Ken's Adviser Is Linked To Terror Group

[rupinder singh]

This is a prime example of how the world’s media is a watching waiting for a Sikh terror story. Now I actually like Dabinderjit Singh as he's probably one of the few well spoken articulate speakers we have although I am not up for the whole current Khalistan agenda. What is highlighted in this media attention is that kids waving banners of Babbar Khalsa with "crossed-Kalashnikov" have to realise their impact on the rest of the legit. Sikh political parties and the damage their immaturity causes.

From the content/grammer of the article its obvious Amardeep Bassey has been a source of much of the exaggerated repetitive information given. I suppose the comming London Mayor elections have also played a part in this attack on Ken Livingston.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-may...roup/article.do

Ken's adviser is linked to terror group

Ken Livingstone has appointed a former member of a banned terrorist organisation to the board of Transport for London.

Until 2001, Dabinderjit Singh, a civil servant, was a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, a UK-based group banned under British antiterror laws.

The then Home Office minister, Lord Bassam, said British-based ISYF members were a "threat to national security" and the group had carried out " assassinations, bombings and kidnappings" overseas.

The ISYF plotted a number of unsuccessful attacks in the UK and one of its members was convicted of the 1985 Air India bombing off Ireland, the deadliest single aircraft terror attack in history.

After it was banned the ISYF dissolved, creating a successor body, the Sikh Federation UK, whose executive committee and senior members - including Mr Singh - are largely the same as the ISYF's, and whose objectives are the same. Sikh Federation UK has received extensive support from Mr Livingstone.

The Sikh Federation UK's official 2008 calendar glorifies terrorist "martyrs" - including the assassins of Indira Gandhi and the mastermind of the1985 Air India bombing. Last June, Mr Singh spoke at a Sikh Federation UK rally - sanctioned by Mr Livingstone - in Trafalgar Square at which another speaker praised terrorism and suicide bombing and at which the banners of another banned Sikh terrorist group, Babbar Khalsa, were on open display. Mr

Livingstone has worked closely with the Sikh Federation UK, meeting its leadership - including Mr Singh - as recently as six weeks ago.

According to a 29 February City Hall press release, they presented him with a shield in honour of "the work he has done in support of the Sikh community".

The press release described Mr Singh as a member of the Sikh Federation. He described himself to the Standard as an "adviser" to the federation's executive.

The Mayor also allowed the free use of City Hall and the London Assembly chamber for at least two events organised by the Sikh Federation UK - the "World Sikh Summit," on 17 September last year, and a conference on "making Sikhs visible to decision-makers" on 1 February 2006. Mr Singh spoke at both events.

Mr Singh has had at least one private one-on-one meeting with the Mayor - in September 2006 - and was appointed by him to the TfL board in the same month. He is paid at least £22,000 a year for this appointment.

Mr Singh told the Standard today: "I was a sympathiser of the ISYF but the only time I came into the limelight with the ISYF was in 2000.

"The organisation was put up for proscription about two months later. When an organisation [the ISYF] is proscribed, it's the organisation, not the individuals, that are banned."

He said he was "not disputing" that there were links between the ISYF and the Sikh Federation but said the Sikh Federation was a "reputable organisation".

He described the Home Office claims of "assassinations, bombings and kidnappings" by the ISYF as a "generic phrase" and said the ban was "illogical".

The Sikh Federation UK - not to be confused with the moderate British Sikh Federation - claims to be a peaceful organisation.

However, the clearest indication of its true sympathies is its official 2008 calendar. Headed "Never forget the sacrifices made by Sikhs in the last 30 years for freedom and justice," it is plastered with pictures of Sikh terrorists and " martyrs", including Talwinder Singh, the mastermind of the Air India bombing, and Beant Singh, the assassin of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Asked whether it was acceptable to honour the assassin of a prime minister, Dabinderjit Singh said: "We are highlighting people who are martyrs ... There is another side to the story [of the assassination]. Indira Gandhi was responsible for killing many thousands."

The three most senior officers of the Sikh Federation UK are the former leaders of the ISYF. The federation's chair, Amrik Singh Gill, was the ISYF's president. Its vice-president, Kuldeep Singh Chaheru, and its general secretary, Narinderjit Singh, were vice-presidents of the ISYF. Amrik Singh Gill and Narinderjit Singh also met Mr Livingstone this February.

Atma Singh, the Mayor's former Asian affairs adviser - himself a Sikh - told the Standard he had warned the Mayor about the Sikh Federation UK.

"In London, the Sikh Federation UK has very little support," he said. "Their power base is limited to half a dozen temples in the Midlands. But City Hall wanted to build them up and give them the same credibility as they did with the [fundamentalist-Muslim Association of Britain." The ISYF was founded to campaign for an independent Sikh state in India, known as Khalistan, and avenge the 1984 Golden Temple massacre of Sikh militants by the Indian government.

The Home Office claims British members channelled money and arms to the Indian branch of the organisation.

The ISYF was involved in the bombing of Air India flight 182 over the Atlantic. Three hundred and twenty nine people, including 114 children, were killed by a bomb planted on the plane en route from Montreal to London.

The bombing was mainly the work of the Babbar Khalsa. However, the only man to be convicted over it, British-Canadian Inderjit Singh Reyat, from Birmingham, was a member of the ISYF.

ISYF members in India were responsible for indiscriminate killings of civilians, including women and children, during the Sikh insurgency in the Punjab from the early Eighties to 1993.

The ISYF also plotted a number of murders in Britain, mainly of visiting Indian politicians. The plots were intercepted by British security forces and foiled.

The ISYF is also suspected of involvement in the still-unsolved murder of a moderate, anti-ISYF Sikh newspaper editor in Southall.

There is no suggestion that Dabinderjit Singh has been personally involved in facilitating or carrying out an act of terrorism, or in ISYF activity since the group was banned.

However, on 3 June last year he spoke at a rally in Trafalgar Square, co-organised by the Sikh Federation UK, at which the crossed-Kalashnikov banner of the Babbar Khalsa group was on display.

At the rally, another speaker, Avtar Sanghera, praised a Babbar Khalsa leader, Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is on death row in India for taking part in a suicide attack on the chief minister of the Punjab.

"We are proud of this brother of ours," Mr Sanghera said. "With God's blessings, more men like Hawara will be born."

Mr Sanghera also said the Babbar Khalsa had "set its cross-hairs" on three Sikh "apostates" who would be "wiped off the face of the Punjab".

Glorifying terrorism and supporting a banned terrorist organisation are criminal offences under the terror laws.

Adrian Hunt, an expert in counterterrorism law at the University of Birmingham, said the footage of the rally - shown on YouTube - gave "sufficient material for the matter to be inquired into very seriously by the authorities".

Dabinderjit Singh told the Standard: "Any community, you have individuals who get up and say things and you think, 'What the hell are you doing'. There was a group of individuals [at the rally] who decided they were going to push the law to its limits. I have no time for those people - they are totally missing the point."

He said that Mr Livingstone "allowed us to use Trafalgar Square". Mr Singh also said that the Mayor had been invited to address the rally but had refused, saying he "rarely spoke on a Sunday".

Asked for his views on the armed struggle, Mr Singh said: "If someone has had their mother and father killed and they decide to take up arms because they feel there is no justice for them, it's very difficult to condemn them, because they're trying to defend themselves."

Dabinderjit Singh is described by Sikh analysts as the "respectable face" of Sikh separatist militancy. He is a senior civil servant with the National Audit Office and has been awarded the OBE.

Reports of the ceremony describe him as an ISYF member and state that he wore the ISYF insignia to the investiture. The ISYF was legal at that point and enjoyed close relations with some British politicians, who protested against the Government ban.

Mr Singh, who still has a place on the TfL board, would have attended board meetings and decided upon new fare rises, financing and budgets, proposed lines extensions, strategic planning and health and safety issues.

Mr Livingstone declined to comment.

[khalistan_zindabaad]

Thanking the youth for messing everyhting up. hehehe

[K Singh 82]

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Fatheh!!

Dhan Dhan Sree Guroo Granth Sahbi Jee Mahraaj!!

Parnam Shaheedan noo...

Where do you start?? First i was shocked about the article, i was told to go and buy the newspaper by my cousin, not telling me what reason for just to buy it and read the front cover. The front cover read "Kens Adviser is linked to Terror Group" in big black bold letters plain for anyone to see glancing at the paper. Just below it you have "Sikh civil servant who backs 'martyr' is now on TFL board".

You carry on reading the small column on the first page and then you go to page four where theres a two page spread, pictures of Dabinderjit Singh, the trafalguar square rally and the 1984 poster/calender... the headline here reads "Calender gives praise to assassins and bombers"

If you haven't already read the article, read it, see whats being said about the shaheed singhs, read whats being said about Dabinderjit Singh, i dnt know alot about him personally, but from what i've seen and heard Bhai Sahib talk about, you can feel the love and desire he has to do something for the panth, even whilst being a director of a company....how many of us have that kind of commitment?

Im gutted to see that this post has only had one reply??? This isnt just some article that people will only see on the internet, its been printed on a London newspaper that is heavily distributed and circulated on the london transport network, tubes, trains, buses, people will see this and take notice. Me and my cousin were talking about this last nite, some people look at you in a funny way because you wear a dastaar and you grow your kesh and keep your beard open already, what do you think someone will think/assume of us now when they see the dastaar and open beard?

What are we going to do? just brush it under the carpet and leave it at that? does anyone have contact details for Bhai Sahib? Can we not get in touch with Bhai Sahib and ask him what support does he need? How can we counter the allegations and claims made in the article? What can be done at the upcoming rally in June to counter this article? The sangat may be doing things gupt but isnt it about time we came out and showed ourselves for what Sikhi should really be portrayed as?

I'm going to scan some images of the paper and post those up shortly so the sangat who don't live in london or haven't seen the newspaper can see the impact of the article in print. it makes a much more bolder statement than a post on a website...

Maybe im making too much out of this?

Sorry to have offended anyone if i've done so...

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Fatheh!!

[rupinder singh]

Maybe im making too much out of this?

No Veeray, it's the fact that we fail to counter claims hence we end up with accepting the media slur.

What is definitely highlighted is that we have too many kids putting their immature points forward and not enough articulate and fluent responses coming from the people who are capable of giving those responses.

We need to have words with people like Sangera and other loud mouths and tell them to back down for the sake of the kaum or simply distance ourselves from them. It’s time for discussion and representation and good PR, we need to be professional about our agendas and project it effectively if we wish to be taken seriously.

[Matheen]

Good stuff Ksingh82.

I'm sure Dabinderjit Singh has some sort of case. The writer of that article, Andrew Gilligan, seems out to get Ken Livingstone (judging from all his articles - every one is about Livingstone), and we've got caught in the middle. Furthermore, most of his allegations are hearsay and false.

Ths sad fact is that 24 years later, outside of the Sikh community, no one knows what really happened back then and who the real terrorists were. We have every right to 'glorify' sant Jarnail Singh Ji and the killers of Indira. I always use the analogy that for us, she was like Hitler to the Jews and if someone shot him, wouldnt the world glorify the shooter? Usually shuts them up.

We need to get books like "The gallant defender", "Fighting For Faith and Nation" in to the mainstream, because they are written by non-Sikhs and set the record straight.

[Matheen]

What is definitely highlighted is that we have too many kids putting their immature points forward and not enough articulate and fluent responses coming from the people who are capable of giving those responses.

That's so true. It's one thing trying to appear 'hard' in front of your mates, but some of our youth (and everyone else) need to learn to think before they open their mouths or start swearing on internet forums.

We can all learn from Guru Sahib's beautiful use of language in the Zafarnama, and bear in mind that it was directed to a far greater adversary than we have today.

[khalistan_militant]

i'll tell u what it is, the evening standard and ken livingstone practically hate each other, and the evening standard are trying anything in there power to remove ken livingstone from office , a week or so ago the same headline was there except the person was linked to islamlic terrorist groups

andrew gilligan was the <banned word filter activated> who leaked dr david kellys nhame over the sexed up iraq dossier, which led to dr david kelly killing himself or as some believe was assasinated by mi5

[Matheen]

Just noticed that today it's the Tamil Tigers! Gutter journalism, this guy must really hate Ken Livingstone.

[wjkk wjkf]

it's not just the evening standard - this has been on tv news media too.

speaking up and clearing Sant Ji and other shaheeds' names is fine - but how do we justify the fact that at the rally, on calendars and at other events and what not - the air india bombers were/are being glorified? How do you justify that? That's what's gonna keep coming up now, so I'd suggest we work on our answers

[lowest of the low singhni]

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

Maybe im making too much out of this?

You're not, and thanks to Rupinder Singh for letting non-londoners know about this article. Although I don't know Dabinderjit Singh I'm impressed that he's standing up for what he believes in e.g. with the issue of Indira Gandhi's assassination.

It’s time for discussion and representation and good PR, we need to be professional about our agendas and project it effectively if we wish to be taken seriously.

It seems like the Sikh community as a whole needs some good shock treatment to wake up. Even though the article is by a critic who usually writes against Ken Livingston, it should still serve as an alarm bell for us. There currently seems to be very little structure to the way we react to such allegations/statements, partially because there is very little unity in the panth. Even after this we will probably spend more time arguing over our differences than actually focusing on an effective strategy. After a few days it seems we forget anything even happened and go back to whatever we were arguing about on the forum previously.

Another issue as KSingh82 highlighted is the media and its clever way of twisting nearly everything a Sikh can say. I remember an interview on TV about hate crimes associated with the fear of terrorism on Sikhs; the Singh being interviewed was extremely professional and articulate but the broadcaster has chosen bits and pieces of the interview to show. When the Singh mentioned using the kirpan as a last resort for defence, his statement was taken completely out of context and the resulting, edited interview made it sound like Sikhs immediately stab all approaching opponents when intimidated.

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh