Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is
actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to
our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the
field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What
would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased
at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not
what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me
death!
Who Are We? Just average people trying to make a difference. The program does not have any political curve, and is not an organization or business.
The Goal of This Program: Trying to get in touch with the youth that have been feel distant from their spiritual side of life.
How's It Going To Be Done? In a relaxed setting where you can meet new people, and get in touch with your spiritual side.
The Bottom Line: Just another way to spend your Friday evening - there will be a draw for prizes. Dinner will be served, bring your family and friends and come and enjoy this evening with us.
***Tune In For Live Audio Video Broadcast @ www.sukhsagar.ca***
Guest Speaker Television Personality Harinaam Singh
**Program will be in English – Translations will be viewed on a screen**
Feb 8th, 20077pm - 9pm
Where:Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar 347 Wood Street, New Westminster, B.C. 604.725.2906 soulfoodkirtan@gmail.com
I have been thinking for some time that the news coverage of Laibar Singh's case has been biased. I know, however, I am somewhat sensitive to Canadian coverage of Sikh community matters in general and thought perhaps my perceptions were a bit jaundiced. Evidentally, I am not the only person finding the coverage unfair. I found this press release and am sharing it with you. For those who may not know - OK, I had to look it up - CRTC stands for Canadian Radio-Television Commission.
A group of journalists, academics, and media-watch groups have filed a CRTC complaint stating that news coverage of the case of Mr. Laibar Singh was not accurate, full, and comprehensive. According to the complainants, this inaccurate and incomplete coverage breached the broadcasters' ethical codes and betrayed the public trust, while negatively impacting the public perception in the case of Mr. Laibar Singh.
This complaint has been filed against CBC TV, CBC Radio, CKNW, CTV, and Global TV on the grounds that – despite numerous clarifications including by legal experts - broadcasters failed to provide accurate, comprehensive, fair, full, and unbiased coverage when they reported falsely that Laibar Singh "came to Canada illegally" or that he "was illegal" in Canada prior to taking sanctuary in July 2007. This decontextualized and/or inaccurate information has fuelled ignorance in the public sphere and has negatively influenced perceptions of Mr. Laibar Singh and all asylum seekers to Canada.
The complaints have been filed as a group by:
- Ann Simonton, Coordinator and Founder, Media Watch - Judy Rebick, Professor of Communications and Culture, Ryerson University - Isabel Macdonald, Communications Director, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting- New York (FAIR)* - Dr. Fiona Jeffries, Instructor, Communications Department, Simon Fraser University - Dr. Jenny Burman, Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, McGill University - Avi Lewis, Filmmaker and broadcaster - Naomi Klein, Author and syndicated columnist - Steve Anderson, Coordinator, Campaign for Democratic Media - Dr. Yasmin Jiwani, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Concordia University - Derrick O'Keefe, Editor, rabble.ca - Marshall Soules, Media Studies Department Chair, Malaspina University-College
"By inaccurately stating that Laibar Singh 'entered Canada illegally,' when in fact he came under a prescribed channel that many asylum seekers choose, and by leaving out essential context about laws pertaining to asylum seekers, broadcasters have used the public airwaves to fuel ignorance rather than to inform the public," stated Macdonald.
Soules added, "The media must be held accountable for reporting misleading, incomplete, and inaccurate information. This is especially important when that reporting contributes to biased perceptions of refugees and immigrants who contribute so much to Canadian society. The media are failing in their duty to the public trust, and the CRTC has a clear responsibility to investigate this failure."
"The repetition of an inaccuracy in the media is one of the worst examples of how media framing can impact on legal proceedings. The impact of the falsehood that Laibar Singh entered Canada illegally cannot be overestimated. This error must be corrected and the media held accountable. A man's life may be at stake," stated Rebick.
"The biggest problem with media inaccuracies has to do with situations such as this, when real humans are being hurt by what the media says," Simonton agreed.
Klein, who has already lent her support to the campaign to allow Mr. Singh to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, stated, "Public perception has been informed by often careless reporting. Letters to the editor, web comments, and callers on radio shows have argued that Laibar Singh's deportation should proceed based on a perceived 'illegality,' a claim fuelled by inaccurate news reports. The media is responsible for informing the public in an accurate, full, and fair way, and they have betrayed that trust, while contributing to false public perceptions of Mr. Singh."
Jeffries concluded, "The news media has an enormous influence on framing public debates and it is vital that it adheres to its own stated commitment to accuracy and responsible reporting of the facts. This complaint seeks to hold the news media to its public responsibility."
It seems that Sikhs willing to testify against Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar are coming forward. We have long suspected that the reason CBI never found anyone is that they were instructed not to find anyone. Here is an article from World Sikh News, telling of the most recent to come forward. We wish we had something we could testify to, but no one of note attacked us. Our prayers are with these latest to volunteer. It is, I think, a most dangerous seva.
CHANDIGARH: "WE EXIST, You just don't see us" was the searing frontpage headline in a recent edition of the World Sikh News while bringing to the fore the continuous shame that haunted India as one of the other victim of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom came foreward to give a lie to the sham investigations by Delhi Police, CBI and others. That phenomena has caught on like bird flu for the Indian establishment. Yet another victim, a 42-year-old Sikh, has now said encouraged by other victims, he too is now willing to testify against Sajjan Kumar, the man accused by human rights activists and 1984 victims of leading the blood thirsty mobs but made a minister by Indian establishment. Gurcharan Singh, now confined to a bed and suffering, said Sajjan Kumar indeed incited the violence against Sikhs in Delhi and that he saw him actually doing that.
Not surprisingly, victim after victim has been claiming that, including those that the CBI found untraceable but the media found them within hours, only to see that they stayed steadfast to what they had initially claimed. The US based Jasvir Singh adamant on testifying and the India-based Surinder Singh being caught on camera by a leading Indian TV news channel CNN-IBN narrating in gory detail how Sikhs were burnt half-alive in Tytler's presence. Gurcharan Singh now says he saw Sajjan Kumar inciting a 1,500-strong crowd to kill Sikhs in the country's capital's Newada locality on November 1, a day after Indira Gandhi's assassination.
In a damning front page report on Wednesday (Jan 30), India's The Asian Age newspaper quoted Gurcharan Singh as narrating: "Sajjan Kumar told the rioters: ‘Is mohalle ka ek bhi sardar zinda nahin bachna chahiye. In kutton ko saza deni hai (Not even a single Sikh here must escape alive. These dogs must be punished).' He had come there specifically to direct the rioters, who were mostly from surrounding villages and bastis, but led by one of his henchmen, Kirpa Ram," Gurcharan Singh alleged. Then only 17 years old, the frightened young man claims he heard the Congressman's thunderous speech from the edge of the restive crowd that had collected near his home that morning.
"I wore a cap over my patka (under-turban) to disguise my identity," he said. According to him, baying for blood after Sajjan Kumar's venomous sermon, the mob began fanning out and targeting homes and shops owned by Sikhs. "They first set fire to the Singh Sabha Gurdwara at Mohan Garden and then stormed our home because my father Nath Singh was the president of the gurdwara," Gurcharan Singh said, recalling the worst morning of his life.
The killers did not spare any male Sikh. Gurcharan's uncle, who was visiting from Khurja, was hacked to death. His father was beaten mercilessly and left only because the attackers thought he was dead. "They thrashed my brother, Tejinder and me and flung our bodies onto a truck that they had just set on fire," he said. The two brothers were later dragged out from the smouldering vehicle by some young boys who had managed to hide from the killers.
The news report continues: "Gurcharan Singh escaped with his life, but only just. He has relived the horror and pain every single day for the past 24 years confined to his bed and completely dependent on the meagre care his poor family can afford. He was presented on Tuesday before the media by AISSF faction head Karnail Singh Peermohammed.
"He said he has decided to break his long silence after the recent appeal by the Jathedar (head priest) of the Akal Takht as well as positive interventions made by the Supreme Court. Gurcharan Singh believes "Sajjan Kumar was one of the masterminds of a state-sponsored genocide of Sikhs" and rightly deserves to be punished. But despite his own suffering, the bedridden Sikh nurses no grouse against anyone. "When they flung me into the burning truck I called out to Wahe Guru three times and I believed He (God) saved me for a purpose. Now it is up to Him to bring the guilty to book," he said.
It is wise of Gurcharan Singh to continue to have faith in Waheguru now, because the Indian state has failed him and the so-called leaders of the community who came into some political power have since found new agendas and secularized themselves, translating secularism as a move to shun all concerns of the community and their people.
Half caste brahmin jatt who thinks she's a Sikh, indeed. People who don't like me, really don't like me. Well, I guess I showed him, lol!
In my wanderings around the Internet, I came across this Video. I like it a lot. I hope you like it, too. And I promise not to use it for one of my strange little song parodies.
This is Suni. I haven't written here for a long time, but now I'm married and pregnant and happy and I'm ready to tell you about my first husband and our son.
I come from a wealthy khatri Sikh family. I mention that because it is important to my story. While I was at university studying psychology in Delhi, Papa Ji decided I needed a husband. Without consulting me, he looked and looked until he found me the perfect man. Then he told me. I agreed to meet him, but you'll find out later why I knew it would be a useless meeting.
The man was very nice. He was about 30, fair and handsome, educated, sophisticated, rich and seemed like a good man. He was a turbaned Gursikh, of course. Under normal circumstances I would have wanted to get to know him and maybe I would have married him. He could have provided me with a very prosperous life. My life would have been happy and uncomplicated.
Mohan was the problem. I had met him at university and he was just the opposite. He was my age, tall and handsome, but dark and he came from a very poor family. He was Sikh, but before he knew me he had never grown his kesh and took off his kara at night and when he showered. In short, he was what is called a 'dalit Sikh' and was at university only because of reservation. Although he was intelligent, there was no other way he could have gotten an education. When I met him, he was a bit scruffy and countrified, but when he spoke up, he always had something insightful and interesting to say. His background was completely different from anyone I had ever known because I had grown up in a cocoon of wealthy Sikh India. Of course, he fascinated me.
I made it a point to get to know him. I have never been the shy, demure Indian lady of the stereotype. If I really want something, I go after it. The long and the short of it is that I fell in love with him. I knew my family would never let us get married, but I was young and reckless. We secretly got married. This was before I was introduced to Papa Ji's gentleman.
I didn't know what to do, but I had to do something soon because Balbir had already been conceived. Terrified, I took a picture of Mohan and visited my parents. I told them all about him and about our marriage. It was worse than I had imagined. My father screamed and hollered and yelled. And then he struck me and knocked me to the floor. I didn't expect that. I had never known him to be violent. Then he turned and stomped away, leaving me with my mother. She picked me up and put her arms around me and cried. That was when I told her that I was going to have a baby. Then she really cried.
When my father returned, he was more calm, but no less angry. He apologised for hitting me and handed me a large cheque. 'I won't have my daughter living in poverty, but I can't condone this marriage. Now go and don't come back. You have joined this nobody's family. You're no longer my daughter.'
I left, but nothing is ever that simple. I knew if I destroyed that cheque, there could never be any hope he'd ever soften, but if I brought it home, it would be a terrible blow to Mohan's pride as a man. I deposited it in the bank and didn't tell anyone.
The break with my family was painful, but also a blessing. Now we could begin our real married life. We moved into a small flat, not very pleasant, but it was our first home and I loved it. The estrangement from my family wasn't total, either. My mother secretly stayed in touch with me, and my younger sister and my brothers sometimes visited. It wasn't comfortable, though. Mohan wasn't comfortable with them and they were, I'm sad to say, a little snobbish toward him. By this time, he had a respectable jura and was tying a dastaar, so he looked like a proper Sikh. I think that helped a little.
Now let me tell a little about him. He was from a village north of Delhi and came from a very large family. He had 13 siblings. They were poor but not destitute by Indian standards, they managed to eat and stay healthy. I think they must be from very strong stock. They were the opposite of my family in every way. They lacked money, but there was so much love there. They laughed and worked hard and I think in spite of their poverty were much happier than we were in my family. At first they were a little bit afraid of me and I admit I was apprehensive about them, but we got to know and love each other quickly. His mother first looked at me and said something like "I don't know how to be a mother-in-law to such a grand lady!" I laughed and told her to treat me just like any daughter-in-law who married her son without a dowry. We became friends at once. We lived in Delhi and built a little vegetable market business and made enough money to send some to them. We also made some investments that turned out very well. Mohan had a talent for investing.
Mohan was very even tempered most of the time. He was calm and able to take life as it came. He considered his background uncouth though and was ashamed of his family. This hurt me because they are good people and deserved better from him. He was big and strong physically, but unlike my Canadian cousins, he was no warrior. He was a great negotiator. He acquired the reputation of someone who could get people to settle disputes and he became a sort of neighbourhood small claims judge, sort of like The People's Court. He was kind and loving to me, an almost perfect husband. He felt guilty about my estrangement from my family, but I did my best to convince him that we both knew their reaction would be negative and we just needed to accept it and move on. When he was blessed with Amrit, he changed. It was as if all the lack of confidence and that lurking inferiority complex just vanished literally overnight.
Balbir was a different story. From the beginning, he was always in trouble. He was a finicky, colicky baby who grew into a cranky toddler. Please don't misunderstand me. He was our son and we both loved him so very much, but he was a problem. He lied. He stole. He hit the other children. We tried to teach him our values, but he was always in trouble. When he was of school age, we sent him to stay with Mohan's family in the country. We were hoping that he would get into less trouble away from the temptations of the city. We had been sending money regularly and the village school was good enough for the beginning of his education. It was a good move. His aunts and uncles simply wouldn't tolerate his misbehaviour the way we did. He had to do his chores and they were greatly increased with each incident of stealing or lying. He was intelligent enough to learn really fast that good behaviour made life more pleasant and bad behaviour made life quite unenjoyable. This was really hard for me. I missed him and it seemed too much like training a dog.
When he finished primary school, we brought him back to Delhi. At first, he was well-behaved, but I'm afraid I was too indulgent and before long, he was getting in trouble again. By this time, we had bought a nice house in a good area of Delhi and were quite respectable people. Mohan didn't want his son to throw jellybeans into the machinery of our lives. Luckily he took over the role of disciplinarian, but Balbir remained inwardly defiant.
It was in June, 1984, that Mani and Mai and Sandeep came to visit us. They had been in the hands of the Punjab police and had been let go when they realised they were Canadians, and then they had a hair raising escape from Punjab. When they showed up here, they were tired and dirty and Mai was pregnant like me but not so far along. The men were psychologically in bad shape, but Mai was in chardi kala. She has already explained about that. She was physically injured, but she didn't seem to care. I had known her from childhood when her family and Mani's would visit India in the summer. She always amazed me because she would do anything that came into her head that seemed interesting to her, no matter how outrageous it was. I'll leave it to her to tell about the time she flew off the roof. I think her biggest stunt was when she ran away and came home on the shoulders of a Nihung. That was Mai. She always had a sort of style.
You have heard that some people mix like oil and water? Well, Mohan and Mai mixed like sodium and water. BOOM!! He dislikes loud, brash, pushy, over confident, vulgar, uncouth women who think they're men. That was one of his more complimentary descriptions of her. Her description of him, under her breath was 'pussy wuss.' When he learned that her father was jatt, that did it. The only people hew hated more than brahmins, even our nice neighbours were jatts. She became 'that half caste jatt brahmin bitch who pretends she's a Sikh.' to him. Never mind that those terms are all contradictory, that was just his way of being insulting. He did admit she was beautiful, though. On the other hand, she sweetly shared with me that he was too damned weak to be a sant, much less a sipahi, but he was very handsome. I wonder if they could have gotten along if they would have both dropped their prejudices?
Sandeep had a wonderful effect on Balbir. He had a good effect on everyone, though. A few people are like that and Sandeep was one of them. Mohan was even willing to overlook that Mai was his mother and he loved Sandeep, too. Sandeep was a Gursikh like his parents and from the first had decided that he and Balbir had to arrange to take Amrit together. Amrit? Balbir? Our delinquent son started getting up at amrit vela to pray, can you imagine? He had always kept his kesh, but wore only a patka and really didn't take good care of his hair. That changed at once. Sandeep stuck out his chest and said, "What's wrong with you? I've been tying a dastaar since I was seven." So Balbir started tying a turban, and Sandeep insisted it be tied well. At this time also, Balbir wanted to be called Billy. Sandeep would have nothing to do with that. "They tried to call me Sandy. Sandy! What kind of a name is that for a Sikh? And Billy is even worse. Bilbar is much better. Isn't that the name the Guru Ji told the panj piyare to give you?" After a time, Sandeep relented a bit and they began calling each other Bilbo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. Sandeep also began teaching Balbir gatka. How I wish he had taught Mohan as well.
That leaves Mani. All he could see of Mohan was that he hated Mai. Mani was a very rational, logical person, except where Mai was concerned. She was perfect and that was that, so those two were metaphorically at each other's throat whenever they were together. Poor Mai. She wanted peace, I think. I think she also enjoyed the way he stood up for her though. As they say, he had her back.
We all went to stay for awhile with his family in the village. We were two pregnant ladies and the air of Delhi was thick and grey black and barely breathable. If only we had stayed there. We decided to have a big family reunion in Delhi. We invited their families from Punjab and Kashmir and Canada and Mohan's and mine. My parents refused to come, but my sister and brothers were there. In all we had 39 people, quite a big crowd.
That is how we were when SHE was executed. When it became clear that Sikhs were being murdered, we quickly divided into two groups, cut the hair and run and hide, and Sikhs. When the dust settled, we Sikhs were 11, including three unborn children. I cannot express how proud I was of my husband and son at that time. They both stayed. I think even Mai and Mani gained some respect for Mohan. Mohan, however, wasn't gracious. He went to the room where they were staying, brought her purse and passport and return ticket. He handed her those objects, then he tossed the car keys at her and told her to leave, this is a battle for Sikhs. I thought Mani would kill him, but Mai held him back. I have never seen anyone as cold as she was then. Her voice would have frozen hell. "It doesn't matter whether I'm a Sikh or not. This is my family and I stand with them. " She sat the purse and passport and ticket on the table, walked over to him and dropped the car keys at his feet. They glared at each other for a moment. I had no idea what would happen, but our sons stepped forward and separated them. They said that there were people who wanted to kill us, we should save our personal differences for later. Mani muttered, "This isn't over."
It was over though. They never had the chance to have it out with each other.
Those are my first husband and my son. We had a good life together and loved each other and made a nice family. In the end, when it counted, Mohan became a sipahi and they both died as shaheeds.
That cheque my father gave sat in the bank all those years building interest. I still had our investments and Mai's family in Canada have enough money, so I never needed it. It has been donated where I believe it has done some good.
Toronto, Jan 25 (IANS) The president of a gurdwara in Canada where a failed refugee claimant from India is being sheltered says the shrine's management has not violated any law, though the country's Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has said there is no law allowing sanctuary at religious places.
Laibar Singh, a 48-year-old widower from Punjab, had entered Canada on a fake passport in 2003.
After exhausting all legal avenues to stay on, he was ordered to be deported last July.
As he has been paralysed since 2006, his supporters say he should be allowed to stay on humanitarian grounds. Since December, they have foiled two attempts to take him out of the gurdwara and deport him.
Responding to the minister's remarks, Surrey Guru Nanak Sikh Temple president Balwant Gill told IANS: "The government has been saying many things. Our stand is that this man has been given sanctuary on humanitarian grounds. There is nothing illegal about it."
He admitted that since the deportation order stood, the police could come and pick up Singh any time. "But we cannot say how people will react again. As long as this poor man is with us, we will take care of him," Gill added.
Reacting to government suggestions that arrangements have been made for best medical care for Singh in India, Gill said he didn't know anything about it.
"Ask the government if they have arranged anything for him in India. As per our knowledge, nothing has been arranged. It is mere talk," he said.
Asked why they don't send Singh back and pay for his medical care in India, Gill said: "Why do you want him to be removed? There are so many people out here enjoying disability benefits. What is wrong if this man is offered the same? His is a genuine case."
He feared that the police could pick up Singh when he is taken out for medical check-up.
"Yes, they will try. They are looking for this kind of opportunity."
Gill said they were willing to wait as long as the government wanted.
"We are ready to fight for his stay here on humanitarian grounds. They (the Canadian government) tell the world from rooftops that they are the champions of human rights. Why not respect the human rights of this man?" he asked.
Meanwhile, the government has pacified Canadian border agents - who were angry for being pulled back twice from picking up Singh - by telling them that the deportation order will be carried out at all costs.
The border agents wanted the authorities to clarify their stand on the case as their failure to remove Singh made them look 'impotent'.
With Singh's supporters not willing to give in, the issue may drag on.
