Jump to content

Sikh Federation (Uk) Welcomes Amnesty International Stand Against India And Support Of Balwant Singh


Recommended Posts

Amnesty International calls on Indian Prime Minister for Balwant Singh's execution to be halted

The execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana must be halted and an official moratorium on capital punishment established in India, Amnesty International said today in an open letter to the country’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh (see attached).

Amnesty International’s Policy Adviser, Bikramjeet Batra, said:

“Resuming executions after an eight year hiatus would place India in opposition to regional and global trends towards abolition of the death penalty.

“We urge Prime Minister Singh to stop the execution of Balwant Singh and establish an official moratorium on executions – and ultimately to abolish the death penalty in India for all crimes.”

A copy of the letter was sent to the President of India, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Governor of Punjab & the administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh and the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Bhai Amrik Singh, Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK), said:

"We promised last week that we hoped to secure the support of Amnesty International.

All letters sent by the Sangat to MPs and MEPs have urged politicians to pressure Amnesty International.

Within 2 weeks the letters sent by the Sangat have made a real difference.

Our ultimate aim is to expose India and bring an end to the death penalty in India."

The Sikh Federation (UK) has this evening been on both Sikh television channels to speak about the Amnesty International letter that has been secured.

Amnesty International letter to PM.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amnesty urges India to halt first execution since 2004

(AFP)–6 hours ago

NEW DELHI — Amnesty International on Tuesday urged India to halt its first scheduled execution for eight years and to impose an official moratorium on any further use of capital punishment.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the human rights watchdog said the execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana, slated for March 31 in the northern state of Punjab, would be a major step backwards.

Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 for his role in the 1995 assassination of the then Punjab chief minister, Beant Singh.

"Resuming executions after an eight year hiatus would place India in opposition to regional and global trends towards abolition of the death penalty," said Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi.

"We urge you to stop the execution of Balwant Singh and establish an official moratorium on executions ... and swiftly abolish the death penalty in India for all crimes," Zarifi wrote in his letter to the prime minister.

If Sunday's hanging goes ahead in Punjab's Patiala Jail, it would be the first execution in India since 2004, when a former security guard was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

India has hundreds of condemned convicts awaiting execution, including the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab -- the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

A complex and lengthy appeal process means those sentenced to die often sit on death row for many years.

In most cases the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH!

It is highly important that the sangat signs this petition, we are looking to get 100,000 to get the Government to debate this issue in Parliment....

100,000 SIGNATURES WILL GET THIS ISSUE INTO DEBATE AT PARLIMENT!!!

https://​submissions.epetitions.direct.g​ov.uk/petitions/31519

FACEBOOK IT, TWITTER IT, TEXT IT.... WE NEED THESE SIGNATURES BY THE WEEKEND!!!

SPEAK TO YOUR LOCAL GURDWARA, GET A LAPTOP AND GET EVERYONE AT THE WEEKEND AT THE GURDWARA TO SIGN THIS E PETITION...

PLEASE PLEASE SADH SANGAT JI, IT IS IN OUR HANDS TO GET THIS ISSUE HIGHLIGHTED IN PARLIMENT AND POTENTIALLY SAVE THOUSANDS OF SIKHS IN INDIAN PRISONS.

NOTE: EVERY EPETITION THAT HAS REACHED 100,000 SIGNATURES HAS BEEN DEBATED IN PARLIAMENT...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Was listening to Sant Ji's katha on youtube.  Sant ji stated apart from the traditional raags, there is nothing wrong if Kirtan is sung in other NON - Raags set up by our Guru Ji's.  His example: Think of poison in a bowl.  Drinking the poison then blaming the bowl is silly. The poison is bad not the bowl. Likewise, we will never call a bowl Amrit once it contains Amrit init. Sameway it's not the raags being good / bad... it's WHAT we put into those raags. How many times Kirtan was sung but on a track of sum Bollywood tune? It is happening in Gurudwara by Raagis! Youtube also has Kaweshri jatha singing history of 1984, on Dr Dre's - Still Dre track.  Rap instrumental/ Bolly tunes stand neutral. We can either put bad things and sing with our own remixes and lyrics... or we can recreate to sing Shabads of Gurbabi, kirtan and Sikh Prachaar over them. 
    • Everything in Gurbani points us towards the Atma. Atma and Parmatma are the same… Atama and Parmatma is the source that creates and causes everything… What have the following items got in common? A fan. A television. A fridge. A radio. A computer..? These things are powered by electricity. Without electricity these things are lifeless. It’s the electricity that causes these things to function… Atma is the source of energy that allows everything to happen.    without Atma, we are lifeless… Call this Atama RAGUNATH…call this Atma by any other name…the fact remains that it’s the life force energy… Dieties also have the same Atma as humans, but they still part of the creation, and not the creator…  
    • Hi I want to know who’s ragunath in gurbani Hindu claim this word appear for ram chandra if we read guru teg bahadur maharaj salok maharaj clearly rejecting ram gayo ravan geo but at the last pangti Kahu naanak īh bipaṭi mai tek ēyk ragɦunaaṭɦ ॥55॥ Says Nanak, in this calamity, the Lord alone is my support who is this ragunaath why would maharaj use ragunath as refrence for god?
    • Throughout history we have been tested and tried. We remained steadfast and resiliant. The events that took place in Punjab and outside of Punjab in the past years made it quite clear we are big players in the game which kept the world powers on edge. It started off with the drug pandemic in Punjab, to the uproar by Bhai Amritpal Singh to the Farmer's protest. Outside of Punjab the deaths of Avtar Singh Khanda (UK) and Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Canada) created a stir within our community. This was probably our first real opportunity to establish something but how quickly members of our own community forget history. We have been a threat to civilization in the past and this is probably what the world powers are concerned about. However, may we continue grow and learn through Gurbani and like Jaswant Singh Khalra said: 'May the spirit of equal rights Punjab continue to kindle'. 
    • This is why people used to get married earlier in puratan times. Think about it, nowadays you legit have to be brahmacharya at ages when you're supposed to be married and producing children, which historically speaking, is unprecedented outside of the Sants in Indic tradition. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use