How To Shame The Indians Into Respecting Human Rights

[West London Singh]

I know that the above is not really the answer in that a tribunal case should be brought forward and this Sikh should be reinstated. However, if the indian government won't even prosecut a single person for the thousands and thousands of Sikh Children, women and men that were burnt alive and murdered in 84, and since, then we can't expect anything from them here.

Just a thought!

You seem to be confusing 'Haryana,India' with that other place that sounds almost exactly the same ; 'Kettering, Northamptonshire'. People often confuse the two.

No but seriously, we're talking about a country with no welfare state....a country where children are allowed to die because they haven't got the 20 pennies it cost to get the medicine that would keep them alive. Do you really think such a thing as an 'Employment Tribunal' exists in such a country ?

I'll tell you the real issue here. What happened to Manvinder Singh Giaspur is a continuation of official Indian policy towards sikhs since June 1984. A policy of 'subduing' the Sikhs. Scaring the sikhs into silence. The promise to sikhs being this : 'you open your mouth and start talking about human rights and you're fired'....'you start agitating for human rights and you're fired'....'if you wanna keep your job than just get your head down and do your job....otherwise you're fired'. Now that might seem like a little thing to us here because we live in advanced countries where welfare and benefit nets prevent us and our families from starving if we lose our jobs. In India however, that threat is one of life and death for a sikh and his children. It would be the difference of whether or not his children have food to eat.

Therefore, what I suggest in this thread is indeed the answer. We owe it to our sikh brothers and sisters out there to help them. We owe it to them to watch their back. We need to send a message to them that they shouldn't be scared of losing their jobs if they speak up....because there's a million of us here that will back them up.

'Get it Done', you need to keep the letters very brief and simple. No need to go into detail. 99% of what is written will go over their heads and is unessesary. I work in the legal profession and often have to deal with employers after they have dismissed an employee. Very often, in fact more often than not, after the 'employee' comes to see me, the problem is resolved with the very first brief letter sent to the employer, just politely tentatively, letting them know that their company has been in breach. Usually, that does the trick. Usually, there's no need to go any further because no company wants a problem on their hand.....whether its a legal claim in the courts or bad publicity.

So.....as far as the American and British retailers that are buying from Manvinder Singh's former employers are concerned ; At present they don't even know there is an issue at odds with their mission statements. As soon as you briefly let them know there is, you'll be surprised to see how quickly they react to rectify the problem.

And, as i said before, the Indian Human Rights report published in 1985 after the 1984 massacres, listed actual names of the guilty in Delhi. Those names include influential businessmen. We should employ the same tactics with the regards them too. From the 1970's to the 1990's there were many young jews in New York that just refused to 'let live' the killers of their grandfathers and great greatfathers. They chased their business interests with a passion. One of their very effective tactics was to let the companies that did business with the companies owned by those killers of jews know just what kind of people they were doing business with. They shamed them into stopping doing business with them. This, in turn, hurt the pockets of those former killers (who, after 30 years thought they were safe and sound), and because it hurt their pockets it drew them out into the open. And because they were drawn out into the open the whole issue and debate was out in the open. And because the issue was out in the open it had to be dealt with. Justice, in the end, had to be done.

We need to learn from Nazi-hunters such as Simon Weisenthal. So far, us...the 2nd and 3rd generation western sikhs, have been nothing but hot air. We shoot our mouths off often....but it has had absolutely zero effect. We have achieved nothing. If anything, things have got even worse. For all our brilliant collective education we have shown ourselves pretty useless at achieving justice.

[SarabjeetS]

I am sorry if I sound stupid , but how do you prove to those western companies that mr Manvinder Singh was fired just because of exposing genocide of sikhs ?

Manvinder Singh's employer could argue that he fired him because of some "xyz" reason ... and back it up by fake evidences ..

[West London Singh]

I am sorry if I sound stupid

Yes you're right Sarabjeet, you do sound a bit stupid.

Nah only kidding. The facts pretty much speak for themselves and the employers have pretty much dug their own grave with the statements they have made thus far. i.e....descibing him as an excellent employee...in fact the best in his field etc....And yet, in this 'cost cutting' excercise he was the only one who was let go, in a large company with many many employees, and that too with threats about 'if he knew what was good for him'. Only an extremely stupid person examining the evidence would need extra convincing. This is as clear cut as it gets. But really, I don't think you understand what an effective tool this is in our fight for Sikh rights. The American and British retailers don't even have to agree with what we say in our letter. What they will do is raise the issue with the Indian company as a 'concern'. That in turn will frighten the living daylights out of the Indian company....because the potential cost is money. The pen is mightier than the sword.

[SarabjeetS]

Yes you're right Sarabjeet, you do sound a bit stupid.

Nah only kidding. The facts pretty much speak for themselves and the employers have pretty much dug their own grave with the statements they have made thus far. i.e....descibing him as an excellent employee...in fact the best in his field etc....And yet, in this 'cost cutting' excercise he was the only one who was let go, in a large company with many many employees, and that too with threats about 'if he knew what was good for him'. Only an extremely stupid person examining the evidence would need extra convincing. This is as clear cut as it gets. But really, I don't think you understand what an effective tool this is in our fight for Sikh rights. The American and British retailers don't even have to agree with what we say in our letter. What they will do is raise the issue with the Indian company as a 'concern'. That in turn will frighten the living daylights out of the Indian company....because the potential cost is money. The pen is mightier than the sword.

So , who is going to do it ? Or is this going to become another topic which never goes outside domain of sikhsangat.com ?

Action is necessary .

[11Gurus1Jot]

West London and Sarbjeet, you're both right!!

But why does it have to be a who? Why can't it be a group?

As one we are nothing, as a collective (under one God!) we are everything!

Why don't we just get 84 groups in every Gurdwara. The only resolutions and items needed are,

• We'll meet once a month every month to discuss 84 for an hour
• We'll then spend an hour producing the relevant communication and promotional material, like posters, letters, emails etc etc
• We'll also keep in touch with the 84 committees across the UK (may be the world)
• The Gurdwara will provide us with a Computer, internet link, printer, paper and stamps

A room full of 5 or more Sikhs, will do more than a single Sikh!

[West London Singh]

West London and Sarbjeet, you're both right!!

But why does it have to be a who? Why can't it be a group?

As one we are nothing, as a collective (under one God!) we are everything!

Why don't we just get 84 groups in every Gurdwara. The only resolutions and items needed are,

•We'll meet once a month every month to discuss 84 for an hour

•We'll then spend an hour producing the relevant communication and promotional material, like posters, letters, emails etc etc

•We'll also keep in touch with the 84 committees across the UK (may be the world)

•The Gurdwara will provide us with a Computer, internet link, printer, paper and stamps

A room full of 5 or more Sikhs, will do more than a single Sikh!

Very much agree with you. You see, I said 'the pen is mightier than the sword'....In fact, the pen can be so sharp that one can actually cut oneself when writing....cause more damage to oneself if one is not carefull. i'll tell ya what I mean : The kind of letter in question needs to be written by a level headed cool headed calm individual. A man like me....hot headed...finding it difficult to keep his emotions / anger in check would actually cause more harm than good if he puts pen to paper. That, and only that, is the reason I put the idea forward for others to take up rather than do it myself. What I'm really proposing is that we change our strategy. Our tactics so far, as western born highly educated sikhs, have been a dismal failure. Its been 26 years since the Indian Human rights and Minorities Report published its findings into the anti-sikh massacres of 1984. In that report they name actual names. some of those names are influential businessmen. Some of the companies of those men have been supplying our major retailers here for the last 26 years. We ourselves have even been buying some of those commodities. All I'm saying is that we chase the business interests of the killers. Hurt them where they really feel hurt. I agree with you, A team of dedicated, cool, calm and collected young sikhs should be doing this as a collective based in some office almost as a full-time job.