A Tool in the War on Terror
It isn’t new in our community. A colonial official promises us money, land, and riches. Hundreds of thousands of Sikh javaans found themselves in the deserts of Iraq, the jungles of Burma, or even in the mountainous regions of France during WWI and WII seeking greater opportunities. One need not blame the individuals, but is there a space for a structural conversation in our community about our role in the world of global capital and neo-imperialism?
Poverty and the need to survive may indeed be motivating factors. But do we run the risk of being dispensable pawns in a Great Game? My fellow langa(w)riter, Brooklynwala and even JasdeepSingh in the comments section, bravely wrote about this larger issue in criticizing the core in the “right to serve” campaign. The criticism for those that may not remember is not that Sikh don’t have a ‘right to serve’, the bigger question is what exactly are we serving?
A reminder of this question became apparent in a news article I came across over the weekend.
10 Responses to “A Tool in the War on Terror”
thanks for bringing light to this critical issue and story jodha. the case of arvinder singh brings it together on so many levels for anyone who doesn't see islamophobia, domestic spying on muslims, or the war on terror as "sikh issues."
i see a lot of uncritical trust in the US government from our community, in a way that we would NEVER trust the indian government. i feel for this man who trusted the FBI and agreed to spy on their behalf. i also feel for all those soldiers who are fighting unjust wars in the middle east who trust their military. when we dig deeper, a more grim reality than the "land of the free and home of the brave" is painfully exposed, whether in this case, bradley manning, photos from abu ghraib or guantanamo, the NYPD screening blantantly the anti-muslim film to its cadets, or the countless war crimes exposed in wikileaks documents.
Arvinder Singh needed legal representation. That the FBI continues to prey upon immigrants in vulnerable positions is deplorable. In my own cases I've seen Muslims recruited to spy on other Muslims, and once an Arab Christian…but this is the first time I heard of them using a Sikh. They lied to him; he got played. I understand the FBI's need to obtain information, but planting spies is not the way to do it.
Legally, it sounds like Arvinder's status in the US was doomed from the beginning; his conviction seems to be considered a "drug trafficking" crime and therefore an aggravated felony under the immigration law, which means his deportation is virtually automatic…(though I hope he has a lawyer who is fighting that designation, and try to reopen his conviction from 2002 since whoever let him plead to that charge did not do their job) Point being – why would the FBI try to stop his deportation or help him in any way, since there are hundreds of other people who can assume his duties?
As a Muslim I've always hated that the backlash and suspicion our community faces spills over to other communities. I wholeheartedly agree that both our communities need to take a principled and united stand.
Thanks for the comments Hassan! Extremely insightful!
Although I laugh at the suggestions that Sikhs should 'join hands with the muslims', I am seriously appalled at the way FBI has treated Arvinder Singh. How is FBI going to convince more people to spy against potential terrorists if they lose their credibility?
Someone suggested at the CNN's comments section that Arvinder might me making up the story. But that cannot be true since the guy at mosque said he "saw Singh a couple of times at his mosque".
I would like to point out that if you are American, then FBI is your institution. It becomes our duty to do whatever we can to make sure FBI do their job smartly. Terrorists are way far serious threat than someone who sold extra sudafed. I would call FBI's failure to fulfill their part of the deal in this case CRIMINAL, since it puts a question-mark on the credibility of FBI. We cannot afford to have non-credible institutions in power in our country. We as citizens of the US, need to contact FBI and demand that not only should they fulfill their promise to Arvinder Singh, but also apologize to him for making him go through hell even though he helped them identify terrorists for seven full years.
As for Jodha's question "Who and what exactly do we wish to serve?, my answer is that my Dharm is to serve humanity. That humans should be free no matter how long they live. I want the politicians and defence forces (including FBI) of my country to work towards that goal, and I will do whatever needed to make sure they know this. I request that all Americans make effort towards this goal.
He was a pawn "knowTheEnemy" and was played as pawn. I hope as per Hassan's suggestions that Arvinder Singh is able to find an able lawyer.
Such tactics by the FBI are hardly new. The experiences of civil rights leaders and the culture of paranoia seen since the dawn of the bureau under Hoover have plagued this institution.
I hope your Dharm really is to serve humanity; that is where we connect; I just hope your dharm is not Muslimophobia. Best wishes!
How is the proposition to align with Muslims on this issue laughable? Members of our community seem to overestimate our collective ability to deploy resources to shape national dialogue. The reality is that the alternative to joining with CAIR, etc., is to attempt to "educate" the public about Sikhi's uniqueness from Islam. This is absurd in at least three ways:
1) The unstated premise of such a narrow advocacy is to focus violence on another community, and specifically one that shares our experience in the post-9/11 xenophobic hysteria.
2) Does the average racist care about who Sikhs are at all? We attribute these elements too much rationality; their actions are much more likely the result of some general anxiety that finds a pretense on which to act on supposed "outsiders."
3) As mentioned above, we're not going to be able to manipulate public opinion in any meaningful way. The population of Sikhs in Canada is (IIRC) twice as large as that of Sikhs in the US, and their utmost efforts–those related to the 1984 Genocide Bill, and other issues–haven't even gotten them a serious seat at the table.
Pragmatically, it makes sense to align with "Muslim" groups to promote a more general message of understanding (or at least tolerance). I won't go so far as to argue that we should allow out-group biases to freely manipulate our identities so that we are equivalent to Muslims (although it will happen anyway), but I think a measure of solidarity is clearly in order here.
More significantly, however, if our Dharm obliges us to serve humanity, why would aligning with innocent victims of tribalistic hatred be laughable?
[…] talk a lot about anti-Muslim bigotry here at The Langar Hall (as Jodha did on Monday), and it’s been at times disturbing to see comments on our posts reflecting the […]
[…] However, the FBI’s track record in the domestic War on Terror illuminates the sobering reality that things perhaps aren’t so different today than in the days of COINTELPRO. The target, in this case, has by and large been Muslims. The FBI has extensively spied on Muslims in their mosques and community centers in the last several years, sometimes even in the name of “community outreach.” In one documented case, the FBI even got a Sikh man to do their dirty work in a mosque in Iowa, as Jodha previously wrote about. […]
[…] However, the FBI’s track record in the domestic War on Terror illuminates the sobering reality that things perhaps aren’t so different today than in the days of COINTELPRO. The target, in this case, has by and large been Muslims. The FBI has extensively spied on Muslims in their mosques and community centers in the last several years, sometimes even in the name of “community outreach.” In one documented case, the FBI even got a Sikh man to do their dirty work in a mosque in Iowa, as Jodha previously wrote about. […]
People know that terrorism is the difficult form of thing. This leads for further problems in country. The war might be a path for its prevention for future. The terrorist must face their aim by such power action.