Earlier this year the Center for South Asia at Stanford University along with the Jakara Movement hosted its 4th annual Sikholars Conference (see the recap here).  This successful endeavor bringing the latest academic research with an engaged community audience allows for fruitful discussion and exchange.  Not limiting this event only to California, Sikholars conferences and workshops have been previously held in British Columbia, Canada and now in London, UK.  Teaming up with Queen Mary College, University of London and Singh Sabha Southall, the Jakara Movement is proud to present Sikholars London.

For those in the UK (looking at you @Blighty), hope you get to check it out and experience Sikholars – London.  For more information visit their website here.

We love Sardar Fauja Singh.  We really, really do.

On Sunday, Fauja Singh will run his final race in Hong Kong at the tender age of 101.  Jezebel recently covered Fauja Singh in a piece about  women’s rights, and just today Jordan Conn wrote a compendious and inspiring article for Outside The Lines on ESPN about Fauja Singh’s life and the “missing” Guinness Book of World Records title.  This article, along with stunning photographs, spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter today – reminding us just how much the world loves Fauja Singh and what he represents.

On the first day of training, Fauja arrived limber and energetic and dressed, as he believed was perfectly appropriate, in a dazzling three-piece suit. Harmander told him he needed a wardrobe change. After adamant protests, Fauja relented, ditched the suit and bought running gear. He showed up every day after that, building his routine around his training schedule. His mileage increased as the weeks passed. Race day arrived. After 6 hours and 54 minutes, 4:48 behind winner Antonio Pinto, Fauja crossed the finish line. At age 89, he was a marathoner. Soon, he would be a star.

We will be wishing you well on Sunday, Fauja Ji!  Thank you for continuing to be such an activist and a positive soul and for reminding us of the importance of health and happiness.

- The Langar Hall

The core values in Sikhism, particularly the human rights element, were what informed [the panelist's] views on issues, including women’s rights. She has taken the word “feminism” out of the equation, and transplanted the values of it back into Sikhi, and reminded us that anyone who adheres to the principles of Sikhism and to the words of the Guru Granth Sahib has many labels, feminist, humanist, and activist are just some of them.

The second point is the important link between theory and practice within the Sikh community.  I want to highlight this in two ways.  The first being that while it has been established that the Gurus emphasized living in an eco-friendly way, it’s clear that as a community we are still working to close the gap – from melas to gurdwaras to within our own homes – our practice of living in an eco-friendly way could use some improvement.  EcoSikh sponsored the Sikh Feminist conference and it’s presence was felt very thoughtfully throughout the day (biodegradable utensils, compost, recycling etc!) and it was inspiring to see our community not just talk about it in theory, but actually put it into practice.

Another discussion was around the concept of izzat or honor, whether it impacts both men and women, how it manifests differently for men and women and why it continues to be a topic of discussion when theoretically, our Gurus gave us the guidance and tools to live in an egalitarian society.  The concept itself has been one of discussion on our blog too – particularly around what it means to a family and to a community.  We are once again reminded of this issue with the recent news of Baljinder Kaur, a pregnant woman from Yuba City who was arrested over the weekend, just before the Sikh Women’s conference, for apparently killing her mother-in-law.

Baljinder Kaur was arrested after two days of interviews with neighbors and family members, and five interviews with her, said Uppal. She and her husband Jatinder Singh have lived with Baljit – a widow — for several years. The Singhs’ five-year-old son, and Baljit’s son Manpreet Singh, 27, also live at the residence, which is in a neighborhood with a large Sikh American population. Rocky Singh, Baljit Kaur’s son-in-law, told India-West he had seen Baljinder two weeks before the killing. “She seemed okay, nothing out of the ordinary,” said Singh, confirming that his wife Kiranjeet had found Baljit Kaur’s deceased body. [link]

When local Punjabi Sikh community members were asked about the incident, they told media that “these kinds of happenings is a blot on the glorious history of the community.”  While the words of the community organization that represented this reaction could have been misinterpreted by the newspaper, there is more likely than not some truth to that perception.  Shame, izzat, honor specifically come up in discussions involving women.  Yes, perhaps the community organization would have reacted in a similar way if it involved men from the community – however, I’ve read enough articles and cases about crimes involving men who are never given the burden of upholding an entire community’s legacy.

A contact from the local Yuba City community did suggest that problems have existed within the family for a while.  These may have been red flags – the lack of support for families going through difficulties and the fear of airing the family problems (we talked about this previously in regards to speaking openly about mental health issues and how that links to izzat).  We can look to similar communities in England and Canada and probably find a dozen similar cases where there is some element of abuse or violence (most often towards the daughter-in-law but also potentially towards the mother-in-law because as we know, women do often oppress other women), a lack of support from family, a lack of access to services, isolation, depression etc.

I want to make it clear that i’m not making any assumptions in this case - we just don’t know enough about this case to comment on those elements of it.  Regardless, we are left with the knowledge that this six months pregnant Punjabi Sikh woman is currently in prison, her mother-in-law is dead and we can only wonder what factors put her there and whether any of this was preventable.

Many have questioned the Indian media’s initial assumption, before even the facts had arrived.  Still others are wondering if the news is even factual.  I have seen numerous postings on social media, believing that the attack was just a fabrication in order to make Sikhs appear ‘violent’ and ‘extreme’, especially after the recent goodwill expressed by some channels in the US and abroad after the recent Wisconsin Massacre. Finally, our brothers and sisters at Naujawani have written an intriguing article asking larger questions about a more sinister timing of all events (though not sure if I agree, well worth a read!).

I believe that the case of Kulbir Singh Barapind and Daljit Singh Bittu is extremely important, but that warrants a separate post.  I will return to that issue at a future time.

Personally I am quite surprised that no names have appeared yet, as I figure someone would probably take credit and I wouldn’t imagine the names could be held a secret for too long within the community, especially if those that confronted him were young, as the claim is being made.  Still I think that I want to take this conversation in a different direction.  How do we ‘present’ SikhISM and its implicationsi?

I remember a time, when especially middle-class Sikhs were bent on telling everyone that SikhISM is a “scientific religion” or “modern religion.”  Then the need would be to explain what that meant and usually people would describe the solar system, maybe the galaxies, maybe the number of species on  the planet earth and saying that somehow this equals 8.4 million and all other kind of hair-brained theories that they could make with randomly selected lines from JapJi Sahib.  I always found it interesting that due to their own complexes and insecurities, they would try to reduce the mission and revolution of Guru Nanak to that which would be found in an elementary science textbook.

Then came 9/11.  At one time, I wrote that the Sikh world didn’t really change that much after 9/11, but I wanted to follow up here with how much our language did.  Our Sikh organizations and numerous Sikh individuals now had to “re-package” our Sikhi for a new market that were concerned with a so-called ‘war on terrorism’ and other boogeyman.  Overnight we changed.  No longer were we ‘modern’ and ‘scientific,’ now we became ‘peaceful.’

Especially, with the recent massacre at Oak Creek, victim along with those innocents, along with any sense of shame (IJ Singh’s last paragraph in a recent article is beyond repulsive, would he dare say this to the family members that lost lives!), is also our sense of self.  Google tells me that when I type in ‘sikhism peaceful religion’ I receive some 6.3 million results, with some 200K since 8/5/2012 with wonderful titles such as “Sikhs’ greatest fears are realised: Peaceful religion targeted in temple massacre after years of being confused with 9/11 terrorists” (I assume Muslims are the ‘non-peaceful’ religion, despite years of us hearing that Islam is a religion of peace, although to be fair in a way they have a great claim from the very etymology of the word ‘Islam.’) or even “Sikhs hope to educate about peaceful religion” [notice in the article in providing 2 sentences on SikhISM, which 2 were selected in the article and spoken by the interviewee – “This is a loving country; that is why we are here. We love it, we are peaceful people.”]

My point isn’t whether Sikhs are peaceful or not, individuals come in all shapes and colors.  The level of violence against women, against female fetuses, and often against one another, doesn’t seem to me that we are a particularly ‘peaceful’ people and should be so glib with our descriptions.  Moving from Sikhs to Sikhi – I hope we never forget the reality – Guru Gobind Singh also put a kirpan in our hand.  Sikhi is neither violent, nor peaceful.  We have a duty towards justice.  In order to ‘sanitize’ us so much for a gora audience, are we also willing to sacrifice our values, tradition, and history?

I know I could write another article on the stupidity (and double-standard) in a society that calls for Muslims and Sikhs to constantly say they are ‘peaceful.’  Strangely this is not asked of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, or even Christians who also have plenty of violence in their own histories.  Somehow Sikhs and Muslims are reserved this special in/dignity.

Now I do not know the facts of the Brar attack, however the thought that Sikhs couldn’t or wouldn’t do it seems to shock me as well.  I feel like dozens of people that I know would have taken the opportunity to confront Brar, should the chance have arisen.  In fact his own mama (maternal brother) did previously!!!!  Brar isn’t alone in people that would probably be confronted by Sikhs, I would put KPS Gill, Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, and a number of other people in that category as well.  Would the confrontation be violent as this?  I am not sure, but I know that for many people the injustices in Punjab have not been forgotten by the populace, and in fact the Indian media openly celebrates the violent suppression.  Justice continues to be denied as it has been for nearly 30 years.

Should we believe that all Sikhs have forgotten their duty towards justice (not revenge) and have become brainwashed by all the ‘peaceful’ jargon that we have constantly spewed for a decade?  This may sell well for American, Canadian, and UK audiences, but again will we sacrifice Punjab and our own identity in this ‘peaceful’ pursuit to appease?

Sikhs in the UK celebrated a victory of sorts today with the news that the national broadcaster, the BBC, ‘regretted’ comments made by a presenter on their digital radio station, the BBC Asian Network. On 13 March, DJ Nihal Arthanayake had suggested on his daily call-in show that Sikhi was “made up from other religions i.e. Islam and Hinduism” [see related article]. When corrected by a listener who texted in to challenge the presenter’s comments, Nihal showed shocking arrogance in asserting that he himself was correct and replied that he knew “more about your religion than you do”. But today’s news is only a victory of sorts with Lord Inderjit Singh of the Network of Sikh Organisations describing it as “not a very good sorry” and in this writer’s humble opinion, a mere bone to keep us from tackling the real problem.

The daily call-in show on the BBC Asian Network has been steadily gaining in notoriety over the last 18 months fuelled largely by an increasing move towards discussions that court controversy. From 1pm-3pm, Monday to Friday, listeners tune in to hear the presenter, callers and occasionally guests debate a topical issue that is usually relating to a section of the South Asian community, followed by a sparse selection of music and further, more light-hearted discussion. Sometimes the initial debates have been incredibly engaging and informative, on other occasions they are needlessly provocative and disparaging.

In recent months, I have been called upon as a contributor to the show a handful of times, speaking live on air as a Sikh voice and I have publicly commended the production team of the show on two separate occasions for talking about challenging issues that are otherwise ignored by mainstream media. Following a discussion show about the recent Immortal Productions release ‘Jaago’ , a show to which I contributed by a pre-arranged telephone call, I took to Twitter to voice how fair I thought the production team had been in allowing Sikhs such as myself to make our voices heard about the rife corruption, inequality and poverty prevalent in the Indian State of Punjab over the last sixty years. Having been in Sikh political circles for over two decades now, I was unsurprised by the immediate level of hate I received from fellow Sikhs for being seen to ‘support’ Nihal and the BBC Asian Network on that occasion, but it did make me realise that Nihal in particular seemed to be drawing much of the ire. Whilst this is to some extent deserved, it would be foolish to reason that replacing the presenter might provide scope to change direction. But this is a difficult reality to impart upon a very unforgiving Sikh diaspora. I made the mistake of trying to explain to a young Sikh female on Facebook that a presenter of a call-in show usually acts in accordance with the briefing given to them by the production team, who in-turn are loosely guided by the direction given to them from the station controller or management, and that if she did have any complaints here they ought best be directed towards the BBC as well as the individual. She proceeded to reply that I must be a blind fan of Nihal’s and was planning on giving him a siropa. Oh the joys of ‘debating’ on social media(!)

It troubles me deeply that Sikhs like so many other community groups are becoming akin to Shelley’s raging mob, unwilling – or I dread to think, incapable – of analysing an issue, deliberating over it and then drawing a conclusion from a broad range of possible choices. If we had done so, then it might become clearer to see that Nihal, whilst not without responsibility for some of the very inaccurate and insensitive remarks made about the Sikh way of life, is essentially perpetuating ideas that exist about Sikhs in both the political establishment and mainstream media of this country. Those ideas have gone unchallenged for too long at the influential levels of western society from where they might lead to change. Not only are those who speak on our behalf responsible by their failures, but so are we as a Panth. Government ministers, newspaper editors and broadcast media producers take their lead on issues from a variety of sources, but give credence to those who speak with a respected authority such as authors, academics and researchers. The UK Sikh community is factional and largely has been since the dying days of the then powerful national Sikh network of the early 1990s, but the gravest result of this is only now being seen, as an over-zealous attitude for photo opportunities and insignificant public discourse has become de rigger at the cost of vibrant think-tanks, funded research programmes and encouragement of individual scholarly achievement in the field of Sikh studies. This last year I taught Naujawani.com’s Sikh Studies course to students from five different London universities, but failed to register any interest amongst students from Kings College London. This is the same Kings College London that is home to the India Institute – a partnership with Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru university providing research and teaching on contemporary India – the contrast in investment made into research and policy is startling and that is only one small example of where we are lagging behind those who wish to define Sikhi to suit their own agenda. If we are to see a change in the way we are defined, then we must invest in academic study, reputable publishing and professional public dialogue. Long term change on this issue will not come through reactionary gesturing in the popular Punjabi media, lobbying MPS or building yet more marble-clad Gurdware.

Today’s news report brings with it some hope though, that as we saw with the Rajoana issue over the last two months, young generations of Sikhs in the west who for so long have been derided as uninterested and disconnected to their roots are anything but. The fact that so many young Sikhs here knew that Guru Nanak established a unique way of life, not derived from the Hindu dharam or Islamic faith, is a positive sign especially when one considers how freely certain interest groups have been promoting Sikhi as being intrinsically connected to Hindu dharam in recent years. But the focus of energy towards one individual or even one media outlet, without connecting the proverbial dots and moving on to battle the real foe, will mean that we will come back to face this very situation again, in years if not months to come.

Our fellow langa(w)r-iter – Navdeep Singh highlighted the dominant pop genre of Punjabi music that celebrates nihilism and suicide through political complicity and destitution.  Today, we highlight another form of music that has reached new heights in the shadow of the Shaheed.

UK-based producer Tru-Skool’s latest dharmic-track, ‘Beant Satwant Da Badla‘, which will be part of the 10th Shaheedi Immortality album, has topped the BBC Official Asian Download Chart this weekend gone. This isn’t the first time one of the Shaheedi Immorality tracks has been on the BBC Asian Network playlist (Tigerstyle’s Son of a Sardar and Jhooldey Kesri Chande have previously been played by Bobby Friction, Nihal & Adil Ray amongst others), and some would argue this track isn’t pushing the envelope musically or lyrically, since the Immortal Production (IP) collective have been putting out similar tracks for the past 10 years. So, what’s different, and is this a flash-in-the-pan riding on the back of kesri lehar, or is there more?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Previous IP tracks were given play time on the BBC courtesy of their association with Tigerstyle, who are well respected in the UK as innovative producers, rather than for the tracks themselves; diligent listeners will have noted that the songs were also edited to remove ‘controversial’ lyrics. In Jhooldey Kesri Chandey, for example, the first thirty seconds or so contained part of a speech by Baba Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, and was removed entirely. Beant Satwant Da Badla, by contrast, has received air time by virtue of being the most officially download ‘asian’ track last week in the UK and was played unedited.

When introducing the song as the number one track, Bobby Friction clearly acknowledges the song’s political content, and it’s narration of a much discussed and debated part of recent Indian history. The fact he felt compelled to highlight this, either as a personal initiative, or because he was required to by the BBC, is significant, as it locates the track not simply as a ‘TruSkool’ production, or just another ‘Asian’ track, but a highly political piece of music in it’s own right. This is important, because it propels the issue of 1984, human rights, indian politics etc, very abruptly into the listeners conscience in a way I don’t think we’ve seen before, at least in the mainstream media outlets in the UK such as the BBC. That this track was the most popular ‘officially’ downloaded track should also be of note, since it suggests the community, most likely the younger generation, is willing to show more than just moral support on twitter or facebook, and actually pay for a track they perceive as being worthwhile to them.

TruSkool’s track wasn’t alone.  In North America, this past weekend saw Revolution Records release its newest album – JAKARA.  The album promoted by various Canadian and American Sikh organizations has seen a meteoric rise, akin to that of TruSkool’s song.  It has even risen to the top of Apple iTunes’ charts.

Jakara is set to be Revolution Records’ third album and features renowned artists such as, Jaz Dhami, Manak-E, HS Talwar, Kaka Mohanwalia, Balraj, Jaswinder Daghamia, Micky Sra, Street Kings, TwinBeats, Gupsy Aujla, Sachin Ahuja, DJ Intense, Gurmeet Singh, Randy Jassal, Harvi Bachu, Violinder and more.

Whether these dharmic tracks, on their own, will catalyse a mass movement or raise awareness amongst a critical mass in the UK, US, Canada, Punjab (or anywhere else for that matter) is unlikely, but I think that as a component of a mult-faceted approach that covers education and political engagement, amongst others, they definitely have something to offer.

Check out the promo from Revolution Record’s album – JAKARA and make sure to support this album, that of TruSkool, and other music that has substance.

All of our attention shifted towards Punjab last week.  There was some interesting developments early this week.  One is that Voices for Freedom, a non-government organization, based out of Punjab filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition against the Sukhbir Badal’s appointee for Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Saini.  Saini is a well-known human rights abusers and was involved in the many murders, “disappearances”, and torture during the 1980s and 1990s.  From the media reports, while the petition may not go far, hopefully it does center some more attention on just the type of thugs that the the Badal Mafia appoints.

Another note from Punjab came yesterday when the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India announced that they would pay Rs. 175,000 (about $3,500) to 1,500 families in the Amritsar district for the murder of their sons.  Of course there is no culpability, just an attempt to buy silence.  Well-known human rights lawyer Navkiran Singh of Chandigarh has rightly state:

It is too little too late and why only from Amritsar District? Khalra gave example of Amritsar district, but wanted an inquiry for the whole of Punjab.  Imagine we had to pursue the matter in the NHRC for 17 years for this little justice.

UPDATE: I just wanted again to stress the lies that KPS Gill has restated for years.  See this interview with an Australian journalist, when asked point-blank about the case of illegal cremations, KPS Gill lies without hesitation.  Contrast this where the NHRC admits it occurred and even pays out money to families, though without casting any blame or responsibility.  I have yet to see a true Indian journalist expose KPS Gill for his lies.  Unfortunately they continue to lionize him, assuring that impunity continues – whether in Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Kashmir, and many other regions of South Asia.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shifting from Punjab, I did want to highlight the dynamism in the diaspora.

@Blighty and @rococo (pagh salute) have highlighted the amazing energies of the UK youth.  Despite claims that generation 2.0 in Canada did not turn out, the Sikh Activist Network and others were successful in popularizing an #iPledgeOrange campaign, as well as protesting Jonathon Kay’s article, attempting to portray Sikhs as “extremists.”  Sikh-Canadian youth, of all walks of life, flooded Kay’s twitter account with their messages, to which even he had to reply:

I gotta hand it to Canadian Sikh activists. They sure know how to marshall the Twitter troops against me and @CBCTerry

— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) March 30, 2012

However, Sikh-Canadians were hardly limited to the online protests.  Many young Sikhs braved the snow to come out and support the Rally for Rajoana.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If there is a particular diasporic community, where the second generation has been quieter, it is the United States.  The Berkeley SSF took a first initiative in starting a critical forum on facebook as well as a website, in addition to helping organize the protest rally at India’s Consulate in SF.  UC Davis is organizing a discussion to be held today and even covered their greens with orange yesterday.  The Jakara Movement has been organizing similar forums on other UC campuses, as well as in the Sacramento and Fresno communities.  Last week, I posted their powerpoint to make it available for anyone that may wish to use it.  These activities must continue!

One especially promising initiative by a Sikh-British youth in starting RajoanaTV.  Here you’ll find episode 3, but click here to see the channel and watch previous episodes.  The young brother was interviewed on Sangat TV this past weekend.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another activity that is becoming popular are the various petitions.  There are petitions to the Indian Government calling for clemency (I don’t think I’ll bother to link to them, as you can read my previous comments here), there are petitions calling on Jathedar Gurbachan Singh to step down and install Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana in this position (I don’t think petitioners are aware that under the current system, it is not Gurbachan Singh’s call – that choice belongs solely to Prakash Badal), and there are even petitions to Hillary Clinton calling for greater freedom of press in Punjab (I do not know what the petitioners are using as examples.  The Sikh Channel team was briefly detained, but soon released).

I’ll do a more critical analysis this weekend.  The energy must continue, although the forms are beginning to change.

The title to this article might have conjured up images of a cowboy-style shoot ‘em up between turban-donning, mounted riders, and whilst I would welcome development of such an idea into a film, sadly that’s not what i’m writing about.  I am Sikh, Punjabi and Western (English) and like every other person growing up in the West I am challenged by the cultures of all three identities.  I am also in my early thirties – if I think i’m having a tough time coming to terms with these uniforms, I am only thankful I am not ten years younger in the modern World.

Young people find support from varied sources including friends, family, schools and independent organisations.  The latter is what I would like to focus on seeing as this is the least regulated group from that list and arguably can have the most influence.  In this context, independent organisations are extra-curricular clubs, societies and charities; places that provide essential skills in team-working, discipline and communication through playing a sport, learning a language or providing a service.  Whilst engaging in an activity, young people are at least purportedly provided with guidance on everyday life and this is clearly seen in the confines of the Sikh experience: gatka akhare, Punjabi language classes, Khalsa/Gurdwara football teams, Sikh activist groups, and even online communities such as The Langar Hall.

There are many organisations with a Sikh ethos at the heart of their work that already support young people, doing great work to encourage them to think about the choices they make and the repercussions of their actions.  We don’t necessarily need more organisations.  But the ability of the individuals in those organisations to advise objectively and utilise appropriate training experience, is all too varied.  The problems of some young Sikhs in there care go unseen as a result.  Like our Gurdware which largely employ granthis without interview and operate educational programmes without long-term strategy, organisations engaging in youth work are unable to reach their potential for a number of reasons, including:

• there is no framework or blueprint taking into account the Sikh experience which an organisation can follow for best practice;
• influence from a Sikh perspective tends to be drawn from the personal allegiance of the leading figure, not from a point of objectivity; and,
• volunteer staff are offered little guidance in their own personal lives and have little recourse to expertise that they can offer in turn.

Coping with multiple identities is something that young Sikhs are expected to get on with and deal with alone, or if they are lucky, with a guiding influence in their life who also happens to be an experienced, objectively-minded individual.  But I don’t see why this lottery that is the life journey of young Sikh Punjabi Westerners need continue.  Discuss?

Jagdeesh pulls away a piece of cardboard revealing a tiny hole in a concrete wall. He invites me to climb through, declaring: “This is my home, come in.”

“I was told that life was good here. It’s not just me, other boys came for work,” he says. “You can see what state we’re in, there’s no work, no government help.” Jagdeesh has cut himself off from his family, saying he is ashamed of his failure to find work and would rather they thought he was dead than knew he was living in filth. ”They sold land and took out loans to get me out of India. What can I say to my family back home? The money we’ve invested is lost,” he says. [link]

According to figures from the UK Home Office, voluntary departures have risen steadily over the past few years, from 335 in 2005 to 15,537 in 2010.  While many of these cases have been logged with the UK Border Agency, it seems that the Indian High Commission is dragging its feet on processing the cases. According to the article, the UK Border Agency admits that establishing the identity of illegal immigrants in order to issue them with emergency travel documentation is a “complex” process and that the time it takes to process these individuals varies by case.  One individual, a man in his 30s, has been waiting for three years.

Many of these individuals abuse drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with the situation. Their thoughts often turn to suicide.  Their only support system is each other and the majority of them haven’t even told their families, back in Punjab, about their broken dreams.  It’s a difficult situation for these men – their lack of options in Punjab drives them to seek opportunities abroad but this promise of prosperity is not always what it seems to be.

As our UK co-blogger, Naujawani Sardar, states, “There are many questions being asked about the problems facing masses of illegal Punjabi immigrants in West London, but the most important questions that will prevent this situation from reoccurring in the long-term are not being asked: Why do so many youth risk everything to leave The Punjab? What is being done to curtail the agents that are facilitating their travel? And, what repercussions do UK citizens face for exploiting illegal immigrants?”

The only question I would add is what role can or should the Gurdware play to address this situation?

Perhaps the only glimmer of hope in this situation is the aid that the Sikh Welfare Awareness Team (S.W.A.T.) continues to provide to these individuals who feel their home is neither Southall nor Punjab.  Below is a short film, made by S.W.A.T. to bring awareness to this issue.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There has been a lot of talk about the SGPC elections recently, even over on our blog. And it got me thinking about a whole range of things from ‘selection vs. election’ to Sikh bodies outside of Punjab. My life in Sikh circles has been positively fascinating for over two decades now, but one of the things I have found most difficult to deal with has been the tension that arises around Sikh representative bodies. Before you stop reading, I’m not going to write about the SGPC – although what I’m writing about could quite easily fit the world of any organisation that represents Sikhs, and specifically those who have had to face false accusations.

“Nishaan is a new organisation consisting of university Sikh Societies across London and the South East of England. It is created on the principle of ‘for the students by the students’.”

That is taken directly from the biography of ‘Nishaan‘ – a body of university students at institutions in London who have been collaborating and working closely together for the last year. In actual fact some amongst this group of students and this movement itself began in earnest four years ago when one particular University Sikh society at Imperial College London established an annual meal and gathering of Sikh socs from around the capital; they called the event ‘Collaborations’. Following that, students looked to ‘collaborate’ more often, but in reality it didn’t work efficiently because communication was poor, organisation was overly dependent on single individuals and the age-old division of jatha-affiliation reared its head.

Coincidentally, over the last few years I began to take a greater interest in what was occurring at University Sikh societies – provoked in to doing so by a shocking review of what a typical event was like (it was actually much worse!) In the three years since, I along with a few others have been liaising with students offering them guidance and support, all the time slowly edging towards a place in which Sikh socs can not only achieve the goals that students in higher education should hope to aim for, but that will also be able to take all university Sikh students along with them. We reached a stage over the summer where informal meetings and connections would no longer satisfy the appetites of the now hungry and vociferous students who are leading the way down this path and they voiced their desire for formalisation of their collective. I (along with the few other advisors) agreed to maintain our position offering support and guidance, but from now on in the shape of a panel that would oversee the decisions and activities that the new ‘Nishaan’ would look to implement. A rosy situation, the average punter would have thought, but I know better than this from Sikhdom.

In the few weeks since Nishaan has begun to rear its head publicly (on Facebook for the most part) a number of aggressive, sometimes anonymous insinuations have begun to appear. Apparently, everyone from SAD to MI6 is behind setting up this collective; the ideals that are being promoted range from Sanatanism to Missionary College teaching; and, the end goal is to indoctrinate the thousands of university Sikh society students in London each year with a corrupt Sikh idealism. The attacks are quite tame so far, but then it is early days. Having been involved with the collective for a few years now and to the contrary of what has been said in some circles, I have been very proud of the achievements these students have made:

• invite all faiths to inter-University events, not just South Asian societies;
• ensure each Sikh society within the collective is focused only on Sikh activities, not as a dual Sikh-Punjabi society;
• document annually the society’s activities in a free-to-read published report.

Each university Sikh society has also shared 2011-2012 diary dates a month ago so as not to clash with one another and to forward-plan events. These are small steps, but ones that are missing today in even the largest UK Gurdware and charitable bodies. The students should take great credit for reaching this point, but as they recognise themselves, they still have a long way to go. What they don’t need right now is baseless accusations – claims that are made in a time warp, for a decade ago whilst this Sardar was still at University, something of a war did rage for control of London Sikh societies between nefarious individuals and questionable bodies. But to assume that those same individuals are here present today and that those same bodies are behind Nishaan is disrespectful to both myself and the other individuals who have given their time to helping guide these students. Everything that has been done to date is in line with Sikh thought and principles, and more over with the approval of far-wiser Sikhs than we.

And then there is the accusation that this is a division from the existing university Sikh body – British Organisation of Sikh Students (BOSS). Let’s make one thing clear: it’s not. Each of the University Sikh societies that comprise Nishaan continues to be a part of BOSS and have not ‘set-up anew’. There is no Nishaan vs. BOSS debate to be had here. London Sikh societies wanting to work together so closely based on the unique, geographical proximity of the dozen or so universities in England’s capital city will promote greater cohesion and success for those Sikh societies – something that BOSS welcome. It is only natural that some individuals will feel threatened by the emergence of Nishaan, but having spoken to a senior sevadar at BOSS earlier this summer, I am proud to say it won’t be them.

Whoever those are attacking Nishaan, they are nothing new. Perhaps a day will come in the future when reasoned, structured criticisms of Sikh representative bodies aside, baseless attacks by one Sikh on another body of Sikhs will no longer appear; when factional sniping at opponents will be replaced with healthy debate; and, when agenda-driven propaganda wars will not be fought within our small fold. Until then, we’ll keep repairing the broken windows and I’ll watch the turbaned individual escape into the shadows with a deep sigh of sadness.