Telephone Call To Nairobi

Ciru is my sister-in-law.

Seattle, Washington, USA
2 January 2008
1:35 AM

Telephone ringing.

Near Nairobi, Kenya
2 January 2008
12:35 pm

--Hello?

-Ciru, is that you? Are you OK

--(Wailing) Noooooooooo!!!! It's terrible! You couldn't believe...

-But you're alive? Your house is OK?

--Mai? Alive? Right now. But they're fighting on every corner. Ohhhhhhh...

-Try to calm down. We need to know what's going on.

--Mai, Joseph ran off. It's just me and my girls and the granddaughter. Just us 4. We don't dare go outside. They're killing all the Kikuyus they can find. We saw them tyre a man outside here. He was screaming and they were all laughing.

-Debbie (granddaughter) saw that?

--No. We hid her away in the bedroom.

-What about the rest of the family? Have you heard from Nakuru?

--We talked to them by phone. Their houses are all being burnt.

-Are all our family alive? Do you know?

--Yes. None of us has been killed. But they have no food. They were begging us to send food, but we can't. There's no transport, the roads are all closed and barricaded. Mai, help us! Please! They're killing us everywhere!

-What about the police?

--Here? Near Nairobi? Mai, help us!

-Uh, yeah.

--They just stand and watch. They don't care. The army, too. They're everywhere, but they're not doing anything. I guess in the countryside, some Kikuyus are taking refuge in police stations, but here we don't dare even to go out. You can't imagine!

-(Under my breath) I think I can. (Aloud) Do you have anything to defend yourselves with? Guns, knives, even iron bars?

--(Gasping) We don't have guns and we're women! What do we know about fighting?

-(sighing) Are they raping women?

--No. Just killing. They just want us dead Did you hear about them burning all those people in the church? In a church!

-Yes.

--Mai!! Mai!!! You've got to help us. It's going to be like Rwanda!!!

-(Under my breath) Or Delhi. (Aloud) Do you still have electricity? Water?

--Yes.

- Then be sure to store as much water as you can in anything you can find. You can live for a time without food, if need be, but you need to have water.

--OK. We can do that. (To her daughters) Mai says we need to store water. (Speaks in Kikuyu) What else?

-Gather anything you can use to defend yourself and practice using them.

--We're women!

-Well, I want you to be live women when this is all over.

--(Very quietly) Did you hear how they burnt that church?

-Yes, it was terrible.

--That's not what I mean. They sealed the exits. They knew how to do it. They knew just what to do. Pelt it with stones so no one can leave. Then seal the exits. Then torch it. A mob couldn't think like that. (Sobbing) This was all planned. The election was just an excuse. They want to be rid of us. They hate us so much. You can't know...

-Another time, I'll tell you. But now, Ciru, you need to keep a cool head. Have you been praying?

--Oh, so much.

-You need to sing songs, too. Happy songs, up-tempo songs. Fighting songs, if you know any. You have to keep their spirits high.

--I don't think I can.

-You have to. That's the only chance you have. Otherwise, even if you all survive, you'll be dead inside. You have to make them be strong.

--Debbie's only 7.

-Then she needs to be a strong 7. And she needs to help, be a part of your fight. But try to keep her from seeing any atrocities, if you can.

--Oh, Mai! You've got to----

We were cut off.

I tried calling back, but could not get through.

(Crossposted from sometimes - 2.)

Jasbir Ji and Laibar Ji and Kenya

There are two stories today that need to be reported, three actually, but two here, one concerning Jasbir Singh, one Laibar Singh, followed by a more personal statement.

The first is that the father of Jasbir Singh, the witness against [Jagdish Tytler] has reported that his son has been threatened in the United States. Here is the story .

84 Riots: My son being threatened, says witness against Tytler

By IE

Wednesday January 2, 09:23 PM

The father of Jasbir Singh, a key witness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case
against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, today alleged claimed his son was being
threatened in the United States.

"Jasbir has told me that he was being threatened there," Sattu Singh said.

CBI had filed a closure report in the 1984 riots case involving Tytler and
had claimed that Jasbir, who had submitted an affidavit before the Nanavati
Commission that probed the riots, was not traceable. However, he told TV
channels claiming that CBI had never approached him to be a witness.

The investigating agency immediately sent him a request for recording his
statement to which he has not responded till date.

Asked about the possibility of Jasbir's return to India and assist CBI in the
case, his father said, "it's natural that if he comes here, the threats (to him)
would be more. They can even get my son killed."

He also claimed Jasbir's children, who are staying with their grandparents in
the national capital, were being threatened by some people apparently belonging
to the establishment.

"Four people came to the house and they started threatening. However, they
had to beat a hasty retreat after some neighbours intervened," he claimed.

The second story is from the Christian Radical , the zine of the Vancouver Catholic Worker Community about a community meeting in support of Laibar Singh. Although this meeting is primarily for those not of our Sikh and Punjabi communities, I thought it would be of interest to our readers, as well. I think that many of us have felt abandoned by the larger Canadian community.

And here is a shiny, brand-new blog, with only one post so far: Support Laibar Singh. Please visit it and comment.

And again, I hope someone has brought him a cheerful blanket.

Laibar Singh Community Meeting This Thursday

2nd EMERGENCY Community Meeting on Laibar Singh and Racist Backlash Against
South Asian Community

Thursday January 3rd at 6 PM
Lore Krill Co-Op
65 West Cordova (corner, just east of Cambie)
Wheelchair accessible.

Last Thursday there was an emergency
meeting called by concerned activists and allies to organize support for Laibar
Singh to stay in Canada. This meeting was also to organize against the racist
backlash fueled by the misinformation that various media outlets have been
spreading about Laibar and his supporters. We came together primarily as people
outside of the
Punjabi and Sikh communities, inspired by the strength and
solidarity that has been shown by those communities in the numerous actions that
have recently taken place in support of Laibar Singh.

This first meeting
was a success, with large attendance and the formation of 'Communities for
Laibar Singh'. At this meeting we resolved to take on a number of projects to
build support for Laibar, as well as find ways to support the work that is
already going on in the Sikh, Punjabi, other South Asian communities on this
front. Some of these projects include:
- A
public forum on Laibar's case, which will take place Saturday January
12th.
-Regular petitioning, tabling, and picketing on
campuses, skytrain stations, and other public places.
- Support for future
actions taken by the Punjabi and Sikh communities for Laibar Singh.

We
encourage people who are interested in getting involved with this campaign in
support of Laibar Singh to attend this meeting. This call is particularly for
allies in the community, acknowledging the need to disrupt the media's
characterization that support for Laibar Singh comes only from South Asian
communities. This call is also being made out of a sense of responsibility -
acknowledging that South Asian communities should not be alone on the forefront
to respond to current climate of increasing racist backlash.


For
more information please email
andrea_pinochet@hotmail.com.

My third story is more personal. Most of my husband's family lives in Kenya, which is currently suffering post-election violent upheavals. Their lives are in immediate danger. Without taking sides in this conflict, in some ways it reminds me of the kind of hatred and violence we experienced in 1984. I have posted about this in sometimes - 2. If you are interested, please read this post. Thank you.

--
Some see things as they are and ask, Why?
I dream things that never were and ask, Why not?
Bobby Kennedy

A New Year's Message from Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President, Council of Khalistan

As usual, I don't agree with everything he says here, but I do with most of it, and I think this is a message we all can learn and draw inspiration from.

[sikh_news_discussion] NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO THE KHALSA PANTH

December 28, 2007

NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO THE KHALSA PANTH
Let 2008 Bring Freedom to the Sikh Nation
May Guru Bless the Khalsa Panth in 2008
With Freedom, Happiness, Unity, and Prosperity
Dedicate New Year to Liberating Khalistan

Dear Khalsa Ji:

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH!

The New Year will arrive within a few days. Please let me take this
opportunity to wish a Happy New Year to you and your family and the
Khalsa Panth. May 2008 be your best year ever. I wish you health,
joy, and prosperity.

The flame of freedom continues to burn brightly in the heart of the
Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. Guru Gobind Singh blessed the
Khalsa Panth, saying 'In grieb Sikhin ko deon Patshahi.' ('I bless the
Sikh nation with sovereignty.') The Sikh Nation must dedicate this
year to working hard to achieve that goal. Self-determination is the
right of all peoples and nations and self-determination is the essence
of democracy.

It has been said that 'without vision the people perish,' but with
vision the people flourish. Without sovereignty, religions perish.
With sovereignty, they flourish. Compare the situation of the Jewish
people in Europe before World War II to their situation now. There is
no reason Sikhs cannot achieve a similar change of fortune.

It is time for the Sikh nation to flourish. Sikhs have suffered too
much already under the yoke of Indian persecution since independence,
especially over the past 25 years. We have seen the attack on the
Golden Temple, over 250,000 Sikhs murdered and over 52,000 held as
political prisoners, the murder of the Akal Takht Jathedar, more than
50,000 Sikh youth tortured, murdered, then declared unidentified and
secretly cremated, their bodies never returned to their families.
Their families continue to suffer. We must help their widows and
orphans. Let us find the vision to throw off this repression. With
that vision, the Sikh Nation will flourish; without it, we will perish
and India's effort to eliminate Sikhism will succeed.

The Indian government has stepped up its efforts to destroy the Sikh
religion and deny Sikhs an environment to flourish. India will not
even allow passage from Gurdaspur to Kartarpur, a distance of just a
couple of miles. The Pakistani government has shown its willingness
to make this connection, but India is unwilling to cooperate in making
this opportunity available for Sikhs to make this passage so they can
go to Kartarpur Sahib, where Guru Nanak made his transition into his
heavenly abode. This road would be good for the people on both sides
of the border. It would help build good relations between India and
Pakistan, particularly between Pakistan and the Sikhs of Punjab.

Pakistan has recognized the Sikh Marriage Act of 1909, but India
refuses to do so. It still issues certificates of marriage under the
Hindu Marriage Act. What a shame! This is another sign that Sikhs
are slaves in India. It is another piece of India's ongoing effort to
destroy the Sikh religion and absorb it into Hinduism. We must
defend the Sikh Marriage Act and demand its adoption so that Sikhism
can be recognized as the independent, distinct religion that it is.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was performing baptisms that are reserved for
the Panj Piaras. He impersonated Guru Gobind Singh and did so in
newspaper advertisements! Yet the Indian government took no action
against him for this serious offense against the Sikh Nation. He
could not have done what he was doing unless he was backed by the
Indian government. Chief Minister Badal, during his election
campaign, even went to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh during the election
campaign and bowed before him. This is a major insult to the Sikh
Nation and the Sikh religion. How can this be tolerated in a state
that is 67 percent Sikh? And how can such an attack on the Sikh
religion be tolerated by the Akali Dal? What has it gotten for its
electoral alliance with the BJP except more humiliation? This shows
that the Akalis are in bed with the oppressors and do not care about
the Sikh Nation or the people of Punjab.

The Indian government has kept Punjabi-speaking areas out of Punjab
while supporting an influx of Hindus into Punjab. As you know, Sikhs
are prohibited from buying land in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and
Uttaranchal Pradesh. Yet there are no restrictions on land ownership
in Punjab by non-Sikhs. People from anywhere can buy land in Punjab,
including people from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. India is trying
to subvert Khalistan's independence by overrunning Punjab with
non-Sikhs while keeping Sikhs from escaping the brutal repression in
Punjab. We must prevail upon the political leadership in Punjab to
get these Sikh lands back from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. They
rightfully belong to Punjab.

We must stop the diversion of Punjab's water to Rajasthan and Haryana
without compensation. That is a natural resource of Punjab. Sikh
leaders in Punjab must take a strong stand on this issue. The Indian
government squeezes Sikh farmers by all available means. They sell
fertilizer and seeds at very high cost but when it comes time to sell
produce, the government sets the price very low. This leads to
hundreds of farmers committing suicide because of their impossibly
high indebtedness to the Indian government.

On several occasions during the last two years, Sikhs were arrested
for making speeches in support of Khalistan and raising the Khalistani
flag. The Indian regime is clearly worried about the rising tide in
support of Sikh sovereignty. Let us dedicate our energy this year to
achieving the establishment of Khalistan. Any organization that
sincerely supports Khalistan deserves the support of the Sikh Nation.
When Khalistan is free, Sikhs can resolve all issues in a way that
benefits the Khalsa Panth. However, the Sikh Nation needs leadership
that is honest, sincere, consistent, and dedicated to the cause of
Sikh freedom if we are to continue to move the cause of freedom for
Khalistan forward in 2008 as we did in 2007.

Remember the words of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Professor
Darshan Singh: 'If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh.'
Khalistan is the only way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom,
peace, prosperity, and dignity. It is time to start a Shantmai Morcha
to liberate Khalistan from Indian occupation. We must achieve our
freedom by peaceful, democratic, nonviolent means. Let that be the
mission of 2008.

Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. Ever since independence,
India has mistreated the Sikh Nation, starting with Patel's memo
labelling Sikhs 'a criminal tribe.' What a shame for Home Minister
Patel and the Indian government to issue this memorandum when the Sikh
Nation gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices to free India. How can
Sikhs continue to live in such a country? There is no place for Sikhs
in supposedly secular, supposedly democratic India.

Let us work to make certain that 2008 is the Sikh Nation's most
blessed year by making sure it is the year that we shake ourselves
loose from the yoke of Indian oppression and liberate our homeland,
Khalistan, so that all Sikhs may live lives of prosperity, freedom,
and dignity. Now it is up to us. Do not waste this opportunity.

May Guru bless the Khalsa Panth.

Sincerely,

Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh
President
Council of Khalistan



--
Some see things as they are and ask, Why?
I dream things that never were and ask, Why not?
Bobby Kennedy

A Break From Heaviness - A Pro-Sikh Blog Post

What with the hate attack on Sukhvir Singh Ji and all the negative to-do in the press about Laibar Singh Ji - Has anyone sent him a cheerful blanket or comforter yet? - I feel it's time for something cheerful. No, really. I came across this blog post earlier today and just had to share it with you. It seems there is a young Canadian man born in 1980 who likes us. Likes us enough to say nice things about us, like, for example, we have been wrongly accused of blowing up that airplane. He thinks Canadian intelligence (CSIS) was behind it. I, personally think it was the Indian government. I might be wrong, though. What government would wantonly kill its own people? *rolls eyes*

He calls himself Granny Wolf and I decided he was OK, when I realised his profile picture includes a hyacinth macaw, a truly magnificent bird. And he has a most interesting take on Sikhi.

Please read and enjoy, for a change! And you might even go and leave GW a comment. I think almost all bloggers love comments. (Hint, hint).

Operation Blue Star, Khalistan, and the Air India Bombing

Sikhism is a tradition that I've always been fascinated with. The driving force behind the ideology is that Hinduism and Islam are essentially the same thing. In short, that the One and the Many are two expressions of the same divine substance. Ironically, the Sikhs have been portrayed as violent terrorists by most media sources, largely because they are a persecuted minority in both India and Pakistan. Tensions between the Muslims and Hindus and the Sikhs long predates Muslim/ Hindu conflicts in the history of Greater India ( i.e. pre-partition South Asia).

At the time of partition, Sikhs had a great deal of land and wealth in the Punjab province, and with that, they gained a great deal of resentment. The ethnic cleansing that occurred after the partition, the actions of the Indian military to intentionally flood the Punjab on numerous occasions, causing starvation and disease, and the wanton mob-violence against Sikhs which followed the 1984 assassination of Indirah Ghandi (sic) are all examples of a pattern of ethnic violence which has been perpetuated for decades, and has largely passed without comment from the rest of the world. In the '80s, the Sikh separatist movement become very politically influential, making it a threat to the Indian government...

The plight of the Sikhs in India and Pakistan is one of the passed-over tragedies of the modern era. When the INC began to break up Greater India into two nations, one Hindu and one Muslim, there was briefly a plan for a nation called Khalistan, which would be an exclusively Sikh homeland. This plan was scrapped, as the Sikhs simply were not politically powerful enough to secure their nation, but the idea resurged in the '70s and '80s. This movement was quickly stuck with the terrorist label, and violent government oppression effectively crushed it. Sikhs in North America were providing a great deal of support until the bombing of Air India Flight 182, which completed the symbolic link that the media, at the behest of the Indian government, was trying to create between Sikh nationalism and terrorism.

Inquiries into this incident still take place to this day, and it is clear that CSIS (Canadian intelligence) was heavily involved. Based on the amount of documentation that they destroyed (156 of 210 wiretaps), the assassination of the only witness who would testify that the agency had full knowledge of the bombing before it happened (Tara Hayer, confined to a wheelchair after being paralysed by an assassins bullet in 1988 and finally killed in 1998), and the ridiculously drawn out inquiry which, after almost TWENTY YEARS of taxpayer-funded investigation, failed to produce a meaningful sentence of relevant data, I frankly believe that CSIS either planned the whole thing, or intentionally allowed it to happen. According to Hayer, the agent that he talked to claimed that the bomb was supposed to go off in an empty plane in Heathrow airport. Because the flight was delayed by three and a half hours, it blew up over that Atlantic, killing 329 people. Needless to say, this devastated international support for the Sikh separatist movement, removing the threat to Canada's Indian allies.

India's attack on the Golden Temple had a radicalizing effect on Sikhs world-wide, much as Britain's attack on the Ottoman Sultan caused Indian Muslims to revolt against British rule during World War One. Not only did it strike up a strong political current for Sikh nationalism, but it caused many Sikhs who had departed from orthodoxy to return to the customs of their religion, which they saw being threatened on an essential level. Operation Blue Star claimed to be an effort to capture "terrorists" who had "taken control of" the temple. The tyrant, as we well know, always calls the rebel a terrorist. The argument that Sikh nationalist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale qualified as a terrorist leader was tenuous at best, (especially in light of the fact that the Indian military also attacked twenty five other holy sites, massacring Sikhs who had come to celebrate their religious festival) but no one could argue with Flight 182. Although ostensibly not part of the original plan, the deaths of a few hundred innocent civilians was certainly a strategic bonus for India and its allies.

Ultimately, nationalism is a sign of sickness and weakness. Sikh separatism, Palestinian Nationalism, Italian and German Fascism, Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka, and so on, would be unnecessary if the classes of people in question had some kind of organic role in their larger societies. As it is, the Sikhs in Greater India, the Palestinians in their own homeland, the Italian working class, the German middle-class, and the Hindus of Sri Lanka have all found themselves beyond the pale of their own cultures. Demographically significant enough to have their own communities and agendas, but politically impotent. This is what creates the need to separate and divide the civilizations of man.

If only there were a goal we could be inspired to share...

A Little Added On - Ding, Dong! Benazir Bhutto Is Dead

I have for the last couple of weeks been reading news stories about Mrs. Benazir's betrayal of the Sikhs.

This is from the Economic Times , 22 December 2007:

Ms Bhutto wondered how India could have forgotten the assistance she provided to curb the militancy in Punjab.
"India was in a complete mess at that time. Does anyone remember that it was I who kept my promise to PM Gandhi when we met and he appealed to me for help in tackling the Sikhs..." she said.

From the Gurmat Learning Zone (GLZ), B. S. Graya of the Punjab monitor says (Note: this article is in Punjabi):

For strategic reasons Sikhs were helped by Zia ul
Haqq, Nawaz Sharief, Musharraf but Benazir Bhutto in
1988 used the Sikh card as a bargain chip. But with
the grace of God she gained little from that bargain
though Sikhs were defamed all over world as
terrorists.

Long back we had printed a story in our magazine how
Bhutto stabbed on the back of Sikh.

http://www.punjabmonitor.com/XVII/Khalistan.htm

We are happy that she admits today and our stand is
vindicated. We hope Bhutto would learn a lesson from
that.

B.S.Goraya
Amritsar

Elaborating on the first item, this is from Khalista, The New Global Reality:

"India was in a complete mess at that time. Does anyone remember that it was I who kept my promise to Prime Minister Gandhi when we met and he appealed to me for help in tackling the Sikhs. Has India forgotten December, 1988 ? Have they forgotten the results of that meeting and how I helped curb the Sikh militancy ?, she asked.

Bhutto did not elaborate on the precise help she provided to the Indian government to curb militancy in Punjab. There was speculation that she may have handed over a dossier containing covert identities of Pakistani agents masterminding insurgency in Punjab.

Expressing anguish at Narayanan`s comments, she said "does India really believe I am not a friend? I thought India always regarded me as a factor for peace, as a factor for India-Pakistan stability"

Bhutto said she had visited India three times in the recent past and always felt she was considered a great friend.

The former premier said whe was extremely hurt by India`s suspicion about her. "Why does India believe that I will break my word, implying I cannot be trusted ? I believe we share so much -- a belief in democratic values, in democracy and human rights. I am very disappointed that India does not think so".

I have a half-written post that I need not finish. I am not sad that she is dead; I am glad the Sikhs didn't have to do it. We have enough problems right now.

Snipers and car bombings killing innocent people is not the Sikh way. I have no doubt that Pervez Musharaf's people were behind it. Time may prove me wrong - it often does - but for now, that is my opinion.

So how should we react. Perhaps just with quiet smiles in public. Perhaps with satisfaction in our own homes, satisfaction that we have one fewer enemy to deal with.

This has a kind of pain to me. I am a woman. I want women heads of state to be good, just, fair, and, OK, even nurturing leaders. It seems that this is not the case in the subcontinent. I am certainly no expert on Indian politics; even trying to keep straight what is going on with the SGPC is most difficult for me. I am a Canadian currently residing in the United States. I know something of Canadian politics and of American politics. That is about how much I can keep up with.

This letter was sent today to many of the Yahoo Sikh groups. I do not totally agree with everything it says, but with about 98% I leave it to you to decide where my disagreement lies (13 words).


Benazir Bhutto,
an enemy of the Sikh Nation!

Khalsa Ji,

Wahe Guru ji ka Khalsa

Wahe Guru ji Ke Fateh

It was not only Benazir Bhutto but also Rajiv Gandhi, Malyali radical Hindus like M.K.Narayanan, present national security advisor of India and RS'S member and former Intelligence Bureau Chief Maloy Krishna Dhar, who were responssible for getting thousands of innocent Sikhs killed in cold blood during the Indian Government's anti-Sikh campaign of eigthies and nineties and on top of that labelling them as terrorists. Bhutto, who has not only betrayed the Sikh Nation but has also betrayed her own country Pakistan, ecently by joining in a conspiracy by Pakistan's enemies, first to destabalize and then break it up. Sikhs have done no harm to Bhutto but why did she committ such treachery agaist Sikhs? Bhutto, must remember that she will have to answer and pay for such treachery one day as did the Nazis and Nazi collaborators. Sikh Nation applaud President Parvez Musharraf for his bravery and statesmanship and for saving his country from such malicious assault. Sikhs appreciate and are greatful to all the members of Pakistan's Government who have acknowledged and help incorporating the Anand Marriage Act in the constitution of Pakistan, a recognition of Sikhs as a separate religion and Sikh marriage as a separate and unique entity. Sikh Nation also stand resolute and firm for the territorial integrity of Pakistan, independence of Palestine, National security of Israel as a state, and reclamation of lost Sikh sovereignty and freedom of Sikh homeland of Punjab, Khalistan through peaceful, democratic and political means.

Visit Khalistan.Net for more details
Khalistan Zindabad,

Dr.P.S. Ajrawat
President, ADSCFK


A little added on...


Bhutto makes weird claim about Sikh insurgency

Written by J Singh

Thursday, December 27, 2007

New Delhi: Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto has claimed that it was because of her initiatives that militancy could end in Punjab in an assertion that Indian media translated as a "firstever confession by a Pakistani leader of Islamabad’s support to the Khalistani secessionists."

Retaliating against India's national security advisor M K Narayanan’s charge that Bhutto, as premier of Pakistan, had failed to make good the promises she made, the PPP leader claimed that she had kept her word. Benazir said that she had fulfilled her assurance to Rajiv Gandhi to cut off Islamabad’s support to Khalistanis.

The former Prime Minister, who was replying to questions by a news weekly, said the fact was that it was Rajiv Gandhi who failed to deliver on his promise to pull out troops from Siachen in exchange for Islamabad’s choking off the support to Khalistani secessionists. NSA Narayanan had recently said that Bhutto could never be trusted as she had not kept her promises given to Rajiv Gandhi. Bhutto said Narayanan could not have known what transpired in 1988 because it was a one-to-one meeting. “If anyone kept the word, it was I, not Rajiv. He (Rajiv) went back to India and then called me on his way to the Commonwealth to say that he could not keep his promise to withdraw from Siachen,” Bhutto alleged. She said: “There was not a fly on the wall. How can anyone say I have not kept my promises when the biggest result of that meeting was the end of the Sikh insurgency.”

And then:
Just to remind myself, the end of another article.

(I must explain the author is quoting some antiSemitic remarks from other blogs. That, however, is not the part of his post I'm interested in here. I just quote the very end of his article:)

Blaming The Jews Department
via The Moderate Voice by Joe Gandelman on 26/12/07

(3) The weblog is an INCREDIBLE info/communication tool. Anyone can be his/her own editor, publisher and reporter and by clicking “PUBLISH” share their thoughts with the world. It has incredible potential. Shouldn’t everyone who has a weblog try to realize at least some of that potential?

(4) The old adage is true. If you want to write something when angry, wait a bit. Words matter. And even if a blog post has been deleted, those words linger out there and can never really be erased.

I just need this reminder once in a while.

A Christmas Wish For Mr. Laibar Singh (From An Anglo-Canadian)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. SINGH! Doesn't it feel good to be living among people with such good will and compassion? *rolls eyes*

from The Chilliwack Times

Home for holidays for Singh

The Times


Tuesday, December 25, 2007


At this time of the year, we're all supposed to be infused with the Christmas spirit--good cheer to all mankind and all that.

But the case of Laibar Singh is creating the opposite effect as the fuss over his deportation continues to rankle many.

Here are the facts: Laibar Singh entered Canada in 2003 on a forged passport.

He applied, unsuccessfully, for refugee status. Before being deported, Singh suffered an aneurysm that left him paralyzed.

Since then, federal immigration officials have been trying to deport him and his supporters in the Sikh community have been shuffling him around from gurdwara to gurdwara.

An attempt to deport him last Monday failed, as supporters blocked his van at Vancouver International Airport.

Now Singh is in Surrey, his supporters sniping about the amount of effort required to provide care, immigration officials still wanting him out and the public, at large, wondering why Canada never seems to deport anyone.

Put simply, Singh should be sent home.

He entered the country illegally, there was no grounds found for refugee status and Canadians have no obligation to support him.

An application for him to stay based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was rejected.

But let's remember, we're sending him back to a democracy, a fellow member of the Commonwealth and he will be cared for in one of the country's top hospitals.

It's time we stopped being so patronizing toward other nations.

Singh is an Indian citizen and they are quite capable of looking after him.

The real question, as always, is why it takes immigration officials so long to deport people.

Not to be callous, but if immigration officials had done their job, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

It might not be in the spirit of the season, but Laibar Singh needs to go home for the holidays.

© Chilliwack Times 2007








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