MASSACRE IN BAHRAIN: Eyewitness Reports

puplish plz


bahrainies need u

How many of our Sikh mothers, daughters, sisters have experienced this?  The dress is different;  the feelings are the same.

Last night, looking for something entirely different, I came upon this discussion about the Bahrain military's attack on its own citizens peacefully protesting from the Flickr group, Global Photojournalism; Politics, News, Protest, and Culture. 

The pictures and discussion of Bahrain can be found  here.

We Sikhs have had a lot of experience of this in "India" and so we can understand what these Bahrainis are going through.  Let's send them our prayers and comfort.  At this point, I don't know what more we can do. 

What follows is from Ghadeer Shamlan, a young woman, age 18, a law student from Bahrain, obviously a person of great courage.  I hope thesepictures and reports helps to make the situation real to you.  These are real live (and dead) human beings and they need and deserve our compassion and concern.

Posted in the Flickr group, Global Photojournalism; Politics, News, Protest, and Culture. 

From 16 Feb 2011, Bahrain

Here is some of what 2 eye-witnesses said about todays attack in Bahrain

Witness 1 (woman): I was sitting with another woman getting ready pray "salat el-lail" which is a type of prayers the Shiites have , the woman was with her two months old baby, she gave me the baby so that she go to prepare for the prayers , just few minutes then the Bahraini forces started attacking with out any caution , one of the military forces men came to me and started beating me and he took the baby and throw her on the ground and shot her with his gone without any mercy,

she added it was really terrorism dead bodies and parts were everywhere on the ground , they throw some people over the bridge and drive there cars "police cars" over them, also they took injured people and bodies "alive" in closed fridges to unknown place. It was like a real war she added !!

witness (2) " man" : we were lying to sleep as suddenly the tear-bombs and gun-shots came from everywhere without any notifications we started running heading to salmaniya , while that i got injured by the gun-shots , the man who was killed and had his head blasted was killed in front of me they put the gun on his head directly and shot , his head parts spread everywhere !!!

\

puplish plz

bahrainies need u

A protester takes cover around a corner as Bahrain's security forces fire tear gas on demonstrators marching from Salmaniya Hospital to Pearl Square, in Manama February 19, 2011. Anti-government protesters in Bahrain swarmed back into a symbolic square on Saturday, putting riot police to flight in a striking victory for their cause. REUTERS/James Dugga

A child badly injured and possibly killed by Bahraini military forces

Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs are from Ghadeer Shamlan

KAMAL NATH DENIED DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY IN USA

This is really a step forward.  Kamal Nath does not have diplomatic immunity in the USA and Sikhs For Justice's (SFJ) case against him can go on as planned.  My understanding is that he is due for a pre-trial conference this Wednesday.

 

FROM:Tamil Daily News

February 6, 2011

Kamal Nath summoned by US court in 1984 Sikh riots case

By Arun Kumar

Washington,(IANS) Indian Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has been summoned by a New York court for a pre-trial conference Feb 9 for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.The trial will proceed as the US State Department has declined to intervene in the case due to the seriousness of allegations of human rights violation against Kamal Nath, according to Gurpatwant S. Pannun, legal advisor for Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a US based human rights advocacy group.

After being summoned by the Southern district court of New York Dec 10, 2010, Kamal Nath had sought diplomatic immunity. His request for immunity has now been turned down by the State Department, Pannun said.

In April 2010, SFJ along with two individuals filed a law suit against Kamal Nath under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) & Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) asking the court to order compensatory and punitive damages against the minister.

According to Pannun: “Alien Tort Claims Act of United State, the law under which trial against Kamal Nath will be held is specifically created to provide remedy and forum to victims of genocide to vindicate their complaints.”

The trial against Kamal Nath “is one such opportunity through which SFJ plans to put on the record of the court evidence related to genocide of Sikhs and Kamal Nath’s role in it,” he said.

Plaintiffs have asked for a “jury trial” and will have the right to call upon survivors and experts on genocide as witnesses to prove that systematic killing of Sikhs in November 1984 was genocide as defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide.

Responding to Kamal Nath’s comment that “no case has been filed against him in India during past 26 years”, Pannun said Nath’s argument is absurd because if a case is not filed against a criminal, it does not mean that he has not committed the crimes.

SFJ and victims of November 1984 riots also plan to launch a campaign in India asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack Kamal Nath from his cabinet position for his alleged involvement in attack on Gurdawara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi, Pannun said.

More than 3,000 people were killed in various clashes across north India during the riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi Oct 31, 1984.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

This YouTube video is from last year;  I include it because it contains a lot of useful information and it is always interesting to see actual tapes of accused.

"FIGHTING INTOLERANCE SINCE 1699"

This brought a big smile to my face. I noticed that they even "ji'ed" Guru Gobind Singh ji.  This paper has class!

FROM:

 

 

Sikhs prove EDL wrong

A delegation of Sikhs marched proudly joining a big rally against the English Defence League (EDL) held in Luton.
They played the Dhol, a Punjabi war drum, as they entered the rally carrying a banner that read ‘Sikhs Against the English Defence League – Fighting Intolerance since 1699’, a reference to the establishment of martial Sikhism by the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

They were greeted with cheers by more than two thousand demonstrators gathered in the Park Square, in the centre of Luton, who gave the marching Sikhs a great applause.

This comes as a great blow to the English Defence League (EDL) as they had claimed that they are getting support from many Sikhs.

The demonstration by ‘Sikhs Against the EDL’ shows otherwise.

The Sikh protesters shouted slogans against Guramit Singh, one of the self-styled EDL leaders from Sikh background and called him a traitor.

They claimed that he had brought shame to the Sikh community and should be locked up due to some of his recent speeches.

Varinder Singh spoke on behalf of the Sikh delegation and pointed out that the Sikh community has a proud tradition of fighting Fascism in the Second World War. He asked, “Given our proud history, how can Sikhs not oppose the racism and Fascism espoused by EDL?”

Varinder Singh went on to condemn Guramit Singh (ethnic spokesperson for the EDL) and other racist traitors of Sikh origin joining EDL and expressed that these individuals should be held accountable.

Balwindar Singh Rana, also from a Sikh background said, “The Sikhs Against the EDL have launched a ‘Joint Statement’ which has already gained support from some of the major

Sikh and Hindu organisations, including many Sikh Student Societies, as well as many prominent individuals in this country.

People are waking up to the dangers of the racist poison that is being spread by the EDL and they will no longer fall for their ‘divide & rule’ tactics.”

He added:”In the ‘70s and ‘80s, whether we were Sikhs, Hindus or Muslim, we were all united against the racists and fascists of the National Front and the BNP. We now have to show the same unity again if we are going to halt this tide of racist hatred by the EDL.”

Salvinder Singh Dhillon from the Indian Workers Association pointed out that the rally was being attended by all communities was a proof that they all stand shoulder to shoulder against promotion of racism and fascism.

He said, “The poison of racism serves to divide people and weaken their common struggles against the attacks by the state on their livelihood, against imposition of tuition fees, and the pending massive spending cuts in social services, health and education.”

The rally was organized by Unite Against Fascism(UAF), a broad based organisation supported by numerous individuals and organizations including trade unions and members of parliament.

Various speakers expressed their opposition to EDL and the racist British National Party( BNP).

There was also a further protest in the Bury Park, near the Mosque, organized by the Muslim community and attended by nearly two thousand people.

BTW, I just noticed that this is the 501st post in The Road To Khalistan.  I invite you all to join me in a nice cup of ginger tea!

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This picture really made me sit up and take notice!

An Woman in the Uprising

This picture is from the Humans's Rights Photos:  Slideshow:  Women in the Egyptian Uprising, located in Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/humanrights.change.org?v=wall#!/album.php?aid=268678&id=327200178036

KIRPANS IN QUEBEC - follow up statement

Where have my brains been hiding? Why didn't I see this immediately?   This whole thing was a set-up by Bloc Quebecois.

I was reading this editorial (I'll copy/paste it below) when I realised what a dolt I've been. Quebec has been fuming ever since the Montreal public schools were ordered to let that kid keep his kirpan in school. This accommodation (or not) for the niqab was the perfect opportunity to get even with us and take it even a bit farther.

The Quebec government is well aware of the importance of the kirpan to Sikhs because of the above case. When they invited the Sikhs to testify, they knew very well they would be carrying kirpans. They purposely made no arrangements with security to permit the Sikhs in, knowing that they Sikhs would refuse to surrender their kirpans. They knew the Sikhs would rightfully raise a huge stink at being treated so unfairly.

This publicity give the Bloc the chance to up the ante and get kirpans banned not only from the Quebec Legislature but to also try to get them banned from the Canadian Parliament where Navdeep Singh has been attending with his kirpan for more than six years and, I might add, has made no attempt to stab any opposition MP.

So we've been seriously punked! What are we going to do about it?

I realise that probably everybody else saw this from the beginning, it's so obvious.

My dear readers please sign the petition (if you haven't already) :   Say NO!! To Bloc's Call to Ban KIRPANS in Parliament

and also join the Facebook Cause with the same name.  



The article that brought about this much belated epiphany (italics mine):

Only in Quebec you say?

Other provinces have long tolerated minority rights. Not us



By DON MACPHERSON,
The Gazette
January 27, 2011

What is it about Quebec that makes it more dangerous for orthodox Sikhs to wear the kirpan here than elsewhere in Canada?

After Sikh boys in other provinces had been allowed to wear the dagger-like religious symbol to school for a hundred years, why was it still considered unsafe in 2002 for a Sikh boy to do the same here, even under severe restrictions?

And in the latest incident involving the kirpan, why was a Sikh delegation barred from the National Assembly last week after refusing to surrender their kirpans, when a Sikh member of Parliament is allowed to wear his in the House of Commons?

(And why, after Liberal Navdeep Singh had been doing so for more than six years, did the Bloc Quebecois only get around to objecting after the incident at the Assembly?)

Safety was the official reason given by the Assembly's security service for forbidding the Sikhs to wear their kirpans. But, as ruefrontenac.comblogger Marco Fortier pointed out, the kirpan is no more dangerous a weapon than the table knives in the Assembly's restaurants.

And it's not as if the Sikhs just showed up unannounced on a bus tour, catching everybody at the Assembly by surprise. They had been invited to appear before an Assembly committee examining a bill on, ironically, religious accommodations.

But since the committee had neglected to make prior arrangements for them to be admitted while wearing their kirpans, the Sikh delegation wasn't heard.

More than one made-in-Quebec compromise between the Sikhs' religious beliefs and the need for security at the Assembly was available.

The delegation could have been escorted by Assembly constables, as was a Sikh leader invited to a ceremony at the legislature last year.
 

Or they could have been allowed to wear their kirpans sealed inside their clothing. That was the solution suggested by the Supreme Court of Canada in its 2006 "reasonable accommodation" decision in the case of the Sikh boy forbidden from wearing his kirpan to school. 

In applauding the exclusion of the Sikh delegation, Louise Beaudoin of the Parti Quebecois expressed disagreement with the Supreme Court's decision. "Multiculturalism might be a Canadian value," she said. "But it is not a Quebec one."

The conditions under which the boy could wear his kirpan to school originated not with the Supreme Court, however, but with the boy's French-language school board. They were expanded in a decision by a Frenchspeaking judge of Quebec Superior Court.

And contrary to what Beaudoin implied, the Supreme Court's decision was not based on multiculturalism.

Rather, the court ruled that forbidding the boy to wear his kirpan to school violated his freedom of religion under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

And that freedom is protected not only by the Canadian Charter but also by Quebec's own Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms -adopted seven years before the Canadian Charter.

(Beaudoin's position is wrong, but at least she took one. Liberal Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil, the sponsor of the accommodation bill, refused to say whether the Sikh delegation should have been admitted.)

So "reasonable accommodation" reflects Quebec values as well as so-called Canadian ones.

Or at least it reflects what used to be Quebec values, before the backlash against the Supreme Court's decision on the kirpan.

Since then, the parties have been competing over the identity question for the votes of the majority, at the expense of the Quebec Charter and the rights of minorities, and not only religious ones.

dmacpherson@montrealgazette.com
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Reprinted from Sikh Philosophy Network

SIGN THE PETITION! ATTEMPT TO BAN THE KIRPAN IN THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT

SIGN THE PETITION:   

Say NO!! To Bloc's Call to Ban KIRPANS in Parliament

As many of you know, I was born and raised in Montreal, in the French Canadian province of Quebec.  This is a part of Canada and yet apart from much of the Canadians' ideals.  I won't try to make sense of that right now.  It's just too complicated.  Enough to say that a group of four Sikhs were invited to speak at the Quebec Legislature talking about religious rights and freedom and the niqab.  Make a note, they were invited guests.  When they arrived, they were not allowed inside to testify because they were carrying their kirpans.  I am not making this up!

Four Sikhs rejected from entering the Quebec Legislature

Invited to Quebec legislature, Sikhs then barred for carrying kirpans

RHÉAL SÉGUIN

QUEBEC— From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011 12:10AM EST

They came to the National Assembly to support a woman’s religious right to wear a niqab in Quebec but four members of the World Sikh Organization of Canada were turned away because of another religious flashpoint – the kirpans they were carrying.

The four Sikhs had been invited to appear before a legislative committee debating a bill that deals with the reasonable accommodation of religious minorities. But the group never got through the metal detectors at the entrance of the National Assembly building as security agents ruled the kirpans, or ceremonial daggers, they carried were a potential weapon...

Louise Beaudoin, the [Parti Québécois]’ designated critic on secularism, said, "...multiculturalism is not a Quebec value. It may be a Canadian one but it is not a Quebec one."

 Ms. Beaudoin supported the security agents’ decision to prohibit access to the four Sikhs when they refused to remove their kirpans.

Not satisfied in keeping Sikhs out of the Quebec Legislature, they are now trying to ban  our kirpans in the Canadian Parliament.  Clearly this is unacceptable to Sikhs everywhere.  We must stand up and say a resounding NO!  to this nonsense.  One way to do this is to sign the petition

Say NO!! To Bloc's Call to Ban KIRPANS in Parliament

 Please, dear Gursikhs, help the Sikhs of Canada, your sisters and brothers preserve this right.  We need your help now.  Don't let us down!!

Please note that Jack Layton of the NDP (a proven friend to the Sikh community) supports our right to carry the kirpan, as does Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff.The Conservatives have remained silent.

Photo Credit:  CTV News