Guest Blogged by Fakir
Earlier this week I received an email letter from Kashmir. This was not the first such letter from Kashmir, nor I fear, will it be the last. I’ve read this letter once, twice, again and again and still cannot begin to explain the helplessness, anger, and despair that I feel each time. Helplessness for the lives of my people lost. Anger for the status quo of violence and periods of strained silence that soon erupt into violence and for this brutal cycle. And despair for seemingly no end in sight, the lack of a process that could bring peace to my homeland.
Below I share this letter with you. Some of it was also published here.
Last year, Maple Leaf Sikh highlighted a revolutionary event which occurred in Toronto and brought together young Sikhs to pay homage to 1984. The event, hosted by the Sikh Activist Network, returns this year and brings together artists such as Hoodini, Mandeep Sethi, Selena Dhillon and Yudh Gatka Akhara and more. For those of you who are dealing with post-Sikh-conference-blues – When Lions Roar II promises to be yet another excellent event bringing together Sikh youth in an impactful way.
A Night of Hip Hop, Poetry, Spoken Word, Gatka and More…
To Remember 1984
Friday June 25
Mirage Banquet Hall
Admission: Pay What You Can
All Ages – Doors Open at 6pm
The year 1984 saw unimaginable calamities in India. This is the story of the two most well-known.
One was caused by a callous corporation and a complicit government. When thousands of people were exposed to horrendous toxins and poisonous gases in Bhopal, Union Carbide first denied it completely, only to later deny culpability. The Government of India was only to happy to allow destruction to its own citizenry in the name of protecting foreign investments and corporate welfare. Over 4,000 people lost their lives due to the complicit negligence and countless others were permanently incapacitated.
Reported today, an Indian court has found some of the corporate executives guilty. While Union Carbide had been purchased by Dow Chemical in the interim, various activists and community members continued to fight for the guilty to be brought to justice. 8 top of executives have now been found guilty. Details are still sketchy, but one hopes their corporate malfeasance receives the full brunt for its depravity, although activists see too little too late and a light punishment meted to these corporate terrorists.
Meanwhile, another event that saw the death of thousands of lives of lives in India occurred one month earlier. However, this was not confined to a Bhopal backwater, but rather was on the streets of India’s capital – in full view of the press, police, army, and politicians. When the four groups, all co-conspirators, were not actively leading the charge of the pograms, then they remained silent in their complicity. The latest news remains the same – despite valiant attempts by victims’ lawyer, HS Phoolka, the court continues to dither and protect the known culprits. When 4,000 Sikhs are murdered in the streets, led by government officials and their sponsored goons, they receive no solace. It is a lesson learned by the Sikhs in 1984 and the Muslims of Gujarat in 2002.
So while we give a hug to those victims in Bhopal that may now see someone brought to justice (as small as it may be), even if it does not bring back their family members, we can only provide a shoulder of support and solidarity to those that lost their lives due to the pograms of 1984. A callous government may provide something (even after 26 years) when the guilty are corporate, but expect nothing when the murderer is itself.
Last month 17 Indian nationals were sentenced to die for killing a Pakistani man. 16 of the 17 men come from a Sikh background.
The case has attracted some attention in the Indian press, but has now found place on the BBC and other sources due to Amnesty International, a premier human rights group, calling attention to the torture of the defendants.
Amnesty says the men were taken to the scene of the killing in the emirate of Sharjah and forced to re-enact it. It says they were made to beat a police officer posing as the dead man a month after their arrest – an act filmed and presented as genuine evidence.
Citing evidence produced by Indian rights group Lawyers For Human Rights International (LFHRI), Amnesty said that the 17 men were beaten with clubs, given electric shocks, deprived of sleep and forced to stand on one leg for prolonged periods.“This is a mockery of justice. These 17 men have been tortured, forced to confess and sentenced to death based on a faked video,” Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sharaoui said.“Amnesty International is calling on the UAE authorities to investigate the allegations of torture and abuse and to ensure the 17 men receive a fair trial on appeal,” the group said in a statement. [link]
Guest blogged by Brooklynwala
A few days ago, a friend sent me this powerful open letter she wrote in order to spark critical thinking and dialogue on the pitfalls of calling the police and relying on the criminal (in)justice system to deal with issues in our neighborhoods and communities. We live in New York City, which has a police force widely known for its excessive use of force and violence, especially against people of color. Sundari recently did a post on the NYPD shooting and killing of a Sikh man in NYC, Satnam Singh, just last week.
In a context in which police by and large cause more harm than get us closer to justice and where the prison system dehumanizes people instead of rehabilitating them, the author of this piece, along with a growing movement around the U.S., are challenging us to think of alternative ways of responding to harm. She states,
“Many of us don’t believe in calling the police. Right now, right here, even before we’ve sufficiently built all the alternative structures for responding to harm. Both in an attempt to create the world we want to live in, and/but also because the impact of prisons and policing is brutal, oppressive, racist, traumatic. We see almost no good coming of it, certainly no transformation, no making things better. We don’t trust police, we don’t think of them as the “good guys,” and we don’t think calling them is going to change anything.”
My friend’s compelling piece “Feeling for the edge of your imagination” got me thinking about what a Sikh approach to justice is. While there is clearly not a simple answer to this question, I tend to think a Gurmukh would place love, forgiveness, rehabilitation, accountability, and recognizing the Divine in all at the center, despite questionable or even horrific actions one has perpetrated. Think about Bhai Kanhaiya Ji’s seva for “enemy” soldiers in need, who saw the injured soldiers’ humanity before he sought vengeance for their attacks against the Sikhs.
Guest blogged by Harbakhsh Grewal
At the start of this year BBC 1, Britain’s premiere tv channel, highlighted the importance of 1984 to the Sikh psyche with a film documenting the personal journey of a British Sikh woman, journalist Sonia Deol. The reaction from many Sikhs has been hostile and vocal. Did the programme insult the faith, demonise its leaders and miss a massive opportunity to set the record straight as some have claimed? And even if it did, does the presenter deserve the vitriolic response resulting in her deleting her facebook page to avoid any more abuse?
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the programme, the response to it shows the level of concern still in the community to the tragic and horrific events of 1984. However some of the criticism has been purely personal and deeply unpleasant and does nothing to redress the balance or aid the causes that those who are angry care about.
To discuss the programme in any detail requires much deliberation. And that in a sense is why the programme should be applauded: the issues covered were of such enormity and complexity the programme makers should be congratulated for daring to cover them at all in the first place – and to try and do so within an hour slot is a task of great difficulty.
And the fact that many younger Sikhs, as well as the wider non-Sikh public more generally, have discovered a whole chapter of their own community’s history in some depth and breadth I think shows that the BBC has provided a much needed service.
Those who criticise on specific issues such as the portrayal of Bhindranwale have their own points to make. But they seem at times illogical.
Where do the elderly fit into India new modern image? Often in South Asian families, caring for the elderly is not a question-it will happen. In West we know of the many stories of how the elderly are mentally, physically, and 
emotionally abused by their children. Often the elderly are forced into starting their life over again in a new country coupled with the strain of supporting themselves at an age when they can no longer work and are socially dependent on their children.
However, in India, we are told it’s not the case. Families care for their elderly-some are even forced to because all the property is in their elderly parents names. But New America Media reports that the number of elderly left to care for themselves in India is skyrocketing and the country has no infastructure to care for them. For example, with an aging population of 80 million, Indian old age homes do not accept patients with dementia. Dementia is a common problem that afflicts the elderly.
Update: The SWAT team provided an update on their progress. See end of post.
The Sikh Welfare Awareness Team is a new charitable organization in the UK focused on bringing awareness to drug and alcohol abuse in our community and reducing involvement in crime by providing youth with activities and organized events to participate in. The organization’s primary goal is “to establish relationships amongst the youth and… aim to bring together the local Sikh Community and focus on projects which benefit the youth of today.” I came across information about this organization after viewing a troubling YouTube video about homeless Sikhs (since the video below has been made private by the owner, log on and you can also watch the videos on Facebook). The Sikh Welfare Awareness Team (or S.W.A.T.) is currently working to bring awareness to the growing number of Sikhs, many who are recent immigrants from Punjab and are homeless living on the streets of Southall.
A few months ago, RP Singh wrote a very timely post on compassion and what it means to Sikhs. In Gurbani, the word Daya often translates to compassion, a trait which is long known in our history. One of the Panj Pyara or beloved five was Bhai Daya Singh and thus, Compassion along with Justice, Courage, Discipline and Leadership are important elements of the Khalsa.
As a reminder of this and as we get ready to begin a New Year – I wanted to share with you the Charter for Compassion – “a call to bring the world together.” It is stated that, The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect. [link]
I would encourage you to watch the video below and sign the charter. It might be a passive form of activism, however, let it be a nudge to hold ourselves accountable in the coming years – to live compassionately and emulate Sikhi in one of it’s purest forms.
Healthcare reform, immigration reform, banking reform, and the list goes on. This past week a diverse coalition lead by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill) are laying down the marker in 2009 for comprehensive immigration reform by introducing the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity (CIR-ASAP) Act of 2009. This bill has not been passed yet; it has only been introduced.
In a country built on the hard work of immigrants, it is imperative that this group be protected in the United States. Recently, there was a report that 1/3 of Los Angeles’s economy is dependent on immigrants. Also, immigrants are known for their entrepreneurship in small businesses. Tuyet Le, Executive Director of the Asian American Institute, says: “Family-based immigration has long created the foundation for strong, entrepreneurial communities across the country. This bill will reunite immigrants with their loved ones and will also provide some increases in high-skill temporary worker visas.”
This legislation focuses on undocumented students, family reunification, and worker visas-issues affecting our Punjabi Sikh community in America. For example, CIR-ASAP would allow undocumented high school graduates who came to the United States before the age of 16 to attain legal residency. This residency would open up educational and financial aid opportunities. This portion of the bill is modeled after the DREAM Act of 2009, except that it shortens the six-year wait period to three years and removes fines.
Yesterday was International Human Rights Day where people across the globe were asked to recognize and take action against the many forms of human rights abuses that take place in the world. A powerful talk on TED by Sunitha Krishnan brought insight into the grueling ground realities of sex trafficking in India- a human rights abuse that affects millions of women, their children and families. Krishnan addresses both what it looks like and the difficulties of rescuing women and their children from this $10 million industry. Krishnan says, “It’s normal to be raped by 100 men a day and abnormal to live in a shelter. It’s abnormal to get rehabilitated. It’s in that context that I rescue children. I rescue children as young as 3 years and women as old as 40 years.” Krishnan has rescued 3,200 girls.
She highlights how this modern day slavery and third largest form of organized crime affects those of all backgrounds-from middle class IS officers’ daughters to street children. You can watch the talk here (disclaimer: the talk contains graphic images and descriptions of violence).
Her work on commercial sexual exploitation is powerful because of her courageous attitude towards rescuing victims. Krishnan’s tenacious spirit coupled with her collaborative approach of bringing government, NGOs, and corporations together to fight sexual trafficking is unique. While listening to her talk, I found her organization’s approach to moving women in the commercial sex trade industry into new jobs particularly unique. An essential part of these women’s rehabilitation is to gain a new economic skill set that utilizes the power from their pain while harnessing their potential. Thus, girls are being trained as professional welders, carpenters, and mansons instead of working on computers. Often providing technical skill sets in information technology is seen as powerful form of empowerment, particularly in a place like Hyderabad-the technological capital of the world. So, “why welding and not computers?” Krishan says,
“They had an immense amount of courage without any “pardahs” inside of their bodies. They could fight in a male dominated world very easily and not feel shy about it. [By working] as carpenters and masons … as security guards and cab drivers … they are gaining confidence, restoring dignity, and building hope. “
These women excel in their careers and works for large corporations. However, the biggest obstacle they continue to face is not economics but the lack of empathy from civil society. The stigma that these women live with even after moving out of the sexual trade industry forces them to suffer in silence. Krishnan says that civil society has “Ph.D.s on victimizing a victim”. She requests that within our limited worlds, civil society needs to open their minds and hearts to accept these victims of sexual trafficking as human beings. It is an essential part of their rehabilitation as is gaining an economic skill set.
Blogged by: Amol Singh
In events and programs highlighted at remembering 25 years since 1984, the most vocal criticisms of these remembrances revolve around a desire to forgive or forget. For many it seems regressive and contradictory to highlight these tragedies while India hoists its Sikh Prime Minister to the world’s stage. On November 18, Amnesty International released a public letter to President Barack Obama, to mark Manmohan Singh’s impending visit to Washington, in which they highlighted grievances of not only Sikhs against the Indian Center, but also those of Muslims, the victims of the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal, the entire Northeast, Kashmir, Dalits, Adivasis, Chattisgarh, Manipur, etc.
Even though India is the world’s largest democracy, serious and disturbing human rights abuses are ongoing, including rape, extrajudicial executions, deaths in police and military custody, torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, arbitrary arrests, and dowry deaths. The Government of India not only fails to prevent these abuses, but also shelters members of security forces from facing justice. People living in several of the northeastern states of India and in Kashmir, religious minorities, those belonging to the lowest social order called “Dalits”, and indigenous communities called “adivasis” face the brunt of these abuses. Other socially and economically marginalized groups including women face discrimination at the hands of the police and criminal justice system. Although laws were passed to address some of these human rights abuses, serious concerns remain about the implementation of such laws.
Some of the specific contexts in which mass abuses were or continue to be committed include:
Mass killings of Sikhs: Over three thousand Sikhs were massacred when the governing Congress Party incited mob violence targeting Sikh civilians in reaction to the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Scores of women were gang raped and some were burnt alive. After two decades, a judicial commission concluded that members of the governing Congress Party were involved. Twenty five years have passed since the massacre, but only a few have been brought to justice for this mass killing. [Read Full Text]
On Tuesday (November 3rd, 2009), various Panthic groups (‘radical’ Sikh organizations, if you follow Indian newspapers) called for a peaceful shutdown of stores, businesses, and state services to protest the continued impunity in which the perpetrators of the Indian Government-orchestrated pogroms in 1984 still roam free today.
The ‘bandh’ was an overwhelming success in terms of its immediate call to action, although the larger purpose of its calling will probably continue to yield little results.
The strike call was given by the Dal Khalsa and was supported by the Khalsa Action Committee (KAC), Damdami Taksal, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (DSGPC), All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) and Shiromani Panthic Council.
25 years ago history was made for several different reasons. Today, as we reflect on the invasion, on the assassination, and on the massacres, we come across multiple news articles which provide information and commentary on the events of that year. I wanted to take the time to document and highlight these articles as they’re worthy reads in providing information to readers around the world. I encourage you to read these pieces – they are vital to our understanding and they will inform Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike about events in our history.
1. TIME magazine featured an article titled, “India’s 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Waiting for Justice.” Our readers have previously argued against the use of the word “riot” and suggested that “genocide” is the more fitting description of what happened. Regardless, this is an important article which discusses the often silent victims of 1984 – the widows and their children and the impact the events (and lack of justice) has had on their future.
The widows’ colony in Tilak Vihar is a cheaply built and neglected cluster of homes, which were given by the government to hundreds of women and their children who survived what have become known as the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. But as the grim event’s 25th anniversary nears at the end of this month, crime, addiction and prostitution have taken root in what was supposed to be a survivors’ safe haven. Residents say this is because of the damage to the mental health of children who were witness to their parents’ and siblings’ murders and who grew up in impoverished homes and weren’t given any medical help — physical or mental — for their problems. [link]
Of note: for the 25th anniversary of the event, advertisements by Ensaaf — showing an old woman wiping away her tears, with the words, “25 years ago, our loved ones were burned alive in front of our eyes,” and in the next line, “Why has India, the world’s largest democracy, denied us justice?” — are scheduled for the month of November in the San Francisco Bay Area’s transit system!
Domestic violence organizations often use helplines to reach a larger population, while providing an anonymous format to offer help. The Punjab Government implemented a community health helpline 20 days ago to assist in locating ultrasound and abortion centers in a similar endeavour to protect women’s human rights.
The Chandigarh Tribune reports that this helpline (number# 4005252) is part of a pilot project coordinated by the National Rural Health Mission and has already reported a successful intervention. An ultrasound/abortion center in Sirsa, Haryana is being investigated after an anonymous caller reported that a young woman of Mansa village had recently aborted a girl child. Through immediate action, officials found that name/location of the ultrasound and abortion center. Also, they found out that the young woman had been forced to have an abortion by her mother-in-law. Now both the center and mother-in-law are under police investigation. The young woman is not being investigated since she was forced into the abortion by her mother-in-law after already having a 7 month old daughter.
Anurag Aggarwal, mission director, National Rural Health Mission says,
“The hotline gives an opportunity to women to speak up in case they are being forced to get their female fetus aborted. If she is not able to say anything, her relatives or friends can inform us. The caller’s identity is not asked and the whole thing is anonymous.”
The helpline at 4005252 runs from 9am-6pm and gives residents an opportunity to air their grievances and make their suggestions on health services in the state. Through successful implementation, the helpline is a good tool for practical action on the female foeticide issue. I wonder if we could create a similar helpline in various Diaspora communities because the rates of female foeticide are also high outside of South Asia. What do you think?
Guest blogged by: Amol Singh
Harinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha were hanged to death in Pune Jail for the assassination of General Arun Vaidya, the architect of Operation Blue Star. In the wake of their impending hangings, Sukha and Jinda sent an open letter to the President of India in which they documented their justifications for Sikh militancy and demonstrated how their actions were placed inside a global sphere of justice and necessity.
Sukha & Jinda’s letter contextualized Sikh militancy inside of a broader sphere of global defiance against outdated and arbitrary power structures.
When nations wake up, even history begins to shiver. During such momentous moments a Banda Bahadur bids farewell to his peace-dwelling and destroys a State of oppression like Sirhind, a Che Guevera turns down a ministership of Cuba, loads a gun on his breast and entrenches against the enemies in the forest of Bolivia, a Nelson Mendela rejects the ideology of apartheid and prefers to spend his life in a dark prison cell.
Despite tanks rolling into the Guru’s Court (Darbar Sahib)
When a Singh’s head, becomes hunted as a sport (Delhi 1984)
Despite Kaljug sitting on his throne supreme
When the world trembles from tyranny’s regime
And Still We Will Fight
Although hardly a newsflash, last week a Delhi Court acquitted three murderers. Although low-level players in the Government-sponsored pogroms in Delhi and throughout India in November 1984, their acquittal further illustrates that it is Kaljug that reigns supreme in India.
Gurmeal Singh, the British Sikh police officer who was humiliated for practicing Sikhi, will be compensated for “indirect harassment” and humiliation. Judge Murray Creevy ruled that the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) viola
ted his dignity.
The BBC reports that the Assistant Chief Officer at GMP, Julia Rogers felt that they had always acted in the best interest of Singh. However, GMP accepts the ruling and has already updated their policies.
After a heated conversation with his Sergeant about his inability to remove his turban while on the job, Singh feared that he would be made to look like a comic character on television by wearing a modified turban.
Ultimately the ruling according to Singh’s lawyer:
“… leaves him in difficulty in relation to his future career but will hopefully open the eyes of Greater Manchester Police. He joined the police because of his values as a Sikh. What is important now is what Greater Manchester Police will do to help him come back.”
One of our goals on The Langar Hall is to raise awareness about issues affecting our community around the globe. Whether or not we identify or relate to these specific issues may not be as important as much as the acknowledgement that these issues do occur and that individuals and families and even children are affected. We hope that by raising awareness we can begin, as a community, to stand up against injustice in all its forms.
A recent article from the BBC reports that, according to campaigners in Punjab, British Asians are hiring contract killers to carry out up to 100 murders in India each year. One of the most well known cases is that of Surjit Athwal, a British Sikh woman who disappeared in Punjab in 1998. Eventually it was revealed that she had been murdered in a so-called honor killing after her in-laws discovered that she planned to divorce her husband. They had hired criminals in India to kill her. She was strangled and her body dumped in a river. Her brother, Jagdeesh Singh, now campaigns for other victims’ families.
“I think Surjit’s case exposed for the first time in this country overseas outsourced killings. How the Punjabi community, settled in Britain, send their females back to the land of origin, in the full knowledge that they can have them murdered easily, swiftly and efficiently.” [link]
So Abercrombie & Fitch is at it again or I should say has been at it for a 
while-practicing bias against those who “don’t look the part” of mainstream White American society. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a college age Muslim girl who wears a hijab is filing suit against the retail store for not hiring her because she would violate the “Look Policy”.
What is Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Look Policy”? The policy jargon aside, the bottom-line for this retail store is that hijab’s aren’t “sexy” because mainstream White America doesn’t view them that way and only sex sells.
Now of course Abercrombie & Fitch will not outright say that; though I am sure they will fight to preserve this “status quo” through legal, “objective” and “logical” means. It also seems like the very legal right that is supposed to protect religious freedom will be used to defend Abercrombie’s stance. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits religious discrimination. The 197 amendment to Title VII defines religion to,
“… include all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate an employee’s or perspective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business”.
