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New Delhi, India: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition requesting a separate religious identity for Sikhs. The petition filed by J S Sethi said the community which is issued birth certificates under the Hindu law faces an uphill task to explain to the immigration authorities across the globe that the community is different from the Hindus.
“It is very difficult to convince the people abroad, especially the immigration authorities, that though they are given birth certificate under the Hindu Marriage Act, they are Sikh by religion,” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, counsel for the petitioner, told a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.
He was appearing for Sethi, a Sikh, who filed the PIL seeking suitable amendment in the Constitution to declare the community out of the purview of the Act.
The plea sought directions for amendment to Article 25 of the Constitution for implementing the recommendation of a commission headed by Justice M N Venkatachaliah to delink Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism from the Hindu Marriage Act.
The Bench, also comprising Justices R V Raveendran and Deepak Verma, said though it was in agreement with the issues raised in the petition, it could not entertain the subject as it had to be looked into by an appropriate authority in the government.
A Surrey Sikh Gurdwara raised $100,000 for relief efforts in Haiti on the first day of donations.
Even before the launch of the fund raising campaign, phone calls, emails and text messages overwhelmed volunteers at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on Scott Road, near 70 Avenue.
All day long a steady flow of Sikhs from all walks of life and all ages, flowed through the Scot Road Gurdwara, donating to this cause. A planned Radio-thon on local South Asian Radio Stations, Red FM and Shere Punjab was started a day earlier and put in half a day of on the air collections.
The end result of the first day of effort, was approximately $100,000 in donations being pledged. As the community gears up for day two of the fundraising event, many volunteers have taken vacation time off work, to come volunteer at the Gurdwara Sahib and the local Radio stations, collecting donations.
"The local Sikh community has always shown its support for humanitarian relief efforts, in any part of the world," according to Gurdwara president Bikramjit Singh Sandhar. "No matter what our background, where we live, we're all equal and each and every one of us should do their utmost to help a fellow human being."
With thanks Source : http://www.emgonline.co.uk/news.php?news=8518
A city court Monday asked a complainant in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case if she still wants to pursue the matter in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a closure report.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar issued notice to Harbinder Kaur, who lost her doctor-husband Iqbal Singh Chadda in the riots sparked by the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, to appear before the court Feb 23.
The court asked Kaur if she still wants to pursue the case. According to court procedures, the complainant is asked this question before a case is closed.
As the proceedings were on in the Karkardooma court, around 250 Sikhs staged a protest outside, torching an effigy of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who is accused of taking part in the 1984 riots that left thousands dead. The police used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Last week, the CBI filed two chargesheets in two riot cases of Delhi Cantonment and Sultanpuri areas against Sajjan Kumar and others. They were charged with murder, riot, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.
The CBI also filed a closure report pertaining to the death of Chadda in the riots in Mangolpuri area.
In its closure report, the CBI said the complainant could not give any information as to where, when and who killed her husband Chadda and burnt his body.
The CBI said that several witnesses of the killing had expired. Several others had shifted residence and were not traceable.
Meanwhile, the court has put the other two chargesheets - filed in Sultanpuri and Delhi Cantonment cases - for further consideration Feb 1.
With thanks source : http://sify.com/news/Complainant-in-1984-riots-asked-if-she-wants-to-pursue-case-news-kbsqEchdgeh.html
London: A controversial BBC film about the Indian Army storming Golden Temple in 1984, which depicts late Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale "in a similar way to Osama Bin Laden", has provoked a furious response from many members of the community in Britain, a media report said.
A number of Sikhs have condemned the documentary, 1984: A Sikh Story, which they see as nothing but a slur on Bhindranwale, who was killed during the 'Operation Blue Star' ordered by the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, the Daily Mail reported.
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with thanks : source : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bbc-documentary-provokes-furious-response-from-sikhs_1335824
The merciless tsunami that devastated the people of Samoa four months ago has had its emotional and empathic impact among many in this country, prompting them to mobilise material and financial resources to support relief work and rehabilitate the victims.
The New Zealand Sikh Society of Auckland, led by Ranvir Singh Lali, Daljit Singh, Rajinder Singh, Manpreet Singh and others, raised $5000 for poor people in the affected areas.
They presented a cheque for the amount to Samoan High Commissioner Asi Tuiataga James Faafili Blakelock in the presence of Opposition and Labour Party Leader Phil Goff at the office of Labour MP Ross Robertson in Otara, Auckland recently.
with thanks : source : http://www.indiannewslink.co.nz/index.php/communitylink/3972.html
A prominent member of the Sikh community in Auckland is enraged over the harassment and “nasty” treatment meted out to his wife and toddler son by Immigration officials at the New Delhi airport. At press time, Ranvir Lali Singh, Secretary of the New Zealand Sikh Society Auckland and a builder, was considering lodging a serious protest after his homemaker wife Shubhneet Kaur and their two-year-old son Bachint Vir Singh returned to New Zealand spending three agonising days travelling between New Zealand and India and barred from entering their home country.
Mr Singh said that his wife and son had travelled to India on a valid visitor permit stamped on their New Zealand passports by the Wellington based Indian High Commission recently.
They were to spend a month in their home country, meeting family and friends.
Shubhneet Kaur has been a resident of New Zealand since 1997 and has since become a citizen of this country. Bachint was born in Auckland in August 2007.
Mr Singh said that the much-anticipated holiday was destroyed and his wife subject to insult and ill-treatment, because of the intransigent officials in India.
“I was shocked to learn that Shubhneet and Bachint were stopped by Immigration at the New Delhi International Airport upon their arrival on January 12. They were supposedly on the ‘Government of India Black List,’ about which we did not know. The officials harassed them and showed no sympathy. Only terrorists and criminals are placed on Black Lists. I cannot understand how a humble housewife and a two-year-old child could be on such a barred list,” he told Indian Newslink, while waiting for their arrival at the Auckland International Airport on January 14.
An Indian High Commission official told this newspaper that the Mission was not aware of the incident and that “there was no record of the two New Zealanders on the Mission’s Black List.
“We need to find out from New Delhi,” the official said.
The ordeal of the two harassed passengers did not end with their deportation from India. They were subject to “unnecessary bag search and interrogation” for more than four hours at the Auckland International Airport.
Immigration and Customs officials wanted to know from Shubhneet Kaur why she was held up at the New Delhi International Airport and why she and her son were deported, the answers to which the harassed woman could not obviously provide.
Mr Singh now wants answers to a number of his own questions.
“How do a housewife and toddler get on to a Black List?”
“If they were in the Black List, how did the High Commission issue a Visitor Visa to both of them? Does not the Indian Government convey the names of those in the Black List to diplomatic missions? If this is so, why were we not informed?”
“What is the basis on which people are Black Listed?”
While Mr Singh awaits answers to these questions, Indian Newslink understands that similarity of names often confuse Immigration officials in India.
But one observer said, “Surely, a mother travelling with a toddler cannot be branded a terrorist! The officials at the New Delhi International Airport should have checked properly and allowed the young woman and her son to enter the country.
“It is equally unbecoming of the officials at the Auckland International Airport to further harass the depressed woman. After all, she is a New Zealand citizen. There should be a proper inquiry into this incident,” he said.
Labour MP and the Party’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Chris Carter said he would take up the matter with the Indian High Commissioner and New Zealand Immigration and Customs.
with thanks : source : http://www.indiannewslink.co.nz/index.php/frontpage/4014.html
THE Indian high commissioner has urged Melbourne's Sikh community to let the law take its course in response to the burning of a temple.
Sujatha Singh warned against allowing "a few bad elements" to spoil the warm relationship between the two nations.
In her first public address since the murder of 21-year-old accounting graduate Nitin Garg and last week's arson attack on the temple, Ms Singh assured a Melbourne congregation that the Indian government was "very closely monitoring" the wellbeing of Indians in Australia.
Ms Singh said she had been in daily -- "even sometimes hourly" -- contact with the relevant Australian authorities to address community safety concerns.
Speaking to hundreds of worshippers at Blackburn's gurdwara, or Sikh temple, the largest of its kind in Victoria, Ms Singh said: "The incidents that have taken place in recent times have troubled us all, Indians and Australians alike.
"They have been condemned in the strongest possible terms by all right-thinking people."
Ms Singh drew particular attention to the arson attack at the gurdwara in Lynbrook, on Melbourne's southeastern fringe, late last week.
The partially constructed Sikh temple is suspected to have been torched with Molotov cocktails in the early hours of Thursday.
The high commissioner visited the burnt-out Lynbrook temple yesterday morning.
"The incident of arson is receiving the full attention of the concerned authorities," she told the Blackburn worshippers.
"I would like to assure you that both governments are united in their desire to see progress in bringing the perpetrators of these incidents to justice, and in bringing these incidents to a complete stop, ensuring that they do not happen again."
Ms Singh spoke of a tradition of strong ties between India and Australia, and implored the Indian community not to allow "a few bad elements" to spoil "the warmth and good feeling" which continued to exist between the two nations.
After giving her warmly received address, Ms Singh met privately with the president of the Blackburn temple, Dashran Singh, and the vice-president of the Victorian Sikh Association, Jag Bal.
Mr Singh said yesterday's visit marked the first time a high commissioner had attended a service at the Blackburn gurdwara. "Some of the unfortunate incidents of recent months affecting the Indian community are of great concern to all of us," he said.
Mr Bal said he hoped that the high commissioner would be able to give him a firm indication of what assurances the Australian government had given her during their lengthy discussions over the past fortnight. "I want to discuss what support or counselling is being given to the victims of race crimes in Melbourne," Mr Bal said.
Detective Sergeant Gary Kear said that contrary to initial police reports, detectives did not believe the Lynbrook arsonists were young kids mucking about.
"Witnesses have told us that voices that were heard inside the temple were more mature," Sergeant Kear said.
Last week the Blackburn temple wrote to Victoria Police requesting additional security, particularly at night. Two uniformed police officers were present at yesterday's service.
with thanks : source : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/indian-envoys-bid-to-appease-sikhs/story-e6frg6nf-1225820598424
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Anandpur Sahib, Punjab: A former Project Director at The Smithsonian’s prestigious National Museum of American History, George Jacob, has been named director of the Khalsa Heritage Complex in Anandpur Sahib reports the Midland Daily News. The Khalsa Heritage Complex is one of the largest museum complex in India currently in advanced stages of construction.
Smithsonian trained Jacob, an internationally sought veteran museologist, has been the founding director of two museums in his career.
The 650,000-square-foot museum and heritage center rises above a seven acre web of reflecting pools connected by a 165-meter pedestrian bridge connecting different zones of the museum galleries, library, cafe and performing arts theater, with exhibits celebrating 500 years of heritage, aspirations and living traditions of the Sikh diaspora.Phase 1 of the $224 million project opens in the fall of 2010.
with thanks : source : http://sikhsangat.org/2010/01/george-jacob-named-as-director-of-the-anandpur-sahib-sikh-museum/
THE president of Melbourne's largest Sikh temple has requested additional night-time security from Victoria Police in the wake of an arson attack on another Sikh temple earlier this week.
The request, made to Victoria Police in a letter yesterday, asks for "increased vigilance" from local authorities around the high-profile Sikh temple in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Blackburn, which has previously been visited by the Premier and the state Opposition Leader.
The letter, written by the secretary of the Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha temple at the behest of its president, Dashran Singh, says: "As you are no doubt aware, there have been an increased number of violent incidents involving (the) Indian community in Melbourne.
"This is a matter of concern for all Australians.
"We will appreciate if you can assist by having increased vigilance in the area, especially during night-time, to build confidence amongst the community," says the letter, seen by The Australian yesterday.
Early on Wednesday a Sikh temple in Lynbrook, on Melbourne's southeastern fringe, was set on fire. Mr Singh yesterday said another Sikh temple in Cragieburn in Melbourne's north was also vandalised last week with eggs and stones.
"We take the trouble to collect money to build our buildings for worship. This is very worrying," he said.
Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, who visited the Blackburn temple, or gurdwara, before travelling to India last year, said he was "greatly concerned" about the recent attacks on Indians and their places of worship.
"In light of recent events, the police need to work very closely with the Indian community right across Victoria to make sure there is no repeat of any violence or vandalism," he said.
Temple worshipper Vikramjit Kaur, who attended the Blackburn gurdwara yesterday with her four-year-old daughter Supreet and her mother, Surinder Kaur, said "there should be more security - when you hear about these (cases of vandalism), you are worried."
Mr Singh said to date he had received "great support" from local authorities, but said he would be comforted by more security.
A spokeswoman for Victoria Police yesterday said authorities were "taking every incident very seriously."
But she said, "no matter how many police we have, we simply can't be present for every crime that takes place".
with thanks : source : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sikhs-call-for-security-after-melbourne-temple-attack/story-e6frg6nf-1225819478091
CRANBOURNE’S Sikh community says it is under attack after yesterday’s deliberately lit fire in a partially-built Lynbrook temple.
Police are still investigating the blaze, which started at about 12.30am inside the Nanaksar Sikh Temple.
It is the latest in a string of incidents at the Evans Rd site during the past 12 months, including graffiti, theft, break-ins and petty vandalism.
Speaking to the Leader, Raj Singh said the community was “angry and very upset.’’
“Racist sentiment seems to be boiling over at the moment and it looks to us as if we are being targeted,” Mr Singh said.
“We’re a peace-loving people. We believe all religions are good and we all worship the same one God. We just want to be abel to live in peace.”
Mr Singh said the damage was negligible.
“It is the psychological damage that is the real concern,’’ he said.
“To think that the surrounding community is targeting us like this is extremely upsetting to us.’’
Mr Singh said the 900-strong congregation ultimately hoped to build a school and retirement village on the 13ha site, making it a self-contained community.
“We want to be a part of the Cranbourne community. This is our home now. We’ve been here since 1988,’’ he said.
Builder Paul Birch said he was disgusted and angered by the “mindless destruction.’’
“There’s just no logic to it. They are harmless people,’’ Mr Birch said.
“We will be looking into security guards or dogs to put an end to this once and for all.’’
Police are urging anyone with information to call Casey CIU Det-Sen-Constable Paul Stowe on 9705 3111
with thanks : source : http://cranbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/sikhs-fear-more-attacks-after-lynbrook-temple-blaze/
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