that Democratic candidate for the Presidency of USA, has clarified his statement. But the amended statement is still not satisfactory. We must send e-mails to his campaign stating that the Sikhs inside the Golden Temple in 1984 were not terrorists and the reasons for our statement has clearly been described in our Petition to President Bush. We all should insist on this Presidency candidate that (1) he should further clarify his recent statement and (2) he should also help us in persuading the State Department to withdraw/amend the video. Thanks.

M. S. Chawla

=================================================

Washington D.C., USA -- The Democrat candidate for President, Senator John Kerry, apologized at length for the comment he made at a campaign rally a week ago, saying that he regretted the imprecision of a statement in which he referred to Sikhs as terrorists which led to a misunderstanding.

The comment sparked off a large number of emails to the Senator such as this one:

In your statement regarding Sikhs as terrorists is short sighted. To blindly label over 20M Sikhs in India and over 500K here in the US, like me, is irresponsible. As a candi

date for the highest office in the US and the World, it is your responsibility to carefully choose your words so as not to alienate your supporters.

Best Regards, - A Sikh American!

This email received the following response from the Kerry campaign team with a quoted statement from the Senator saying:

Dear Friend,

Thank you for writing to John Kerry about your concerns with the comments he made recently involving people of the Sikh faith. He has released the following statement expressing his regret over the misinterpretation of his words

Statement from John Kerry, February 6, 2004 "It has been brought to my attention that remarks I made on Saturday, January 31 have been misunderstood to imply that adherents of the Sikh faith condone terrorism. Nothing could be farther from the truth and I regret that the imprecision of my statement led to this misunderstanding.

"I am deeply sorry for the offense caused by this comment. I was, of course, referring to specific terrorist groups which have invoked Sikhism and committed past acts of terror in India. I realize that, like me, the vast majority of Sikhs in the United States and worldwide abhor terrorism. I also know that stereotypes, discrimination, and abuse haunt Sikh Americans living and working in this nation. Sikh Americans have made enormous and invaluable contributions to our nation for which I am exceedingly grateful.

"Throughout my legislative career I have worked to protect people of all religious faiths, including Sikhs. I have supported legislation condemning bigotry and acts of violence or discrimination against Sikh Americans, and I have fought to prohibit the practice of racial profiling and for a stronger hate crimes law. I have also led the effort in the Senate to enact the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which would protect religious observance in the workplace. My legislation has been supported by the Sikh Council on Religion and Education among many other religious groups.

"I will c

ontinue my work for and with the Sikh community and other religious groups as President of the United States."

The Kerry Team

=========================================================

M. S. Chawla

Producer

"PASSION FOR TRUTH" TV Program

"PUNJABI COMMUNITY HOUR" TV Program

"PUNJABI COMMUNITY HOUR" Radio Program On the Web

Web Pages:

www.passionfortruthtv.com

www.geocities.com/~mschawla

[JSingh]

"I am deeply sorry for the offense caused by this comment. I was, of course, referring to specific terrorist groups which have invoked Sikhism and committed past acts of terror in India...

His clarification is totally UNSATISFACATORY. He is calling the Sikhs inside Sri Harimandir Sahib terrorists and the ones who sacrificed their lives for human rights. So according to his definition of terrorism, he should also know that US troops in Iraq are also TERRORISTS.

We need to prepare some emails that to send him.

bhul chuk di khima...

[nanosecond]

Yes we must not stop at what's his so called 'clarification'

Instead we must intensify our efforts as he has said all those human right activists as terrorists. CALL NOW THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN IRAQ AS TERRORISTS. <admin-profanity filter activated> for Tat B)

[Cali_Khalsa]

Waheguru Je Kha Khalsa, Waheguru Je Ke Fateh:

It would seem that there are some on this message board who for whatever reason, are naïve and not in touch with the political realities of today’s world. Now before everyone here starts flaming me, I would like to go on the record and state that I believe that the brave Singhs and Singhnees who sacrificed their lives in 1984 did so as gallant warriors of the Panth. They died for a cause that is noble, righteous, and just.

However, anytime a group, be they Sikh, Muslim, Catholic, etc. uses violence as a means to achieve a political end, they will be labeled as "terrorist." Such is the case with our fellow brothers and sisters. We all know that they are not terrorists, and yes there are always two sides to a story, but the sad reality is no political candidate can express his support for any such entities because it would be political suicide for them to do so. Keep in mind that groups such as the Babbar Khalsa, ISYF, and KCF are banned in the West, including the United States for being terrorist organizations. With that in mind, what did you expect him to say in his statement? He apologized for giving the impression that ALL Sikhs were connected and/or supported terrorism and that of course is wrong. We may disagree with him as to how we define "terrorism", but he has to operate within a very narrow parameter as far as what he can go on the record as saying. He couldn’t very well say what everyone here would like him to say, because then he could kiss his chances of being President good bye. No presidential candidate/politician wants to be put in the position to where they can be perceived as supporting groups that us

e violence, whether or not that group feels they were justified. It sucks I know, but think about where he is coming from, that’s all I’m saying. As far Iraq goes, well that just goes to show the double standard that is at play here, but I suppose being the world’s lone superpower you get to bit more leverage as to how your actions are perceived by everyone else.

Violence in general may work in the short term but in the long term it has negative consequences in that the group that is defending itself often times ends up doing more damage as far as their image goes. Such is the case with our cause I believe. True, we did what we had to do in 1984, but while we were we were being slaughtered and sacrificing our lives in large numbers, the West was given a very different impression as far as what was unfolding and reasons that lead up to it. Today with the growing political clout Sikhs have in the West, we have a unique opportunity to influence our lawmakers and work through diplomatic channels to address our issues. That is our best hope as further violence is more detrimental in the long run and will not help sway people’s thinking, including John Kerry.

I will just end by saying that, I for one appreciate the fact that Sen. Kerry took the time to issue an apology and it my hope that we can move forward now and work together as a community to see that the best man wins in November and I still believe that that man is Sen. Kerry.

-Gurfateh

[V]

If I was in the Us..

I'd vote for Ma Bushman anytime

He's ma man

C'mon I think he invited Sikh to the white house on Guru Nanak Dev ji's Gupurabh

atleast JK could PUBLICLY ask for an Apology instead of, behind the scene, mail people, <Edited> of

bhull chukk maaf

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[JSingh]

Dear brother, your candidate's apology is 100% unsatisfactory. But you think its the other way around. You have the right to believe what you belive, but as I can see, no Sikh would like their warroirs called as "terrorists", it is very difficult to let this thing go and move on that seems so easy for you. I just want to say one more thing that we should not blindly support someone just because we like him or want him to see as president even though he makes stupid comments about our religion. He should apologize for his mistake, but the statement that he issued has done even worse. Why doesn't he call US troops terrorists? If you think he is playing double standard and it is necessary for him to do in order to win, go ahead and vote for him. How can you think of him supporting the causes of the peolple who he thinks are "terrorists"?

[JSingh]

and whats wrong with voting for Bush again?