Darcey Responds To Brother Laibar Singh Ji

Commenting on yesterday's post about Brother Laibar Singh Ji's alleged - I still haven't been able to confirm it - statement thay he is ready to return to India, Darcey of Dust my Broom complains that I didn't include a link to his article. I now rectify this. In fact, I'll go farther than a mere link; I'll provide you with his article.

Darcey, I think that dig about " dagger wielding terrorist thugs " is a bit much. And that should be "you're," not "your."

I am currently in the middle of a war of words in the comment section of this post and would be most grateful for any support you, our loyal readers might give. I am reprinting on the article, not the comments. Please go there and read and add your voice to counter all these antiSikh comments.

Please notice that some of these comments go beyond statements against illegal immigrants all the way to antiSikh statements!

Darcey's article:

Laibar Singh: Thanks for all the milk Canada but I'm heading home

Written by Darcey

Thursday, 23 October 2008

It seems like just yesterday that extremist Sikhs gathered around by the thousands at the Vancouver National Airport and threatened violence against Canadian officials who were trying to deport illegal scumbag Laibar Singh. In the end Canada lost and they let him seek sanctuary in various Sikh temples around the lower mainland who ended up passing him around like a hot potato when the hundreds of thousands of dollars pledged by community leaders never materialized.

Then it came out that the amazing paralyzed community draw was never paralyzed to begin with and then those same community leaders slash former terrorists realized they were in a losing public relations battle and formed a coalition to send Laibar home with a couple grand. He refused and got wheeled over to another temple and the media storm quietly died away but I never forgot, either him or his thug team with their little gay daggers threatening our country:

A paralyzed refugee claimant who sought refuge in B.C. Sikh temples says he is ready to leave his sanctuary and return to India.

Laibar Singh has been living in various temples since he was ordered deported more than a year ago, successfully avoiding three attempts to deport him from the country.

Now Swarn Gill, president of the Abbotsford temple where Mr. Singh is living, says the widower misses his four children back home in India.

Mr. Gill says Mr. Singh also fears he could be arrested if he leaves the temple because officials with the Canada Border Services Agency have warned him that's what will happen.

Mr. Gill says the paralyzed man, in his 50s, no longer has hope that the Canadian government will allow him to stay in Canada on compassionate grounds.

Mr. Singh used a false passport to enter Canada in 2003 and fled from Toronto to Vancouver, where he suffered an aneurysm that left him paralyzed. (Globe and Mail)

The fad is over. When he finally goes it will enable Canadians to thumb their noses once again at that damn Economist article - Canada: A haven for villains. Now will somebody please wheel this scumbag out of my sight and toss on a few of those dagger wielding terrorist thugs while your at it.

Brother Laibar Singh Decides To Return To India?

I just received this news via my Google Alert for "Laibar Singh." I have not yet confirmed this; I will get in touch with my contact as soon as possible and let you know when she makes a response.

To Brother Laibar Singh Ji, I make this personal statement, roached from an old song, "You ain't heavy, you're my brother...No burden are you to bear, we'll get there...The load doesn't weigh me down at all...You ain't heavy, you're my brother."

Dear Brother,

Whatever you choose to do, please know that my prayers and sisterly love go with you. We know that all that happens is the Hukam of Vaheguru. The kirpaa of Vaheguru is unknowably great and I am sure that whatever happens, you are loved more than you can even imagine.

I am sorry I have no money to send. Since I live in America, not Canada, at present, my medical bills have drained all of our small resources. You do have, as always, everything I can give.

Dear Brother, remain always in Chardi kala. Be strong! Be brave! Have courage! Remember who you are and what you are and whar you are about! My Dad used to say that to me all the time. I'm happy to pass it on to you.

You have given us a great gift. For a time - a short time, to be sure - but for a time, we acted as a unified community. We found out what it felt like to stand together united. I pray that we can now build on this. That will be your legacy among your Canadian sisters and brothers.

So, again, dear Brother, always remain in chardi kala! Gurfateh!

Your loving sister,
Mai Harinder Kaur

What the heck! For those of you who don't know this song, here are all the words. It happens to be one of my all time favourite songs.

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another.

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

He's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

The first article, from News 1130 All News Radio

Laibar Singh voluntarily heading back to India

Dec. 10, 2007: Laibar Singh
News1130 file photo
Thursday, October 23 - 11:02:00 AM

Shane Bigham
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Paralysed refugee claimant Laibar Singh plans to return to India voluntarily. He's apparently fed-up with the process.

There are reports Singh is saying he misses his family in India, and doesn't want to be a burden, especially when there is not much hope of help from the Canadian government.

He arrived in this country in 2003 on a false passport, fled from Montreal to Vancouver after a deportation order, then suffered a massive stroke that left him a quadriplegic.

Harjinder Thind, News Director with Red FM, says Singh hasn't recovered, but he feels better. Singh has been living in sanctuary at various Sikh temples.

Thind says no date has been set but it's likely to happen some time in the next two weeks. Singh will be given money that's been donated (approximately $32,000 Canadian).

The second article, from The Canadian Press:

Paralyzed failed B.C. refugee misses kids, gives up fight to stay in Canada
1 hour ago

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — A paralyzed refugee claimant who sought refuge in B.C. Sikh temples says he is ready to leave his sanctuary and return to India.

Laibar Singh has been living in various temples since he was ordered deported more than a year ago, successfully avoiding three attempts to deport him from the country.

Now Swarn Gill, president of the Abbotsford temple where Singh is living, says the widower misses his four children back home in India.

Gill says Singh also fears he could be arrested if he leaves the temple because officials with the Canada Border Services Agency have warned him that's what will happen.

Gill says the paralyzed man, in his 50s, no longer has hope that the Canadian government will allow him to stay in Canada on compassionate grounds.

Singh used a false passport to enter Canada in 2003 and fled from Toronto to Vancouver, where he suffered an aneurysm that left his paralyzed.

Why We Need Khalistan - Incident #12,34,56,78,901

By now, we have all heard of the invasion of the gurdwara in Belgium by their immigration forces. If not, go here and read: Belgium Does A Big Bad. There is also a link there discussing how to write a letter of outrage to your local Belgium embassy deploring this action. To read the article in Punjabi, go here. Would anyone be offended if I were to say that this reminds me of the invasion of Harmadir Sahib in June, 1984. The boots, the uncovered heads, the holiday observance, the violence - all on a lesser scale, of course - but most of all the disrespect.

Evidently, at least one person also sees the parallels:

Commenting on the effect this incident has on the Sikh community, Kuljit Singh, General Secretary for the oldest Gurdwara in the western hemisphere, Central Gurdwara (Khalsa Jatha) London in the United Kingdom stated, “This has been a violation of basic human rights. Belgium as a democratic country should not have allowed this kind of behavior by police. Religious customs should be respected and the police should not have worn their shoes and stopped the prayers.”

“The tercentenary is a very significant celebration for the Sikhs; one of our most precious historical events, and the akhand paath should never have been stopped. The last time that an akhand paath was interrupted was in 1984 when the Golden Temple in Amritsar was stormed by the Indian army. Sikhs are again pained to be reminded of that attack by this unfortunate incident,” He added. From Sikh Sangat News

Today, United Sikhs released this translation from the French newspaper, Le Soir. For my readers who care to read the original, read this article in French.

No arrest made at the end of the Vilvorde raid

Black day for the Sikhs

Photo Caption: The Police raid carried out on Saturday at dawn in the Sikh temple at Vilvorde had nothing to show. But it has shaken the community, in the middle of a special celebration.

The police raid at Vilvorde’s Sikh temple has bruised the community. Which demands an apology.

Resham Singh is wounded. But the sparkle in his hazel eyes doesn’t represent well the rancour that torments him. On Saturday. the Police beseiged the Sikh temple that he presides at Vilvorde, as part of the drive to break-up an Indian network of trafficking of human beings (Monday evening). An operation without consideration for the special ceremony that was being held there. “Black day”, says Resham Singh, “that we will commemorate every year.”

The Gurdwara Sahib is one of the four Sikh temples of the country. It has up to 900 devotees. A vast hangar at the heart of Vilvorde transformed into an Australian hype restaurant before being reconverted into a religious place. The entry gate, flanked by big wooden cases where the followers deposit their shoes evokes that of a mosque. The room has two levels, covered with Persian carpets… The space is traced with multicoloured paper garlands, plastic flags. Rainbow coloured balls dangle on ropes tied from one wall to another.

At the far end of the room, two enormous stuffed tigers – like those that can be won in lotteries in the fairs in the Midi – stand guard at the foot of the “palki”, the altar of the temple, where two huge sports trophies are enthroned… “Gifts”, Resham Singh seems to be excusing himself.

Nobody finds the apparent kitsch funny…. “Devotees have been reduced to tears here when we recounted yesterday’s police raid… Do you realise”, says Resham Singh, “Our temple is the only one in the world to have been subjected to this outrage… The only Gurdwara where the 48 hours of uninterrupted reading which was supposed to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the sacred texts of Sikhism have been savagely interrupted.”

The facts tumble in the nervous remarks by Resham, his ally Malook, Amrik, the converted Sikh, and “Sunny”, the Muslim friend, the only member of the group without the turban, the pepper and salt beard (never cut, like the hair) and the kirpan, the symbolic dagger with shoulder strap… The police which blocks the exits from 4.30 am. Brief negotiations to convince them to respect the ritual. The doors broken down at 5 am. The charge. Devotees, traditional singers and the “granthi”, the prior of the temple taken in for questioning. The cupboard broken, from where the account books taken away. The inner ransacking of the place, from the roof to the cellar. The heavy noise of shoes, especially on the worn-out carpet. And the heads uncovered. As though out of provocation.

“A humiliation”, resumes the old Malook. The ways that remind one of that fateful day when Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India at the time, ordered the siege of the Golden Temple of Amritsar”, the central place of the Sikh monotheism.

In less than 24 hours, the devotees taken in for questioning, numbering about 40, were freed. Sunday evening, the foreign office renounced the application of the only three orders issued to leave the country… The concerned persons (the singers having come from India to celebrate the “akhand path”) had valid passports and visas. “Everything happened as though the Public Prosecutor’s office, that did not arrest any of the alleged leaders of the network, felt obliged to justify the scale of the raid”, comments advocate Inès Wouters.

Two days after the raid, still no explanation”, observes Resham Singh.. “Why did the foreign office try to expel three visitors on a legal visit? What is the justification for this behaviour that the churches are spared, that nobody would dare to inflict on mosques, synagogues and Masonic temple? The Public Prosecutor in Brussels claims that the Gurdwara in Vilvorde is “regularly used for receives illegal immigrants”. At the same time admitting that there was no proof to establish that the people in charge of the temple were implicated.

Illegal immigrants? “Everyone is welcome”, reacts ‘Sunny’, “We do not ask for papers at the entry. And if we do give private individuals shelter, as is required by the Sikh tradition, it is for a maximum of one or two days… Only the “granthi” resides in the temple.

The case has disgusted the Sikh community in the four corners of the world. “We have written a letter to the Prime Minister, Yves Leterne, asking him to order an inquiry into the events at Vilvorde”. confirms from New York, the lawyer of the United Sikhs , Mejindarpal Kaur. Others followed, like the religious authorities at Amritsar, as well as their representatives in United States and Canada. The Association of Sikh Temples in United States also saw sense in taking the matter before the State Department… “This temple is not a no-right zone, but for all that, it is not less of a place of respect”, insists Ms. Wouters. “We are waiting for excuses: the Justice department has unnecessarily created the amalgam between criminal activities that must be prosecuted and the practice of Sikhism.” Resham Singh, suddenly, becomes serious, “5,000 to 6,000 Sikhs live in Belgium. A peaceful, hardworking community present from 18 years… Every year on the 11th of November, at Ypres, we participate in the commemorations in the memory of the 35,000 Sikhs who shed their blood here, during the two wars. How can you expect us to understand the way the Police has treated us?”

The sweet milk tea has become cold in the metallic glasses kept on the ground. The vermicelli made of chickpea flour doesn’t tempt anyone. In the galleries of the temple, a child holds an inflated ball in the air. Resham Singh has a thought for his four children. They live in Amritsar with their mother whom he visits five or six times a year. “I wanted them to learn Punjabi and to study the sacred book. They will come back to Belgium when they will be 13 – 14 years old. I hope that they will come back to a country which would have the dignity to excuse itself for an unjust affront.”

? RICARDO GUTIÉRRE

Note: A certain amount of anger is here, mixed in with the pain and apprehension. I have, however, attempted to keep the vitriol, to a minimum.

And, of course, I think about Brother Laibar Singh in sanctuary in Canada,

How Do They Stand on "Sikh Issues"?

Of course, all issues are Sikh issues. Everything that concerns other people concerns us, as well.

However, there are a few issues that we seems to care about is a special way, such as the right to keep the panj kakkars, especially the kirpan, on us at all times, and the prejudice our children face in schools.

Where do Sens. Obama and McCain stand on such things?

The Sikh Coalition sent out a questionnaire to both candidates eight months ago. They received Sen. Obama's back in June, but the McCain campaign is dragging their feet.

If you'd like to sign a letter to that campaign encouraging them to get off their behinds and send it in, go to What's your position, Senator McCain?

They need to release both candidates' statements together, so to read one, we need to get both. I would love to read this. As the President of the United States affects the entire world, it would be useful to Sikh world-wide to have this information. (By the way, the Sikh Coalition is non-partisan. I am not.)

Trivia. Did you know members of the Senate of Canada, like members of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, are not elected? They are appointed by the governor general, the representative of the British sovereign, currently Queen Elizabeth II. They serve until they are 75 years old.

NOT TRIVIA. Thanks to the 14 of you who went to the petition to stop the prison from cutting Jagmohan Singh Ahuja's hair . They've done it once and will do it again and again and again if they are not stopped. Here again is that dreadful before and after picture.

If YOU want to sign the petition, here again is the link to that: http://unitedsikhs.org/petitions/petition.php?id=11

Defending Jagdish Tytler?

Yesterday I received a most remarkable comment on an old blog post, More On Mr. Jagdish Tytler. I will share it with you here and ask for your feedback, please.

Puneet has left a new comment on your post "More On Mr. Jagdish Tytler":

I don't know if anyone realizes this but Jagdish Tytler is really a Sikh. His mother was Dayal Kaur and father was a Kapoor.
His father had died when he was a baby and Tytler helped rear him, hence the name. Jagdish has gone to Gurudwaras his whole life and as an ode to his mother he got married in a Gurudwara by a Granthi. He would never dream of harming a Sikh because he loved his mother dearly.
Things got so twisted in 1984 and it was a case of mistaken identity. People made up stories out of rumors. He is a Sikh by blood.

I responded thus:

This is a most remarkable and controversial comment, so much so that I am going to write it up in a separate post, which I hope to get up later today. Here, I will only say that the only people who are "Sikh by blood" are our shaheeds. While one can be blessed to be born into a Sikh family, no one is born a Sikh; that is a choice, a decision. Being a Sikh is not genetic.

So...what do others say about Jagdish Tytler? From my research, whatever his mother may have been, he is no more a Sikh than was his master, Indira Gandhi. I still wish to see him dangling at the end of a rope.

After we dispose of these criminals, I'll be a good little Sikh and oppose the death penalty. No, maybe I won't. I'll be against it except for crimes against humanity. I will have to allow that one exception.

Mai? Mai. Mai!

A very dear friend of mine is impatiently waiting for me to explain how I came up with this strange, unSikh sounding name of Mai Laya. Since I haven't told this story online before, I decided to put it here, in case anyone has ever wondered. Actually, it ties together two of the great events in my life, my birth and my marriage.

First I'll dispose of 'Laya.' Blame that on Google. I was always Mai, just Mai, but when I registered for an account, they wanted, no, they insisted on a second name. I could have - probably should have - used Kaur, but at that time, I had not yet returned to the Sangat and all things Sikh and I felt I had no right to use that name. I almost randomly chose Laya from Himalaya. It does sound euphonious with Mai, eh?

"Mai", however, has a real story.

Chapter One
I Am Born
(That reminds me of Melanie reading David Copperfield from the movie Gone With The Wind.)

When it was time for my birth, my mother went to stay with her family. I'm not sure why. I think that she and Dad were not getting along and she didn't want him around. She waited and waited, getting angrier and more impatient by the day. It seems I was in no hurry to get into this world and arrived two weeks after the projected due date.

In being born, though, I made up for lost time. There was no time to call the doctor, much less get her to the hospital. It must have been the shortest labour in history.

After all that, I was a girl.

No, not that silly Punjabi prejudice against the girlchild. Dad had enough sons anyway. In his family, there is a genetic condition that affects all the girls born. Usually, they die as babies or very young children. My mother said, "They live just long enough to break your heart." She had three girls, all of whom died, before me and was not at all willing to go through that heartbreak again. She hadn't wanted another child to begin with and now she had as little to do with me as was possible. Beyond feeding me, she paid little attention to me.

Of course, Dad was called and he and my brothers, all seven of them, came running, along with a friend of the youngest. He arrived in a few minutes, bellowing "Waheguru!" partly from joy and partly he wanted that to be the first word I ever heard. (It wasn't, of course, my mother was cursing in furious anger the whole time.)

In those days, doctors were more willing to make housecalls and her ob/gyn came to the house. I don't know all the details, but she stayed home and didn't go to the hospital until going to be checked up a few days later. I guess there weren't as many malpractice suits then as now. After a time, all the medical details were taken care of - it was not true that Dad cut my umbilical cord with his kirpan, I'm not sure who started that story - I was cleaned up, wrapped up in a baby blanket and my mother gave me my first meal and then went to sleep.

Dad and eight boys were left in charge of a tiny baby girl. (My mother's family never accepted our father and brothers. They were/are not nice people. They didn't like me either.) According to my Dad, I was the most beautiful baby ever born, with a full head of hair - after all, they had an extra two weeks to grow - and huge blue eyes and I gurgled nicely.

He whispered "Waheguru" in my ears a few more times and slipped a tiny kara on my wrist.

So what to do with me? Dad was very comfortable with young babies, but my brothers weren't. Dad teased them all a bit and I was passed from brother to brother until I came to my brother's ten year old friend. He was terrified to hold this new, little life, but finally Dad shamed him into taking me. I was laid in his waiting arms - and promptly threw up all over him! The boy and the new-born baby just stared into each other's eyes.

Dad threw back his head and laughed and laughed and laughed. Finally he bellowed, "This one won't put up with cowards. I see we have another Mai Bhago on our hands!" I have been Mai ever since.

So, you see, I was actually Mai before I was Harinder.

Mai is, after all, a Sikh name. At least my Mai is. I was always brought with that lady as my ideal, a true warrior princess and servant of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

How does the marriage come in?

That ten year old boy was Mani. We were married 18 years later to the day.

None of these pictures are actually of me. I chose that particular painting of Mai Bhago (Mata Bhag Kaur) because I used to ride a white horse, as well. Not that I am much like this great Singhni!).
--
WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!