Dosanjh vows not to let threats change his resolve

VANCOUVER — It’s been a tumultuous and perhaps trying week for Vancouver Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who saw his life threatened twice.

“As long as I stand for what I stand for, I will be a target,” Dosanjh told the Vancouver Province Friday after RCMP launched an investigation into a posting on a Facebook page calling for the former premier to be shot.

Dosanjh has drawn the ire of a minority of Sikhs since the ’80s, after speaking out against the violence sparked by Canadian members of the Khalistan movement who seek to create a Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab region.

“I don’t stand for dividing people on religion, I don’t stand for supporting hate or violence,” Dosanjh said.

“I have a very secular approach to life and that’s my right. I’m a Canadian by citizenship, I’m an Indian by heritage and I’m a Punjabi by mother tongue. I’m proud of all of that.

“For these guys, religion is everything. For me, religion is a small part of my life.”

Dosanjh was in a standing committee on national defence Thursday when one of his staffers interrupted to show him a posting from the Facebook group called “Ujjal Dosanjh is a Sikh traitor.”

“Someone shoot him — ASAP,” wrote one of the Facebook group’s members before the entry was deleted. Another wrote it “would be more appropriate to pierce him with bullets, not compassion.”

Members of the group accuse the former federal cabinet minister of “betraying his own people” and being “an insult to the Sikh religion” for his viewpoints on the Khalistan movement.

RCMP Insp. Paul Richards, who heads the force’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, said police are investigating the threats.

“It is unusual to have a threat like this directed at an elected official,” he said. “I think part of our job right now, in addition to looking at the nuts and bolts of if there is a threat, is also to look at the context.”

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED AT LINK IN THE HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Vancouversun

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Police probe threat against Sikh MP

OTTAWA — Federal police are investigating an online posting calling for the murder of Canada's top Sikh politician, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, after he warned of rising Sikh extremism in this country.

"We've opened an investigation into threats against Mr. Dosanjh made in Facebook entries," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Paul Richards told AFP.

"Someone shoot him ASAP," one commenter posted on the Facebook site titled "Ujjal Dosanjh is a Sikh Traitor," the National Post reported.

Another posting branded Dosanjh, a former premier of British Columbia and federal justice minister from 2004 to 2006, as a "rat in our midst," a "scumbag traitor and an insult to the Sikh religion."

Dosanjh's caucus colleagues responded in an open letter, saying "Canada is a free country where citizens must be able to express their views without being subjected to threats.

"We unequivocally condemn the threats of violence against our colleague Ujjal Dosanjh, and condemn all forms of extremism coming from any Canadian community," said Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

Dosanjh, who was savagely beaten in 1985 after speaking out against religious violence, warned in an interview on Wednesday that Sikh extremism in Canada -- blamed for the 1985 Air India bombing -- is "getting worse."

"It's more entrenched, it's more sophisticated and sometimes it's double-faced," he told AFP.

His comments echoed concerns expressed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper over growing support by Canadian Sikhs for militants in Punjab.

DETAILED NEWS WITH THANKS TO SOURCE Google : FROM LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

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No entry with kirpan: Canadian court to Sikh

Toronto, Apr 23: In what could draw the ire of Sikh groups, a Sikh religious leader was denied entry into the courtroom with kirpan, a Sikh religous symbol, by a Canadian Court on the grounds that it "could be used as a weapon".

"Although Kooner's charter right to freedom of religion may be breached, he will not be allowed to bring his kirpan into the courthouse," Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin said as he disallowed Sukdev Singh Kooner entry into courtroom with kirpan.

"This is especially so because of the excitement and passion this dispute has engendered in the Gurdwara and the fact that the kirpan, although ceremonial, could be used as a weapon," he said.

Windsor police posted extra security in the courtroom as around 100 members of the local Sikh community flocked inside the courtroom to attend the proceeding. Those present did not were thier kirpan inside the court.

Justice Rogin adjourned the case to make way for Kooner to testify outside the court, which is permissible under the law and can be held in places like his lawyer's offices.

However, Koooner, chose to stay outside the courtroom after he was not allowed to enter with his kirpan by the judge.

Kooner, an allergist and honoured leader at a Gurdwara was set to testitfy on Thursday, Apr 22, in connection with a lawsuit filed against him by a rival faction at the Sikh Cultural Society of Metropolitan Windsor.

While Kirpans are allowed in the House of Commons, the Supreme Court building and on trains, they are not allowed on flights.

With thanks : source : News.OneIndia : Link in the headline above.

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Sikh turbans banned from armed police operations

Sikh police officers who wear turbans cannot join firearms teams, following a ruling from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).

Officers can choose instead to wear a smaller head covering known as a patka, which will fit under a helmet.

The Acpo guidance follows consultations with the Home Office and a range of police associations representing Sikhs.

In 2009, a tribunal awarded £10,000 to a Sikh officer who was ordered to remove his turban during riot training.

The British Sikh Police Association asked for a clarification from Acpo following the award, and proposed a "ballistic turban" that would provide head protection.

Acpo opted against the ballistic turban approach but said the idea was worth "future exploration".

'No discrimination'

"The police service has a legal duty to consider the health and safety of staff at work and provide appropriate personal protective equipment to staff who are placed in high risk situations," said Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, Acpo's head of uniformed operations.

As a result, Sikh officers will only be permitted to engage in armed operations if they remove their turbans or wear the smaller patka head covering to permit the use of a helmet for protection.

Chief Constable Hughes said that wearing a patka was "a matter of choice for the police officer", adding that "Sikh officers who wear a turban will not be discriminated against if they choose not to perform firearms or higher-level public order duties".

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : BBS News

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Sikh bride featured in new series of Living TV’s hit show Four Weddings

Living TV’s hit show Four Weddings has returned for a new series. This week sees a traditional Sikh wedding take centre stage as four brides battle it out to win a dream honeymoon.

Four Weddings is billed as a “wedding eavesdrop show” and allows viewers complete access to four very different weddings each week. Every episode features 4 brides who are all competing against each other to have the best weddings. All of the brides must attend, and score, each other’s big days. The bride with the winning mark will be whisked away on a luxury 5 star honeymoon.

With such a fantastic prize at stake, feathers often fly between the competing brides. This week Sikh bride Raman has her big day and she treats her guests to a traditional, lavish Sikh wedding celebration. The 700 guests are served an eclectic mix of Asian cuisines, plied with free alcohol, and kept entertained with a range of performers, but there’s on major drawback; the whole wedding is finished by 6pm. Will the Sikh extravaganza be to the other bride’s tastes?

Competing against Raman to win the fabulous honeymoon are Becky, who is opting for a butterfly themed weddings, another Becky who will have small celebration held at a magnificent stately home, and nursery worker Sophie who is planning a child-friendly wedding with lots of little ones running around, plus she’s even baking her own wedding cake.

Will the other brides be bowled over by the opulent Sikh wedding, or will the butterfly-themed big day win out? Make sure you catch this week’s Four Weddings to find out.

With thanks : source : wedding-news.co.uk

Original news can be viewed from the link in the headline above.

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Canadian police hunt for Sikh trouble-makers

Toronto, April 22

Canadian police has launched a big hunt for people behind the recent violence at two Sikh temples in Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto that has outraged the Sikh community as well as common people here.

In the first incident, former Akal Takht jathedar Darshan Singh Ragi was targeted at the Sikh Lehar Centre gurdwara here. Though Ragi survived, one of his close associate who is a known lawyer was stabbed with kirpan. The attackers were opposed to inviting Ragi who has been excommunicated by the Sikh clergy in Amritsar for his views on the Dasam Granth which was supposedly written by the last Sikh guru Gobind Singh.

With that incident just behind them after the arrest of the guilty, the Canadian Sikh community was rocked by the Sunday brawl at another gurdwara - the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple - where axes, swords, hammers and machetes were used by two factions locked in a battle for control of the shrine.

Police, who arrested three people at the time of the brawl, issued arrest warrants for two more radicals - Amarjit Singh Mann, 58, and Surjit Singh Atwal, 54 - for their role in the violence.

The community has reacted with outrage to the two incidents, with calls for deportation of the guilty. Since the kirpan has been used in these incidents to inflict violence, there have also been calls for limiting the size of the kirpan that baptized Sikhs wear.

Canada is home to more than half a million Sikhs, with most of them concentrated in the Toronto suburbs of Mississauga and Brampton and the Vancouver suburbs of Surrey and Delta.

At the time of terrorism in Punjab, many top pro-Khalistani leaders, including Talwinder Singh Parmar, took shelter in Canada, turning it into a hotbed of militancy in North America. It was Parmar who plotted the Air India Kanishka bombing. Parmer, who later entered India via Pakistan, was killed in an encounter by police in Punjab.

Canada banned radical Sikh organizations, including the Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation, only recently, though their members continue to be active.

With thanks : source : PROKERALA

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Etobicoke Sikh temple ousts 10 board members

Discharged group at Sikh Spiritual Centre refuses to accept the decision

A Sikh temple in Etobicoke voted off almost half its board of directors on Wednesday afternoon, but the ousted group is refusing to accept the decision.

Members of the Sikh Spiritual Centre, at Albion and Hwy. 27, were scheduled to meet and discuss the future of the centre’s 21-member board.

But 10 of the members refused to take part in the vote, saying that the 11-person ruling group, which includes president Gurinder Singh and secretary Major Singh, were preventing members that disagreed with them from attending the meeting.

Major Singh said that 56 SSC members were eligible to vote at the meeting. The opposition, which includes now-former board members Bhopinder Dhillon and a similarly named member, Major Singh Kler, disputed that number, saying over 125 regular attendees had voting power.

Two years of volunteer work at the temple is required to become a voting member, said Baldev Sandhu, another member of the ousted group.

The 10 opposing members had made a legal motion to stop the meeting, but it was denied. So, they refused to enter the upstairs meeting space, which was guarded by hired security guards and police.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN THE HEADLINE ABOVE.

Thanks " source : TheStar

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Gurmat Samagam on 16th May, 2010

Even you can upload details of Gurmat Samagam in your
area. It is absolutely free service to the community.

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Gurdwara land sold to Pak's Defence Housing Authority: Report

PTI

ISLAMABAD: A secret probe conducted by Pakistani authorities after the Indian government protested against the sale of a Sikh gurdwara's land to the Defence Housing Authority in Lahore has confirmed that the deal was "less than clean", according to a media report today.

The 575 kanals of land was sold by the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the body that administers the shrines and properties of Pakistan's minority communities.

The sale had triggered protests in the Indian parliament last year.

The probe by the federal ministry for minority affairs revealed that the land belonged to gurdwaras and could not be sold under The Sikh Gurdawara Act of 1925.

The inquiry also revealed that the land was sold at rates lower than those prevailing in the market.

The findings of the inquiry are being kept secret as the "confirmation of massive irregularities in the questionable deal... might land certain top guns of the ETPB in big trouble", The News daily reported.

The probe was launched after the Indian government sent a letter dated December 29, 2009 in which it asked its Pakistani counterpart to investigate the sale of land attached to gurdwaras and other Sikh shrines.

The newspaper's report contended that the inquiry resulted in ETPB chairman Asif Hashmi's "dramatic" decision to
announce his resignation during an official function in Lahore on Monday.

The daily quoted its sources as saying that Hashmi was aware of the findings of the inquiry, which had been sent to prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for further action.

The inquiry revealed that the land sold to the army-run Defence Housing Authority belonged to ETPB for the past century and was attached to Sikh gurdwaras and trusts.

The current management of the ETPB, led by chairman Hashmi, decided to enter into a "dubious agreement" with the Defence Housing Authority after violating all "relevant rules and laws", the report said.

"The intricacies have provided a lot of room to the Indian government because of association of Defence Housing Authority with our armed forces and this was used to defame Pakistan, present government and our armed forces. That was why the deal between Defence Housing Authority and ETPB was highlighted in the media all over the world," the inquiry report said.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN THE HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : PTI & DNA India

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Delhi Premiere Show : "Bhai Taru Singh Ji"

Satkar Yog Vir Jee - Behan Jee,

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH"

Delhi Premiere Show

Vismaad Pesents

"Bhai Taru Singh Ji"

01-02 May Sat. & Sun. 2010 (only 5 Shows)

Not to be “Missed”

Master Tara Singh Auditorium,
Khalsa College, Delhi Univ.(North Campus) Delhi -7

Cont. :
9818370413, 9312241578, 9990515457
9999704333, 9811023832, 9814180354

Nadar (Blessings)

Gurvinder Singh (Kohat)
Gurmeet Singh (Pitam Pura)
Arvinder Singh (Punjabi Bagh)
Amandeep Singh Lucky (Yamuna Par)
Jaspinder Singh (Tilak Nagar)
Inderjeet Kaur (Tilak Nagar)
Harvinder Singh Meenu (Mahvavir Nagar)

Taranjeet Singh

Guidelines by the Directorate of Education, Delhi

In one of the best decisions taken by the Delhi Education Minister Mr Arvinder Singh Lovely, Directorate of Education, has issued the following guidelines :

GUIDELINES FOR CONSTITUTION OF PARENTS TEACHERS ASSOCIATION IN AIDED / UNAIDED SCHOOLS

GUIDELINES REGARDING FEE HIKE IN RECOGNISED UNAIDED SCHOOLS

Delhites, please contact immediately to the school administration in which you have your school going kids so that you are a part of the, to be constituted Parents Teachers association of the respective schools. The detailed guidelines have already been uploaded on this blog and can be viewed by DOUBLE clicking the links above or the posts below.

Please add your comments in case you face any problem in this regard.

With Best regards

B S Vohra
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