SGPC poll irregularities: report sought

Kapurthala (Pun), Aug 19 (PTI) Gurdwara Elections Chief Commissioner H S Brar has sought a report from Kapurthala district administration on the alleged irregularities in enrollment of non-Sikh voters for upcoming Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) polls.

Deputy Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhary today said Brar sought the report from the administration, regarding charges of irregularities in enrollment of 'Patit' Sikh voters at Begowal and Bhadas villages falling under the Bholath assembly constituency, within two days. Chaudhry said he has directed Bholath SDM Ranjit Kaur, the revising authority, to conduct door-to-door survey and submit the report immediately for forwarding it to the Sikh Gurudwara Election Commission.

with thanks : IBN Live : link in headline for detailed story.

SikhsIndia

Embrace Islam or leave Valley, Sikhs threatened

SRINAGAR: Sikhs in the Kashnir valley have received anonymous letters from Islamic militants asking them to either embrace Islam and join the protests against civilian killings or pack up and leave the Valley. The 60,000-strong Sikh community is the single largest minority group in the Valley.

An organisation of Kashmiri Sikhs said that several community members have received these letters. "Community members have received unsigned letters at various places," said All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (ASCC) coordinator Jagmohan Singh Raina. He said the community has decided to stay put and fight these "evil designs" at a meeting in Srinagar on Thursday.

with thanks : Times of India : link in headline for detailed story.

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Delhi HC refuses to stay trial against Sajjan Kumar in riots case

The Delhi High Court today refused to stay the trial against senior Congress leader and former MP Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which six persons were killed.

Justice A. K. Pathak declined the plea of Kumar, against whom the charges of murder and rioting were framed by a lower court, to immediately stay the trial till his petition challenging framing of charges is decided by the court.

Refusing the plea of the politician to stay the criminal proceedings for his alleged involvement in riots in Sultanpuri Area, the court issued notice on his petition to CBI and asked the probe agency to file its reply by September 16 when the case will be further taken up for hearing.

with thanks : HINDU : link in headline for detailed news.

SikhsIndia

First stone laid for new Sikh temple

Members of Manchester's Sikh community witnessed the laying of the first foundation stones at the proposed site for the new Sri Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara, Education and Cultural Centre in Whalley Range.

Labelled as a future iconic land mark for Manchester, over 700 people attended the special ceremony including the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Mark Hackett and other dignitaries, where a vegetarian breakfast, langar was served.

The members of the Sri Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara have raised £1.1m towards the £2m project.

The completion of the new building is due on 14 March 2011 with the Grand opening ceremony coinciding with the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi in April.

More details of work in progress and options to make any contributions can be found on the website www.manchestergurdwara.co.uk

with thanks : menmedia : link in headline above.

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Man who ‘attempted’ to kill Mamata is a poor Sangrur trucker

Mauran (Sangrur), August 17

Their world came crashing down on August 9 when Gurjant Singh’s truck hit a car in Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s convoy in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district.

Apart from praying for Gurjant’s well-being, there is very little his wife, three children and elderly parents can do. Every day is a struggle on Gurjant’s monthly salary of Rs 2,500. Besides the small sum, the family holds five bighas land and depends on what they can grow on it. The 40-year-old, who has been driving for 17 years, once owned a truck but had to sell it off.

“We don’t even have money to go to West Bengal let alone pursuing the matter legally,” says Gurjant’s wife Gurbans Kaur. The trucker’s 85-year-old hearing-impaired father Harneek Singh sits quietly outside the family’s one-room house, a prayer on his lips.

As the newsteam entered the sleepy Mauran village on Dirbah Road in Sangrur today afternoon, almost the entire village gathered around it in anticipation of some good news on the Gurjant front. The moment they got to know that their “visitors” were journalists, hope instantly gave way to disappointment. Gurjant’s 75-year-old mother Surjit Kaur couldn’t hold back her tears.

“My son is illiterate. He doesn’t even know the Prime Minister’s name. How can he conspire to eliminate the Railway Minister?” she cries, pleading Gurjant’s innocence. “The West Bengal police should come here and see Gurjant’s home. Then they will know whether he can commit a crime…” her voice trails off.

The news of Gurjant’s arrest has left his three children — daughters Parwinder Kaur (15) and Kirandeep Kaur (12) and son Jatinder Singh (9) — in deep shock. All of them have stopped going to the village school.

Gurjant’s elder brother and immediate neighbour Veer Singh blames the family’s misfortune on West Bengal politics. “The accident occurred because of the truck’s brake failure but my brother got dragged into the mess,” he says.

On August 9, Gurjant Singh’s truck had hit a car in Mamata’s convoy at Kolaghat Bridge in East Midnapore as she was returning to Kolkata from a rally in Lalgarh. Gurjant was arrested and initially booked for rash driving but let off on August 11. Immediately after, he was charged with conspiracy and attempting to murder Mamata and re-arrested. He is in 12-day police remand.

The entire village vouches for Gurjant’s innocence. “He is innocent. All his life, he has never even had an spat with anyone,” says a group of villagers that has gathered around The Tribune team. One of them, Navpreet Singh, is more vocal. “How come the West Bengal police charged him without coming to our village for investigations? We don’t know what is happening to Gurjant in jail there…” he says.

with thanks : SIKHSANGAT

SikhsIndia

Sikh Temple in Texas faces razing following a court ruling

HOUSTON: A newly-built Gurdwara in Austin may soon be razed or moved following a Texas appellate-court ruling that it violated zoning laws, resulting in an outcry from members of the community.

The temple was completed in April to replace a mobile home that the congregation of about 60 families in central Texas had been using as a place of worship since 2003.

But, the congregation says it was unaware of the subdivision’s restricting covenants stating that only single-family dwellings can be built on the lot and that they must be used as housing.

The group purchased the 2.75-acre property where the new temple sits in 2003 in a subdivision of the Austin suburb of Bee Cave and set up the makeshift temple in the 1,200- square-foot mobile home, which was already on the property.

Two years later, the congregation started plans to build a temple on the property and obtained all necessary permits from the city, said Harnek Bains, president of the Austin congregation.

Sikh organisation Austin Gurdwara Sahib said it cost $350,000 to build the temple, and it paid $100,000 for the land.

The court ruling has resulted in an outcry from members of the religious group, some of whom claim discrimination is at the heart of the case.

“There is a great amount of grief that a religious house of worship is being destroyed,” said Amardeep Singh, director of programmes at the National Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights organisation.

Bains said the congregation faced no opposition until 2008, when the Bolliers moved into the neighbourhood and filed suit while the temple was under construction.

“We were shocked and stunned,” Bains said. The Bolliers said in a statement: “We did not bring this suit until AGS violated the single-family dwelling restriction by beginning construction of a large, pre-fabricated aluminum commercial building on its lot”.

The dispute began when a couple, John and Leslie Bollier, living in the neighbourhood filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the temple violated the subdivision’s rules restricting construction to single-family dwellings.

The trial-court judge sided with the Sikh group in March 2009, saying while it was in violation of the subdivision’s covenants, the Bolliers were barred from seeking court action on use of the property in large part due to the expiration of a statute of limitations that requires citizens to file suit within four years of an alleged violation.

with thanks : sikhsangat.org

SikhsIndia

Akshay Kumar - comments awaited

On the release of Singh is King, Akshay Kumar had promised to DSGMC that he will no more show the sikhs in a bad form. But if it is true, Akshay Kumar is again coming as a Turbaned sikh with clean shaven looks in his forthcoming, Nikhil Advani’s ‘Patiala House’.

Now what we can expect from DSGMC as well SGPC which has directed to make a censor Board for all such issues. Can't they request to the producers & directors of such movies to not to play with the sentiments of the Sikh community.

Your most valued comments are being awaited on the issue.

SikhsIndia

Protests after assailants cut Sikh trader’s hair

New Delhi Sikhs took the streets in Vikaspuri area of West Delhi on Monday after a man from the community alleged that he was assaulted and his hair and beard shorn by four unidentified men in Nihal Vihar.

Police said the men came to Manjeet Singh's mobile phone shop at about 9 am for a recharge coupon. "There was an argument between Singh and the four men and one of them hit Singh after which he fell unconscious. When he woke up, Singh found his hair and beard shorn," said a senior police officer.

Singh (30) informed his relatives about the matter and a police complaint was lodged in Nihal Vihar. Meanwhile, some Sikhs blocked the Outer Ring Road near Vikaspuri to lodge their protest. "The protesters deflated tyres of two DTC low-floor buses and the brought traffic to a standstill for around half an hour," the police said. The protest was called off after senior police officers assured the protesters that the accused would be nabbed soon. A similar protest was reported from Tilak Nagar too.

with thanks : source : ExpressIndia : link in headline for more details.

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Centre removes 23 ex-Khalistani militants' names from blacklist

NEW DELHI: Acting on Punjab government's recommendation, the Centre has finally deleted names of 23 former Khalistani militants -- all foreign nationals -- from the Centre's list of blacklisted Sikh radicals as they are "not involved in any serious criminals cases and anti-India activities". Consequently, these 23 persons will now be able to get Indian visa and travel to any parts of India without any restriction. Consequently, these 23 persons will now be able to get Indian visa and travel to any parts of India without any restriction.

with thanks : source : Times of India : Link in headline above for detailed news.

SikhsIndia

Ontario Gurdwara To Set Up First Ever Multimedia Sikh Museum In Canada

MISSISSAUGA – After yearlong frantic planning, Ontario Khalsa Darbar is moving ahead with setting up Canada’s first of its kind Multimedia Sikh Museum in Mississauga. The museum is being set up under volunteer support of Baba Sewa Singh Chairman Kar Sewa Khadur Sahib-India. The hi-tech brain behind the museum is Surrey resident Dr Raghbir Singh Bains, a Canadian Sikh and author of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism.

Both the sponsor and producer have offered to set up the latest technology and put up programmed content in the museum without getting any remuneration. However, it will especially be for use of OKD in the Gurdwara premises or the Sikh Resource Center to be constructed in the near future by the committee of the said Gurdwara. There will be no entry fees for visitors and free guides would be made available for help. The Ontario Khalsa Darbar Gurdwara Mississauga is one of the largest Sikh Gurdwara in North America that attracts thousands of followers, visitors and student groups of all faiths every day.

The first of its kind Multimedia Sikh Museum in the world on robotic and touch screen technology was set up by Dr Raghbir Singh Bains at Khadur Sahib during 5^00th anniversary of the ‘Parkash Gurpurv’ of Guru Angad Dev Ji on April 16, 2004 in India. Similarly, the second such museum was set up at Jalandhar in Punjab during 2008.

with thanks : thelinkpaper : link in headline for detailed news.

sikhsindia

1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Supreme Court stays trial against Sajjan Kumar

In a reprieve for Sajjan Kumar, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed trial proceedings against the Congress leader facing murder and other charges in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

A bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan also issued notice to the CBI on Mr. Kumar’s appeal challenging his prosecution.

The High Court had on July 19 refused to quash various charges including that of murder against him, saying the delay in prosecution has apparently benefited him.

Mr. Kumar, a former Outer Delhi MP, is facing prosecution in two cases in which he has been accused of inciting a mob against Sikh community in the aftermath of Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984.

“The interest of justice requires that the offences allegedly committed by accused persons are expeditiously tried to preserve the rule of law in the society,” the High Court had said while directing the trial court to hold the proceedings against him expeditiously in the riots cases.

With thanks : source : The Hindu : Link in headline above for detailed news.

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