Sikh Council Uk Statement On Sikh Channel'S D-Day

[Pyara]

I have one beanti to everyone going on about people being 'anti sikh channel' or 'pro badal'... Please just stop, think and maybe research a little bit before making judgements.

The dastaar issue at airports came about middle of last year, at which point sangat pushed by jathebandies such as Sikh Federation mass lobbied their MPs and the issue was raised at Government levels. When the Sikh Council came into being, they then took lead on this issue and progress had and still is being made not only in the UK but also within Europe and Internationally. So there have been people working at very high levels for many many months and progress has and is being made.

The dastaar issue again came into the limelight with the incident in Italy. Sikh Council were notified and quickly spoke to key high level people to resolve the issue.

So talks are happening at very high levels at UK/European levels and progress is being made. Yes, time is being taken but UK/European law can't be changed overnight and things are moving in a good direction. So, when positive changes are happening, to then hold a 'D Day protest' is silly. If the UK/European weren't listening to us, then a protest would be fully justified but when Governments are working with us and progress is slowly being made, why protest? Doesn't make sense at all. And I have heard this same view from various organisations including the Sikh Council from when Sikh Channel decided to market all this.

Sikh Channel having now consulted with many other organisations have also realised this and have began changing the focus of 'D-Day' to become a Dastaar awareness event rather than a protest to limit any negative effect this may have.

If SCUK had genuine preconceptions about this, were SCUK in a state of paralysis when Sikh Channel first toiled with the D day concept? Dozens of Gurdwaras are organising coaches, have paid deposits to coach companies, mentioned D Day on the stages of the Gurdwaras, saadh sangat have organised their Sundays to attend and now SCUK throw a late spanner in the works by perplexing the creditability of the Dastar Day. This could have been handled in a persuasive eloquent manner several weeks (even months ago) so that the sangat didn’t have to go through weeks of noxious discussion shows on Sangat TV. Why have these jathedars/councils let it get this far if the concerns were genuine? Where was the prudence and foresight? Scapegoating D Bal or Sikh Channel at this stage is now pointless and simply personal.

SCUK have poorly communicated any supposed high level discussions at a European level regarding the EuroDastaar issue to the very sangat they are meant to be representing. So, don’t be surprised that things have got this far and sangat opt to make the decision based on what they have perceived as being a lack of high level discussions.

[Paneer Monster]

^^ well said pyara

[Angrez]

The Dastaar Day was always going to be an awareness day, since when did anybody other than ksangat TV change this into a demonstration/protest. Terminology is very important and for the self appointed leaders to start saying that if people really really really must go to it they should not demonstrate/protest, is insulting the intelligence of the sikhs that are attending.

Will the so called leaders/presenters please stop scaremongering. We live in a democratic country, we have the right to voice our opinion and raise awareness. This is what people do. It will send a visible message to the politicians that the community feels strongly about the issue and will add momentum to whats already being done by the sikh advisers to the government..

[rinku_sikh]

And don't forget Dastar Day isn't JUST about the airport issues that exist. Sikh's in the UK come across identity issues every single day and all this is due to the lack of awareness and education. They do not know the significance of our Dastaar. Whether it's an issue in the police, construction sites, buses, motorbike or just damned arrogant people who relate us to 9/11, awareness of our Dastar can NEVER be a bad thing and ANYONE who disagrees with Dastar Day obviously doesn't care about these issues and begs the question about whether THOSE people should be worthy of wearing a Dastar

Take a look at this link which is TODAY's NEWS

Turban bomber kills former Afghan president

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8777646/Turban-bomber-kills-former-Afghan-president.html

How long until Sikh's start to get associated with this attack?

Awareness and education can only help.

[Aman0001]

In the last 6 months the Sikh federation and Sikh Council have achieved the following in regards to the Respect For Sikh Turbans in Airports issue:-

March 22^nd 2011 - Lobby in the British parliament in regards to Respect for the Sikh Turban at UK airports (and across Europe).

April 26^th 2011 – 30 minute adjournment debate took place in Westminster. Dozens of MP’s attended the Respect For Sikh Turban debate and 15 managed to make a contribution in the 30 minute session.

1^st June 2011 – Minister of transport Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP sent a 3 page letter to the ministers in the other 26 EU states. In the letter the Minister stated: ‘On 30 November 2010 the UK secured EU agreement for a trial that avoids physical touching of the turban by hand….”

15^th June 2011 – All Party Parliamentary Group for UK Sikhs (APPGS) meets the Transport Minister Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers. The Minister has confirmed that the trial will be taking place in 17 out of the 20 largest UK airports. Fabian Hamilton MP who is the chair of APPGS will be speaking to the executives within the remaining 3 airports for a justification as to why they wont be entering the trial.

12^th July 2011 – Sikh representatives meet the Transport Mnister – Sikhs want the UK trials concluded as soon as possible and the results shared with the European Commission to allow other EU member states to adopt the same procedures as soon as possible. The Minister discussed how pressure could be exerted on EU states.

18^th September 2011 – Fabian Hamilton the chair of the APPGS has confirmed that a delegation of MP’s including himself and Sikh representatives will be travelling to Brussels to meet the EU Commissioner. Representatives from Italy and Greece will also be attending the meeting as there are specific problems in these countries.

There is a lot of hard work going on to reslove the dastaar issue and we are making great progress. Going forward, any awareness days or demonstrations should be strategically organised with agreement from the Sikh Council & Sikh Federation.

[Tera]

I agree with a lot of comments regarding general awareness. Guess what I was trying to say though was just summed up by Aman.

There is a lot of hard work going on to reslove the dastaar issue and we are making great progress. Going forward, any awareness days or demonstrations should be strategically organised with agreement from the Sikh Council & Sikh Federation.

[SantLUCIFER]

Dastaar day! Sikhs make your voices heard, wear your Turbans and gather in your thousands let the words of Shah-I-ShenshahGuru Gobind Singh Ji Khalsa Mahraaj Sahib become true, where Sikhs can be recognised the world over!

[Pyara]

There is a lot of hard work going on to reslove the dastaar issue and we are making great progress. Going forward, any awareness days or demonstrations should be strategically organised with agreement from the Sikh Council & Sikh Federation.

I don' think anyone’s denying that. These timelines you have posted are useful, shame that up until now this hasn’t really been effectively communicated to the sangat and almost comes at a time when we are likely to be dubious about their accuracy in terms of progress.

Firstly, I am sorry I have to say this, but let's stop kidding ourselves into believing there's a "strategy" because if there was a strategy we wouldn't be pulling each others’ pyjamay last minute on TV.

Secondly, surly there are positive synergies to be gained from a large scale gathering expressing our concerns at a grassroots level via D Day which inturn can complement the meetings that SCUK or SFUK have had with officials. SFUK have been successful pioneers in using demos at grassroots to amplify Sikh campaigns in the past.

Strategies can be emergent and can evolve from new situations, they don’t always need to be formulated in cumbersome prabhandak consultations.

[Angrez]

Thanks Aman0001, its good to see that progress is being made. Its just a shame that the jathedars of these organisations had ample time to play a part in this. Instead they sat on the side and watched the tamasha, there are some people with hidden agenda's keen to see damage being done and they made the most of trying to destroy the positive step that was taken. Its not like the Dastaar Day was thought of overnight, there was coverage for months even before a date was announced.

But then the other channel wasted no time in trying to show this in a bad light. That is also unforgivable.

[Aman0001]

Angrez - Communication to the wider sangat has always been a weak point. I agree that this needs to be improved. You also need to understand that the federation sevadaars have families and also hold down full time jobs, all the dastaar issue related seva was done on top of these commitments and usually at considerable personal expense. I personally respect them for achieving so much with so little.