CBC Hatchet Job

(I am trying to make a blue with saffron lettering ribbon, but until I finish debugging Compy, it's just refusing. Right now, this is the best I can do.)(Saffron just wouldn't print, but this still looks pretty good, eh?)

I suppose by now most everyone has heard about the 'news' story broadcast on CBC's The National last night. It is full of lies, half-lies, innuendos and distortions , painting us Khalistan supporters as half-baked, disloyal Canadians, and seemed to paint the whole Sikh community in Canada as a bunch of thugs and terrorists. Before I go any further, I suggest you look at this report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hycDaez2gco

(I notice this video is about ten minutes long. The piece I saw last night was almost twice that length. I haven't seen the YouTube version, since I have a very slow connexion.)

Here is the link to the CBC, where they have the video posted

.http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/politicseconomy/samosa_politics.html

You can leave a comment at this site. Please be calm, peaceful, reasonable in any comment you leave, but also please br firm and determined. Remember that there are those out there who will judge all Sikhs by what you say! After watching this nonsense, you may also feel moved to leave a comment at the CBC 'your view' line. The link to that is:

http://www.cbc.ca/national/yourturn/index.html

This from Google Alerts alerted me to the 'news' cast.

http://cork2toronto.blogspot.com/2007/06/cbcs-national-airs-shocking-expose-on.html


After watching this bit of nonsense - I am in the Pacific time zone and this blog was posted before the story aired here - I left this comment:

Dear Mr. Dowling,

Please don't believe everything you hear. I would first suggest you go to
Baseless fear mongering by the CBCBy Japnaam Singh(Japnaam Singh) :http://www.japnaamsingh.com/2007/06/baseless-fear-mongering-by-cbc.html

Then if you are up to hearing an opposing view on Khalistan, feel free to
visit our blog, The Road To Khalistan, http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/.
We are three rather ordinary Sikh women caught up in extraordinary events; we
are not violent, raving lunatics, we are loving, concerned wives and mothers.
That CBC piece was a complete hatchet job. Please seek other opinions before you
condemn all us Khalistanis as terrorists!
Thank you.
Mai, Vini and
Suni

I checked this morning and found that Mr. Tarek Fatah has left a comment suggesting that maybe we aren't very good Canadians. Please go read for yourself!

This blogpost mentioned in my comment above is one response. It is well worth reading, Baseless Fear Mongering by the CBC

I am going to publish this now because I want to get it out as quickly as possible. I'll pretty it up as the day goes on. Sorry for all these naked links, but my computer is acting up. For some reason, it seems to need to be debugged.

Sisters and Brothers, Kaurs and Singhs, other most welcome visitors, I have chosen not to delete obscene comments as I believe we can learn from our enemies as well as from our friends. But I will warn you, the first comment here contains strong(weak?) language.

KHALISTAN ZINDABAD!!

A Wedding

Suni is getting married today to Amritdeep Singh!! I don't have time to write now, but I know she'd be overjoyed at any good wishes, either in comments here, or sent to her e-mail at sunikaur@gmail.com.

I have a few things on my mind, but they'll have to wait.

Congratulations, you two!! It's about time!

Being Sikh - Female Foeticide

I posted this a few days ago in the Gurbani Learning Zone, a Yahoo! group. The subject was female foeticide, in other words, the murder of our daughters, our little girls while still in the womb:

I humbly ask you to consider the following:

Forgive me for being simplistic, but does our Guru not teach gender
equality?

Does our Guru not condemn the killing of girls, in fact any unnecessary
killing, but specifically, in the strongest terms, the killing of our daughters?

And also, is dowry not forbidden?

As I see it, all we have to do is follow the teachings of our own religion,
i.e., stop being hypocritical, and the problem will solve itself.

How long will the killing of the unborn daughter go on? Until we obey what
our Gurus teach.

Please forgive me for being so blunt and simplistic. And I'm sorry if any
Sikh finds this offensive, more sorry than words can express.

Harinder Kaur, Seattle (They insist on whole name and location)

To date, no one has answered. I cannot preach or hold myself above other people. Anyone who reads this blog or my sometimes - 2 blog knows that I am well-aware of at least some of my faults and I have not led an exemplary life as a Sikh or simply as a human being.

But this issue seems so clear and basic and unequivocal: it is wrong to kill innocent human beings. How can we hold ourselves up as spiritual, moral people when we murder our own children without blinking an eye - just because they are girls. Need we be reminded that without the baby girl there will be no woman, and without woman...we all know this passage written by Guru Nanak Dev.

This scourge is not only immoral, it is suicidal to us as a nation. If we keep this up, the Indian government, the RSS and our other enemies won't need any genocidal actions or libelous campaigns against us. We'll just disappear. And the deaths of all our shaheeds will have been in vain!

Think about it.

No Comment Necessary

Khalistan Is The Only Solution

Remember 1984 March

3 June 2007

Photo Courtesy of David Storey

FINAL THOUGHTS on BLUE STAR

Our commemoration of Blue Star in our blog is now at an end. As a sign of this, we are posting pictures of our beautiful Harimandir Sahib and the restored Akal Takht. But we resume our normal lives with a renewed dedication to up hold 'who we are, what we are and what we're about.'

Mai speaks:

When all the bullets stopped and relative quiet reigned in Amritsar, we joined many others in gaping at Akal Takht, or rather what was left of it. It is even possible the three of us are in some picture from those days, although I haven't seen us. We would be two men of about the same height with saffron turbans accompanied by a woman with a saffron chunni, all in white clothing. If anyone comes across such a picture, PLEASE e-mail it me; I'd love to have it.

The most vivid memory of this time to me is the overwhelming putrid smell of the sacred pool of nectar. I have not read anyone else's comment on this; I wonder why.

Twice in my life I have seen Mani cry: once when he was first presented with Sandeep and on this occasion. After a while, though, he picked up the end of my chunni, dried off his face and said, quite loudly, 'We are Sikhs. We have never been defeated and this won't be the first time. This isn't over. Khalistan Zindabad!' Eyebrows were raised and I observed a few hard smiles around us. I thought he was acting in an insane manner. Who knows? But no cops molested us.

A few days later we escaped from Punjab and made our way to Mani's cousins' home in the safety of Delhi...

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

Note from Mai: I am OK; Suni is just a bit overprotective of my health. I do thank her for taking over for me yesterday.

WE REMEMBER 1984 - MASSACRE BLUESTAR - THE THIRD GHALUGHARA - WE CARRY ON

There is a vigil in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 9

And a youth rally in Surrey the next afternoon

This is Suni. I will be writing this post. I am preparing for my wedding later this month, but this is important enough to be to take the time for this post on our blog.

Mai, as you may know, is very ill and we are quite protective of her. Right now she is both physically and emotionally exhausted and I have ordered her Kaurs to see to it she gets some rest. She had planned today to post pictures of the various marches around the world along with the last verse of The Chimes of Freedom. I'm afraid I lack her skill and style, but I'll do what I can. If I have done anything wrong here, please contact me and I will try to correct it at once.

Here is one link she asked me to put in. It is the story of a family who willingly sacrificed their lives at Harimandir Sahib during Massacre Blue Star.




CHIMES OF FREEDOM

by Bob Dylan

Verse 6

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught

Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended

As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look

Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended

Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed

For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse


An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.