05 March 2007

Thoughts in the Night

I have a major problem sleeping at night. As I have stated elsewhere, I think my last full night's sleep was on October 30, 1984. So I often lie awake random thoughts buzzing in my head. Many of these thoughts take me back to that time.

Last night before going to bed, I read some news accounts of Hola Maholla, which gave me some hope that perhaps we will someday realise our dream of Khalistan. I pray that this young generation really will have the strength and fervour to carry on as our ancestors did. I read so much about how wussy this generation is; I refuse to believe it.

One particular thought came to me about 1984. It could, in fact, be about many occasions of our history, but I happened to be there in 1984. Our enemies broke our hearts and broke our bodies, but they could not break our spirit or our will. They wounded our spirit. They wounded our will. But they couldn't break us. We are still here, and by the grace of Guru, we will remain here.

They broke my heart.
They broke my body.
They did not break my spirit.
They did not break my will.

From a different context:

I'll come back even
stronger,

Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've strengthened
The
conviction in my soul


From I Am Woman

Mai


A Personal Note To Our Readers

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa. Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

We had intended to quit posting to this blog since we felt our stories were complete. But since we have gotten several e-mails and comments, we have decided to continue posting. However since we have come to the end of our 1984 stories, the nature will have to change. We don't know exactly where we'll be going from here, only that it will have to do with our experiences and lives as Sikh women in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries of the common era, as we continue on the road to Khalistan.

We would whole-heartedly welcome guest authors who would write about their own experiences and reactions to the tragedies that befell our people in 1984. If you would like to be such a guest author, just e-mail us. We really do answer all e-mails. Obviously we can't answer anonymous comments personally because we have no way to contact you.

Vini (Maman) is tired of confronting 1984 on a daily basis and Suni needs to get back to her professional work, so most of this blog will have to fall on Mai, who already has her sometimes 2 blog. All three of us will OK each post before it goes in.

Someone has asked about the photos we took of all of us before the battle. Yes, we do have those and, no, we are not ready to publish them. One reason for blogging on the Internet instead of publishing a book is to preserve our privacy; clearly posting pictures of us would destroy that. Also, Mani wanted proof that we had not cut our hair, so the pictures show all of us with our hair down and open, pictures that to the men would border on pornographic. They are beautiful pictures, but just for us. The pictures of us fully dressed, as already stated would show our identities, which we prefer to remain hidden.

Also our rescuers took photos of the aftermath of the fighting. I think our reasons for keeping those to ourselves should be obvious. They are gruesome and graphic and unbearably personal and painful to us. We cannot bear the thought of anyone looking at them gloating over our loss and we simply cannot permit them to be shown publicly at this time. Let us be totally frank here: Suni is willing to publish them. Vini and Mai are not. But the two of us have given our permission for their publication when we are no longer living. We think, however, that they will never be published on a public blog because they are so graphic that the blog would end up being flagged. Yes, they are that bad.

So we continue as best we can.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa. Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

Vini, Suni and Mai (Dharma Kaur Khalsa)

20 February 2007

Khalistanis or 'Islamist'

Most of the papers now are saying that it was 'Islamists'who did it, but the Hindu seems to still hold onto the Khalistan idea. I don't know where this is heading, but we don't feel as nervous as we did last night.(I still feel nervous; I live there. Vini)

Instead, experts are looking hard at bomb intelligence and data. Khalistan
terrorist groups, for example, have repeatedly used incendiary devices over the
last two years. Firebombs went off on buses in Jalandhar in April and May 2006.
A third bus was bombed in Chandigarh in 2005. Several people were injured in
these low-intensity bombings, which were at first mistaken for accidents, but
there were no fatalities.

Punjab police investigators recently charged two alleged members of the
proscribed Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Lasuri resident Satnam Singh and
Phagwara-based Charanjeet Singh, with executing this series of bombings. The
investigators believe that the men used incendiary devices, instead of
traditional bombs, in the hope that police would find it impossible to trace the
origin of the petrol used in their manufacture.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022107821200.html

19 February 2007

A New 'Crackdown on Terrorism'?

2007

New 'Terrorist Crackdown'?
I came across this in the Hindustan Times this morning and it made my blood run cold.


In the past 10 years, seven incidents of explosions in trains werereportedin the
state, besides some incidents of sabotage on railway tracks.Terroristgroups such
as Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), Khalistan ZindabadForce (KZF), International
Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF-Rode) elements were foundto be involved in these
incidents, intelligence officials said.

Amongst the terrorist groups
operating in Punjab which have the potentialto strike are KCF-Panjwar (headed by
Paramjit Singh Panjwar), Babbar KhalsaInternational(headed by Wadhawa Singh),
KZF led by Ranjeet Singh Neeta (originally from Jammuand Kashmir) and Dal Khalsa

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1932303,0008.htm

Don't get me wrong. I am not afraid of terrorists. But I am afraid - I admit it - of the Punjab police. How many of our innocent brothers and sisters are going to 'disappear' or reappear after being tortured by these...I was going to say animals, but why insult innocent animals?...[human males]?

As I have said before, I am opposed to terrorism in all its forms - individuals, groups, state - and in no way can I condone the blowing up of trains with even one innocent person on board. But I am afraid of reprisals, especially since evidentally someone has decided that Khalistanis are behind it.

We shall see what we shall see. But I am very apprehensive.
(Written by Mai, approved by all three)

17 February 2007

A New Link

This is another link that turned up in our Google Alert for Khalistan. It is a really excellent account of what happened in Delhi, whether you call it riots or pogrom or battle by a nonSikh witness.

http://canadiansikh.blogspot.com/2007/02/he-winter-in-delhi-1984-long-legacy-of.html

05 February 2007

MEMORIAL

First published November 2, 2006

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA
WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH
IN LOVING AND GRATEFUL MEMORY
FROM YOUR KHALSA SISTERS
VINI AND SUNI AND MAI
on the 22nd anniversary of your Shaheedi
in the Battle of Delhi,
November 2, 1984
TO OUR KHALSA BROTHERS
SHAHEED BERTRAM K. SINGH
SHAHEED BALBIR SINGH
SHAHEED EDUARD P. SINGH
SHAHEED MANDEEP SINGH KHALSA
SHAHEED MOHAN SINGH
SHAHEED SANDEEP SINGH
and our two little sisters who died unborn
BABY KAUR ONE
BABY KAUR TWO
and to all the thousands of others who died in this battle.
YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN
WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA
WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH