Media - Surrey Vaisakhi And Sikh "Martyrs"

[Singhballer]

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/realscoop/archive/2011/04/24/surrey-vaisakhi-and-sikh-quot-martyrs-quot.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Newton Saturday to celebrate Vaisakhi. They gave out free food, they visited with neighbours and friends and they admired the floats, the singing, the drumming, the dancing and the martial arts.

The Canadian Armed Forces were in the parade and even recruiting on the plaza at Surrey's Dasmesh Darbar temple, which organized the annual event.

The vast majority of attendees were just there to mark the holiest day of the year on the Sikh calendar or to participate in the wonderful cultural exchange. They weren't interested in the politics that some served up.

There has been much controversy with this parade in recent years. The executive of Dasmesh Darbar was once linked to the now-banned Interational Sikh Youth Federation.

In 2007, the image of Air India mastermind and Babbar Khalsa founder Talwinder Singh Parmar was displayed on a parade float put together by a group called Sikh Vision, of which Parmar's son was one of the founders.

In subsequent years, there were images of leaders of banned terrorist organizations, like both the Babbar Khalsa and the ISYF or their sister groups in India - hanging on floats and described as "Shaheeds" or martyrs. Likewise, the assassins of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and a retired Indian Army general were put on posters made by parade organizers and also called martyrs, instead of killers.

Understandably Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts and other politicians have expressed concern about the glorification of assassins and others linked to violence. This year, the Surrey RCMP said it would take a look at the floats and make sure there was nothing controversial. They gave the all-clear.

I spent several hours at the parade Saturday. Throughout the day, I saw tens of thousands of people out having a great time. But I also saw many controversial images - mostly on the temple plaza where the parade began and ended, but also on floats and on t-shirts and vests.

I started my day at Dasmesh Darbar, where the so-called martyr posters had been hung outside on the temple wall for all to see. They were right beside the entrance that several politicians used to pay their respects first thing in the morning. The posters included: Babbar Khalsa leader Sukhdev Singh Babbar, Amrik Singh, the leader of the ISYF predecessor group, the Sikh Student Federation, two assassins known by their nicknames - Sukha and Jinda - who gunned down an retired Indian Army general as he grocery shopped. One of the "martyrs" even had his ammunition belt on.

Next, I checked out the stage across from the front door of Dasmesh (above left) and set up by organizers. On it were giant banners proclaiming the creation of a separate Sikh nation called Khalistan. And there was another banner, right in the centre, with five assassins described as 'Great Martyrs' - Beant Singh, Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh, who killed Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and Sukhdev Singh and Harjinder Singh (Sukha and Jinda), who gunned down the retired general Arun Vaidya. In the plaza, beside the amusement rides, was a man wearing a vest with the logo of the International Sikh Youth Federation, which has been banned in Canada as a terrorist group since 2003.

The assassin and terrorist images in the plaza were just metres from the table and bus of the Canadian Armed Forces recruiters. Next, I walked down 128th, through the cheerful crowds out enjoying the sunshine. There was another stage at about 83rd and 128th that had some of the same imagery supporting the pro-Khalistan militants. There were just two floats in the parade that glorified "martyrs" that most would consider terrorists.

The first paid tribute to legitimate war heroes, but had one banner with the images of four men on it. One of them was identified as Wadhawa Singh, who is a Babbar Khalsa leader wanted as the mastermind of the assination of the Chief Minister of Punjab in 1995. But some people are saying the name was incorrect and the photo is actually of Avtar Singh Bramha, of the Khalistan Liberation Force. I am putting up a photo of Bramha and you tell me if you think it is him.

The second float called for the formation of Khalistan. It featured two militant leaders killed when the Golden Temple was attacked in June 1984 - Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Amrik Singh - of the ISYF-predecessor group. A man on the Khalistan float was selling CDs for a non-profit group called Revolutionary Records. He wore a shirt with the Babbar Khalsa logo on the front (including crossed rifles) and the words Revolutionary Records on the back. Others walking behind the float wore the same shirt. I am also putting up a Babbar Khalsa logo so you can decide for yourselves if it is the same.

Also walking in the parade was Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, from Washington, DC, who heads the Council of Khalistan. He spoke on the Dasmesh stage and was a special guest. He was also a defence witness at the Air India trial for Ajaib Singh Bagri, a Babbar Khalsa leader who was later acquitted. During the trial, Aulakh explained away a speech Bagri made calling for the murder of 50,000 Hindus and also said sometimes it is justified to kill. "It may be criminal for other people, but for the Sikh nation it is not," Aulakh testified.

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Kim Bolan has been doing this for years, can't blame her. Probably dosen't understand jack squat about what was going on during those times and who some of these Singhs killed and why they killed em.

It is my humble request that Sikhs in Surrey get together and go through each "terrorist" she has named. Create a description or list of who these Singhs were, what they did, why they did it etc. Bhai Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, whos photo she has taken a picture of, killed S.H.O. Mith Singh. S.H.O. Mith Singh was a police commander who had been raping and torturing Sikhs in Punjab. Bhai Sahib's family had been illeglay detained, severely tortured, sexually abused. His uncle and cousin were, who had no connection to any "militant" groups, were killed by the police in fake encounters.

As I have explained and detailed Bhai Gurjant Singh's story and what he had done, extremely poorly I might add, couldn't Sikhs in Surrey take time out to get together, collect information and create a very detailed account and description of who these Singhs were, who they were responcible for killing, who were those people (cops, gov official responcible for killings of innocents), what those people did, why Singhs had to resort to killing them etc.

If the Sikh community can create such detailed accounts of the truth about these Singhs it could then be distributed to other Canadians, and especialy, the media. People could get a complete understanding of who these people were and it could very well result in the reduction of these Singhs being painted as "terrorists" and less hate coming from Canadians due to misinformed articles as the one posted above.

If anyone would want to refute the information brought out by Sikhs, there could be an open debate about what these people did and I'm sure we have enough intellectual Sikhs in Vancouver who could easily partake in that.

This is just what I believe could be done to solve or better this situation of this yearly bombardment of our Nagar Kirtans being shown as places where "terrorists" and "murderers" are adored.

Common Surrey dwellers! Stop worrying about your Canucks and start worrying about yourselves!

[N30S1NGH]

There is only one solution to this guerrilla war journalism... we should request our leaders of sri akaal takth sahib (sikh vatican) to offically declare genuine shahids of 1984 era as "Sikh Shahids" in form of edict, they have already done so creating monument of sant jarnail singh bhindranwale in amritsar but it has to be in writing, in form of declaration/edict. This way we show these idiots journalist that sikhs are one voice, steady fast supportive behind pictures of matyrs in nagar kirtan.

With that being said, any joe blow hate monger fanatic criminal using dhara, kesh, bana as a token cannot be called shahid of the panth, as it's naive to think every person with bana, dhara and kesh with ak 47 was a shahid for the panth and fought for the panth back in 1978-1995 era..intensive research needs to be done by sri akaal tatkh representatives on lives of genuine sikh matyrs and so called sikh matyrs and needs to be differentiated and highlighted, just like there are genuine sants in the panth and fake sants in the panth, just like that there are genuine shahids of the panth and then there are bad apples sikh who without any question had terrorist intent.

[KhalistaniGunMan]

just like that there are genuine shahids of the panth and then there are bad apples sikh who without any question had terrorist intent.

I think the bad apples your refering to are the black cats the punjab police used to destroy the movement from within....there is no such thing as a pakhandi shaheed lol...its easy to be a pakhandi sant...its extremely difficult to be a pakhandi and become shaheed...no fakester wants to die at the end of the day...no one is perfect..even the shaheeds who we glorify were not perfect..but they are on another level from us because they gave their blood for the kaum..and any singh or kaur who gave their life for the kaum..regardless of what you think of their actions..should be respected..

[N30S1NGH]

I think the bad apples your refering to are the black cats the punjab police used to destroy the movement from within....there is no such thing as a pakhandi shaheed lol...its easy to be a pakhandi sant...its extremely difficult to be a pakhandi and become shaheed...no fakester wants to die at the end of the day...no one is perfect..even the shaheeds who we glorify were not perfect..but they are on another level from us because they gave their blood for the kaum..and any singh or kaur who gave their life for the kaum..regardless of what you think of their actions..should be respected..

You obviously living in illusion... Anyway, i don't want to go off-topic in this thread, but imagine this realistic scenario-

- Punjab police scum bag killed person whole family including children, person came back killed the cop but including the cop and killing whole family of an cop including children is that according to khalsa dharam yudh maryada???..No its not.

This person just took a revenge blood for blood for his family all in garb of wearing bana, kesh and dhara in order to hide his own pitfalls and he dies at end, Can he be called Shahid of the panth? what happened sant-sipahi/miri-piri concept?

All i m saying, just like people who are misusing the word sant, throwing it every where, there are people who like to label or misuse every joe blow person who died in garb of kesh, dhara and bana - an shahid of an panth? now equate the label of shahidi of sri guru gobind singh ji, char sahibzadaies, banda singh bahudar, sri guru arjan dev ji, baba bir singh nurangabad, baba maharaj singh nurangabad, sant jarnail singh bhindranwale, bhai amrik singh ji with the scenario i provided above? not even close.

Concept of Shaheedi in Sikhism isn't so black and white as you like to claim.

You can read more on topic of shaheedi see 19th post - ~Reevaluting the real meaning of shaheedi~

[KhalistaniGunMan]

- Punjab police scum bag killed person whole family including children, person came back killed the cop but including the cop and killing whole family of an cop including children is that according to khalsa dharam yudh maryada???..No its not.

Firstly you have ignored my comments about the black cats of the movement...maybe you unaware of who they were and what they did...KPS Gill said if it wasnt for these black cats..then khalistan would of been formed...secondly about the example you provided above...it would be righteous to kill the evil policemen...i cant name one jathebandi who would of supported killing of innocent family members..maybe you should read up on the jeevan of the numerous kharkoo jathedars...the babbar khalsa jathebandi even went as far as saying...if a babbar kills a innocent..then he should be executed!...you cant put the crime of individuals on to the whole organisation...one bad apple within the movement does not represent the majority of freedom fighters....for example an american soldier kills an innocent family in afghanistan....the individual will be at fault not the organisation(united states army).....But what you also got remember is its a WAR!!..innocent people die...you cannot name one war in history where innocent people have not died...even during the khalsa - mughal wars....i provide with a recent example..singhs of the KLF tried to ambush Gobind Rams police jeep (this dusht raped many bibia, killed many gursikhs in his custody, <Edited> in a bowl and told gursikhs to drink his new amrit instead of sri guru gobind singh jis)...Gobind Ram was wounded in this attack, but his son (who was innocent) was killed in the crossfire...

This person just took a revenge blood for blood for his family all in garb of wearing bana, kesh and dhara in order to hide his own pitfalls and he dies at end, Can he be called Shahid of the panth? what happened sant-sipahi/miri-piri concept?

If he killed innocents he cannot be khalsa fullstop...NO KHARKOO JATHEBANDI HAS SUPPORTED THESE ACTIONS

All i m saying, just like people who are misusing the word sant, throwing it every where, there are people who like to label or misuse every joe blow person who died in garb of kesh, dhara and bana - an shahid of an panth? now equate the label of shahidi of sri guru gobind singh ji, char sahibzadaies, banda singh bahudar, sri guru arjan dev ji, baba bir singh nurangabad, baba maharaj singh nurangabad, sant jarnail singh bhindranwale, bhai amrik singh ji with the scenario i provided above? not even close

Its funny you would mention banda singh bahadur...babaji razed sirhind to the ground...massacred much of the population who in his eyes were not innocent because they allowed the execution of the chote sahibzade to take place..anyway back to the topic...all those you mentioned were shaheeds..however you forgot to mention shaheed bhai avtar singh bhrama, shaheed bhai gurjant isngh ji bhudsinghwala, shaheed sukhdev singh babbar, shaheed gurbachan singh ji manochal, shaheed bhai anokh singh babbar..and countless other legitimate shaheeds of the khalistan movement...

Concept of Shaheedi in Sikhism isn't so black and white as you like to claim.

When did i claim shaheedi was black and white...

You obviously living in illusion

Arent we all.... lol

[Singhballer]

Stay on topic. Don't turn this into a debate on a whole other subject.

There is only one solution to this guerrilla war journalism... we should request our leaders of sri akaal takth sahib (sikh vatican) to offically declare genuine shahids of 1984 era as "Sikh Shahids" in form of edict, they have already done so creating monument of sant jarnail singh bhindranwale in amritsar but it has to be in writing, in form of declaration/edict. This way we show these idiots journalist that sikhs are one voice, steady fast supportive behind pictures of matyrs in nagar kirtan.

By having the Akal Thakt declare them shaheeds it does not solve this problem. Having the journalists see that we have one voice will not change who they believe these Singhs were.

Being supportive the the utmost degree of these photos will not prove to them anything except that LOTS of Sikhs in Canada support terrorists and terrorism.

Where these Singhs terrorists? No. Does the Canadian media and general society believe so? Yes. An edict from the Akal Thakt stating these Singhs are martys will not change the belief of Canadians.

Sikhs need provide the truthful information about who these Singhs were on mass scale. As I stated above, to have conrecte evidence and information about these Singhs that shows they are not terrorists in any way, shape or form.

Anyone else to add to this?

[N30S1NGH]

I believe getting edict from Sri Akaal Takth Sahib will difinitely help the suitation as media have imaginary view of this issue... they have created imaginary division within Sikh community.. moderates vs fundamentalist...people who believe in matyr and concept of sovereignity are viewed as tribal groups fundamentalist and others are moderates... in fact realistically speaking there is no such divide... Whilst idea of sovereign nation is debatable among sikhs... having an picture of Sikh matyrs is accepted all across... there is unity in that front... we need edict from sri Akaal Takth sahib to push it through stating list of sikh matyrs of both puratan and 20th century along with sant-sipahi concept.. i am sure if sri Akaal Takth sahib is presented as Vatican for sikhs so westerners could understand.. it will be spread in media outlets... i remember issue of homosexuality when apne liberal mps went to Sri Akaal Takth Sahib after the vote for homosexuality ..they were discouraged at sri Akaal Takth sahib.. and it was reported in the media.

[genie]

An online campaign should be formed to vigorously defend our shaheeds and national religious hero's who fought for the freedom for the Sikhs. Those who attack them should be exposed meaning their biased reputation would be left bare for all to see.

Funny how Kim Bolan has zero to say about George Washington the founding father and freedom fighter of America who would be termed as a terrorist and secessionist to the crown of england today. Nor this Kim Bolan has zero to say about the various Indian congress terrorists who conducted genocide against innocent Indian Sikh civilians in 1984 onwards. Nor she has anything to say about the various theories out there that brought down air India plane in 1985 when in a court of law the two so called Sikh separatists who were suspected of taking out the plane were found NOT guilty. There are 6 theories out there important to note. The most credible is RAW Indian terrorist agents inclusion with morally bankrupt Canadian govt of the time carrying out that outrageous murderous act for their own vested economic interests (flow of oil and trade) and to put a stop to mass support for Khalistan movement after operation blue star.

[Singhballer]

Thanks guys

[clarity]

KIm Bolan maybe getting blackmailed by the GOI who are using her as an asset to attack Sikhs why else would a reporter break all tenants of fairness in reporting events and attack one community over and over again as she does it is obvious either she is working for indian intelligence or is being blackmailed by them the relevant authorities in Canada need to be informed about this to investigate this blatant hate against our community and similar tactics the nazis used against the jews before the holocaust in Germany.

The anti defamation league should be contacted to highlight this issue in the international community and advice taken about prosecution through the courts and explanation why Sikhs are allowed to be racially persecuted in this way for no reason other than highlighting murders against our community and ethnic cleansing and the people who helped Sikhs defend against this genocide being painted as terrorists when in fact they are freedom fighters it is tatmount to holocaust denial on Kim Bolans part.