In Tribute - Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra

SHAHEED JASWANT SINGH KHALRA

 Fifteen years ago today, KP- Gill and his minions kidnapped, tortured and eventually killed on of the Panth's brightest star, the human rights activist Bhai Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra.  He was, of course just one of thousands, tens of thousands, lakhs who disappeared in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s.

KP-  GILL

He dedicated his life to tracking down those who had disappeared, to find out what really happened to them.  He discovered the truth and for that he had to die.

Please watch this video, courtesy of the Sikh Activist Network (SAN).  It is in Punjabi with English subtitles.  Please take the 18 minutes necessary and watch it in memory of Shaheed Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra ji.



Jaswant Singh Khalra's Last International Speech from SikhActivistNetwork on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/14741568

He was not secretly cremated.  It is reported that after being held and tortured for over a month, pieces of his body were thrown into the Sutlej River on 24 October 1995.  The next time you look into the waters of this one of the Five Rivers remember our brother's body floating, in pieces, down its waters. 

Sutlej River in the 1980s and 1990s

There were 6 Punjab Policemen charged with his murder.  Five were convicted and awarded life sentences.  The sixth was acquitted.  The most guilty criminal of the gang, KP- Gill remains at large and securely protected by the government of India (OK).  To read more about Jaswant Singh  Khalra ji and the convictions, go to the ensaaf page. 

 If it is at all possible for you, please attend SAN's conference, Where Did They All Go:  Jaswant Singh Khalra Memorial Weekend, 11-12 September 2010 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada  It will be hosted by Jaswant Singh Khalra ji's wife, Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra and it will be possible to meet and talk with her.

FREE PAL SINGH

Bhai Pal Singh Ji

The illustrious Punjab police are at it again. Once again an innocent Sikh has been framed, arrested and tortured by the protectors of the law in East Punjab.  This time it was Bhai Pal Singh, 60, a French citizen, Sikh preacher and humantarian worker, especially among the poor farmers of Punjab.

Although the cops say that they dug up weapons, ammunition and explosives, the neighbours say that nothing was dug at all.  Is it possible that the Punjab police, not noted for their good intelligence (pun intended), have mistaken "Tat Khalsa," a religious movement with "Babbar Khalsa," a proKhalistan group, believed to be terroristic by some.  Here is one instance of what seems to be such confusion:   Tat Khalsa supporting activities of Sikh terrorists, claims Punjab police.

Don't be fooled by the turbans;  these are not friends of the Sikhs!

There is so much I would like to say, but words fail me.  We all know about the excesses of the Punjab Police.  They would not hesitate to torture even to death an innocent Sikh man who has done nothing but good.  France has done nothing, although he is a French citizen.   It falls on the shoulders of the worldwide Sangat to champion this dear brother and make his case known to the world.  Is this not one more argument that we need our own country to respond to such things? 

One of the men arrested with him has been severely tortured and is near death. Pal Singh's health is very frail and it is mostly likely he could not survive torture at the gentle hands of the Punjab police.  Harminder Kaur, in the Facebook page, Free Pal Singh, reports that "a familly friend has visited Pal Singh and said he was very weak."
 
So what can any of us do, other than sit and wring our hands?  The first thing to do is to be informed.  Here is some help to get you started.

Information is not easy to come by.  This in itself is suspicious to me.  I am relying primarily on two Facebook pages, Free Pal Singh and Voices For Freedom.   I ask you to go there and join these two pages.  Facebook is sometimes silly and frivolous, true;  it is also very powerful. 

First, the chronology, as Reported by Voices For Freedom:
Timeline of events:

Based on the reports received by Voices For Freedom

-17th July: Pal Singh was arrested at 7:00pm, as per an eye witness.
-17th July: Pal Singh was dropped at his house at 1pm.

-22nd July: Pal Singh was again arrested at at 1:30pm. No charges were levied against him.

-23rd July: The Panjab Police raids his home in Village Dandowal, Jalandhar district at 3 different times on the same day: 4:00 am, 1:00pm and 7:00pm while he was still in custody. No charges were levied on him.

-26th July: Pal Singh legal counsel, Rajwinder Singh Bains, files habeas corpus for Pal Singh

-27th July: Panjab Police presents Pal Singh in front of the magistrate late at night and gets his remand extended till 30th July.

- morning 28th July: the habeas corpus petition was taken up by Justice Arvind Kumar who had appointed a warrant officer to trace Pal Singh
- afternoon 28th July: The Panjab Police in a press conference says that Pal Singh was arrested from Jalandhar. As from eye witness’s and reports received by VFF, which are corroborated by the Times of India report, Pal Singh was arrested from his home village, a clear discrepancy.

- 30th July: Punjab police presented Pal Singh in front of the judge and requested another remand of 7 days, the judge allowed 1 day

- 31st July, Punjab police presented Pal singh in court and the out the outcome – not known yet

Based on information from a village fellow Gurmukh Singh who reported, said that the Panjab Police took Pal Singh to his fields alone, sat with him for almost an hour in the field and then took him to his residence and from their drove him back to the jail. No news or journalists were invited and nothing was seen being carried with them. Next morning zeenews reports that that “Pal Singh told the interrogators that he had kept a large quantity of explosives, arms and ammunitions near his residence at his village Dhandowal. He led a police team to the spot and handed over the consignment consisting of 15 Kilogram RDX, 3 detonators, 45 caliber sub-machine gun, 150 cartridges, 45 caliber, 1 Magazine AK 47, 100 cartridges of AK 47 and 3 packets fuse wire, the police added”

Gaping gaps appear in the story requiring a re-investigation and a CBI enquiry. Voices For Freedom has contacted the National Human Rights Commission in India, seeking the safety of Pal Singh and to initiate a CBI inquiry.

Panjab police has a nefarious record of violating human rights and making concocted stories.

*********************************************

Next, a few questions and links:

Who is Pal Singh?
 

What is the official story of his arrest?  This is a lot of nonsense, but it is useful to know the official story.

Click on picture to see larger, readable page.

A photo from Times of India of their story. 

What really happened at his arrest? (See the Timeline above)
What can I do?

Here is a list of human rights organisations that we would like to mobilise to help Bhai Pal Singh ji.  Please visit each of them asking for help for our brother.

Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/

Avocats Sans Frontières
http://www.avocatssansfrontieres-france.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=173&Itemid=129&lang=en

The Advocates for Human Rights
http://www.mnadvocates.org/

Giste
http://www.gisti.org/

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/


International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances
http://www.icaed.org/the-coalition/


UN Watch
http://www.unwatch.org/site/c.bdKKISNqEmG/b.1277549/k.D7FE/UN_Watch__Monitoring_the_UN_Promoting_Human_Rights.htm

World Organisation Against Torture
http://www.omct.org/


Asian Human Rights Commission (Asia)
http://www.ahrchk.net/

Asian Centre for Human Rights (Asia)
http://www.achrweb.org/countries/india.htm

All pictures are from the Free Pal Singh Facebook page except that of the Punjab Police, which is from in.com.

Khaliblog Busniess

I have nicknamed The Road To Khalistan as the Khaliblog.  I hope you don't mind.

This blog has been around for quite a while now.  The first post is dated 26 January 2007.  That's not a huge amount of time, but long enough to maybe need a bit of housecleaning.  I notice it is loading rather slowly.  I know this can be annoying.  In order to speed things up, I'd like to clean up the sidebar.  I'd like your opinions on what should be removed to speed things up.   If you'd rather tolerate the slower loading and have me leave it as it is, I'd like to know that, as well.

Today, I have added a new link I hope you will use.  It is listed as Why Khalistan - 1.

About the header.  I have been asked several times in e-mails, "What is that building that Sant ji (or sometimes not such a complimentary name) is pointing at?"  I'm sure those of you in Occupied Khalistan and/or India recognise it, but the rest of you might not.  That is the Indian House of Parliament.  I am sure it annoys the GoI (Government of India) agents who regularly read this blog.

There has been so much controversy going on in the Panth that I have not been commenting on.  This is because I cannot see any good I could do by addressing these and I do see that I could possibly do some harm.  In this case, I think silence is my best move.  One of my aims is to unite the Panth, especially among the Khalsa.  Remember, whatever our differences we are sisters and brothers and we really do need each other.

One thing has happened that has me sad and angry and hurt.  I believe it is also something that all Sikhs can agree on.  That is the arrest of Pal Singh.  That needs a separate post which will be up soon. 

Picture:  Obeisance by Koshyk
Used under a Creative Commons Licence

AUSTIN GURUDWARA and Young Fateh!

I generally am not a fan of rap, but I like this.  Please listen and then go to the donation page of the Save The Gurudwara site. 

Before the music, some pictures of what we are saving:

Now the music.  Sing along with the hook:

They Cant tear it down
Its the only one left standing in that town
they cant tear it down
they trynna bulldoze the shrine
We need ta fight back, its about time..

All the lyrics:

They can tear down a building/ but cant knock down our spirits/
they was scared before - but now its time to fear it
Austin Texas / We cant just let them Reck This
Gurujis HOme/ It up to us to protect it

Everybody talking Change/ land of the free
but Its a Damn Shame/ no one doin a damn thang
where da A.K's Lets Jus Reign on they Parade/
They trynna make us fade/ lets go on a crusade/

Christopher Columbus ---------- robbed all the natives/
Declared it his own/ then brought over slave ships/
history repeats/ this is kinda like the same shit
the Couple didnt like it/ tomorrow its the nation/

"Sikhs need get out"... forced assimilation/
we need to fight back/ for our temples salvation/
government racist/ This is discrimination/
i put my hand out/ For your collaboration/

Sikh Activist, we in affliationt
shaheed baba deep singh is my inspiration/
need come together for our generation
They already tried to knock out our popultion

the 50 stars, Blue star operations
they didnt think twice/ no hesitation
skip the starbucks, give that as a donation
before my holy temple comes to termination

Thanks to Young Fateh.

STOP THE DEMOLITION OF THE AUSTIN GURUDWARA!

Imagine that you have no gurudwara in your area to worship in and the sangat uses a makeshift manufactured house as an impromptu gurudwara.  The nearest gurudwara is more than 100 miles (120 km) away.  Then you all get together, raise money and after many difficulties actually get your new gurudwara built.  At last, you have a real, permanent home for Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj Then someone in your town manages to get the government to issue an order to demolish the gurudwara you love and have worked so long and hard to build.  How would you feel?  What would you do?  An small congregation in Austin, Texas, is facing this bleak situation.

Today, I am both sad and angry.  Who would want to tear down the only gurudwara within 100 miles, legally built, unobtrusive?  Evidently some of the good citizens of Austin, Texas, USA.  Jasleen Kaur who was instrumental in getting this gurudwara built sent me an e-mail which says, in part,

We're currently raising money to take this to the state supreme court, but it will be an expensive battle.

it is heart breaking, literally.  all i can do is encourage the sangat to keep us in their ardaas and do as many chaupai sahib paath as they can for our victory.

 Our sisters and brothers in Austin, Texas, USA need our help.  Will we stand with them and help them to overcome this obstacle?  They need our prayers and our donations to fight the legal battle in the Texas Supreme Court.  With the help of the worldwide Saadh Sangat and the kirpaa of Vaheguru, this is a battle that will be won!

Please go to their website  Save The Austin Gurudwara and donate whatever you can.  Please be generous.  


Here is the Austin Gurudwara Sahib as it stands today...

 None of us wants to see this:

The article says:  "Sikhs around the world and shocked, saddened, and flabbergasted by such an unjust ruling."  I would like to amend that to "people of goodwill of any faith - or no faith - around the world..."  I have said that this blog has a world-wide readership.  This would be a good time to speak up.  Even if you cannot send a donation, please send a word of encouragement to AustinGurdwara@gmail.com. 

Here is the article about this from the Free Press:

COURT, SHOCKINGLY, ORDERS DESTRUCTION OF AUSTIN TEMPLE

Austin. July 16, 2010

Sikhs are shocked and outraged at a ruling by a Texas Court of Appeals ordering that the only Sikh Temple (Gurudwara) in Austin, Texas be torn down.

Austin Gurdwara Sahib (AGS), a non-profit, Sikh organization purchased land in West side of the Greater Austin area in 2003 to start the first permanent Gurudwara in the Capital City. For years, religious services were hosted weekly in a manufactured home located on the property. In 2005, to improve the facilities, AGS, with the congregation’s support, decided to build a more contemporary building. In this regard, AGS applied for, and was granted, all the necessary permits from the city. The approval process from the city included meetings with Planning & Zoning committees as well as the City Council at large. AGS also met with and provided full disclosure to the neighborhood association.

The construction commenced in late 2007, and the members of the Austin Sikh community celebrated laying the initial foundation stone of the first Sikh temple of its kind in Austin. However, the festive mood came to an abrupt stop immediately after the foundation had finished in Feb 2008, when the Bolliers filed for an injunction against the construction. John and wife Leslie, who is an attorney, were relative newcomers to the neighborhood arriving about 3 years after AGS had been using its property for religious services. Citing to the deed restrictions, the Bolliers argued vehemently against the construction of the Sikh Temple on the grounds that it would be an eye-sore and a traffic magnate, and would lower their property’s value.

 By agreement, AGS and the Bolliers agreed to cease construction until the issue was resolved by the trial court. In March 2009, the case was heard by Honorable Judge Susan Covington in the 353rd Judicial District in Travis County Texas. Over the course of several days, the court heard evidence presented by both sides, and rendered an informed decision denying Bollier’s request for an injunction and further ordered them to pay 80% of the associated court costs. In fact, the plantiff, Leslie Bollier, was cited for inequitable conduct in connection with the AGS use of the property.

After the trial court’s favorable ruling, AGS proceded to complete the Temple construction over the next few months. Meanwhile, not satisfied with the trial court’s decision, Bolliers filed an appeal. In July 2010, months after the construction of the Temple was complete, the Appellate Court reversed the lower court’s ruling. In fact, it went so far as to order the completed structure to be torn down! Sikhs around the world and shocked, saddened, and flabbergasted by such an unjust ruling.

 The AGS intends to vigorously appeal and ask the court to reconsider its decision. A website www.SaveGurudwara.com is being set up to provide updates on the matter as well as to collect donations for the legal fight.

Press Release issued by: Austin Gurdwara Sahib, 5104 Avispa Way, Austin TX 78738 Email: AustinGurdwara@Gmail.com.

Flag of Khalistan.

I have been trying to get this to work right.  For your viewing pleasure!