British Sikh campaigners urge for Cameroon's intervention on Afghan Sikh's persecution

AMRITSAR: British Sikh campaigners have urged British Prime Minister David Cameroon to match his rhetoric on fighting jihadism, by directly intervening on the case of these 35 Sikhs — one of whom has died in the process of the agonizing struggle to get to the safety of the UK.

"Sikhs, along-with Hindu and Buddhist, have been direct and whole-scale victims of the horrifying Taliban jihad warfare on non-Muslim minorities and communities in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Afghan Sikhs have fled to the UK and other parts of Europe, over the course of the last 15- years" said Jagdeesh Singh of UK based Sikh Community Action Network while talking to TOI on Monday.

with thanks : TOI : LINK : for detailed news.

Sikh emigre buys Marley Park center in Surprise for $12.5M

A Sikh immigrant who emigrated to Canada alone as a teenager and built a business career in Vancouver has acquired a Surprise shopping center and adjacent land for $12.5 million.

Kulwant Sarai’s Imman Enterprises LLC has acquired the Marley Park Plaza shopping center for $11.7 million and an adjoining parcel for $750,000. He hopes to develop another 16,700 square feet of retail space on that land. The shopping center is located at Waddell and Reems roads in the West Valley. The existing center totals just over 77,500 square feet.

with thanks : bizjournals : LINK : for detailed news.

Speakers show concern over targeted killing of Sikhs : DAWN

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar here on Monday expressed grave concern over the targeted killing of several Sikh traders and demanded of the government to protect minorities and remove the unrest among them.

The seminar titled ‘Stop violence against minorities’ was organised by Commission for Peace and Minorities Rights (CPMR).

With thanks : DAWN : LINK : for detailed news.

Hit-and-run driver in custody after calling victim a terrorist

The rage-fueled driver who allegedly called a Sikh man a terrorist moments before mowing him down in a Queens street last month is in custody, cops said Tuesday.

Joseph Caleca, 55, allegedly yelled “You motherf—ing Bin Laden, go back to your country!” at 29-year-old Sandeep Singh before plowing into the victim with his GMC pick-up truck on 99th Street near 101st Avenue in Richmond Hill, according to police.

Authorities said the hate-filled hothead leveled Singh at around midnight, July 30, after the two exchanged words because the victim’s open car door was blocking the street.

Caleca, of Setauket, Long Island, allegedly dragged Singh with his truck for 30 feet before speeding off, according to cops.

with thanks : nypost : LINK : for detailed news.

Sikhs in Afghanistan !

By Inayatulhaq Yasini, BBC Pashto

The history of Sikhs in Afghanistan goes back about two centuries. In the 1970s they are thought to have numbered about 200,000, with most living side-by-side with other communities in cities like Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar and involved in the fabrics and clothing business.

But the population is now thought to number less than 5,000. After the Soviet invasion in 1980, a great number migrated to India. A second phase of migration took place after the fall of communist government in 1992. And during the civil war that followed, Sikh business and homes were occupied. They were forced to leave the country with other minorities, including Hindus.

During the Taliban era, Sikhs gained some independence. However, they were forced to wear yellow patches in order to be "recognised or differentiated" from other Afghans.

with thanks : BBC : LINK : for detailed news.

Tilbury container stowaways included 13 children

Thirteen children aged between one and 12 were among 35 Afghan Sikh immigrants found in a shipping container at Tilbury Docks, Essex Police have said.

The group arrived on Saturday on a ship from Belgium and were said by police to be victims of "people trafficking".

One man was found dead and the others were taken to hospital to be treated for severe dehydration and hypothermia.

The 30 people released to police include nine men and eight women aged between 18 and 72.

They have been brought to a makeshift reception centre set up inside the terminal buildings at Tilbury Docks.

Police said they are "being spoken to about their ordeal" before they are passed on to the UK Border Force.

with thanks : BBC : LINK : for detailed news & A Video.

Community spirit? Sikhs and Lord Suri

The very notion of a community leader promotes the idea that ethnic or religious identity defines an individual's views on all other matters

It turns out that Ranbir Singh Suri isn't a leading representative of the Sikh community; he's just a Sikh bloke. How easily we become confused. In fact Lord Suri, who was ennobled last week, is many things beside being Sikh. He's been a magistrate for more than a decade, he's the chairman of a very successful jewellery company and a long-term donor to the Tory party. 

 According to the Sikh Federation UK he also has about as much to do with Sikh community organisations as Lord Alan Sugar. Lord Suri is, however, a leading representative of another misunderstood group: "community leaders". 

 This is not a status Lord Suri claimed for himself. The title is almost always awarded by a second party, usually the government or the media. In Lord Suri's case it was a No 10 spokesperson who described him as a leading figure in the British Sikh community and an official citation which represented him as "former General Secretary of the Board of British Sikhs" – a group which folded more than 20 years ago after holding a few meetings.

with thanks : Independent : LINK : for detailed news.

Together let us Bowl Out Religious Discrimination from Sports - Bishan Singh Bedi

Dear Friends,
Sat Sri Akal

The world knows me as a Master Off-Spinner and the Turban has been my identity. I have represented India from 1966 to 1979, finding a place in Wisden Cricketer's Almanack and while playing across the world, I always sported a colourful Patka and never have I been asked to remove my turban.

Exactly opposite happened last month to two young basketball players from India -Amarpal and Amjyot Singh. They were representing India at the Asia Cup Championship in China.

Just before the game, both of them were asked to remove their turbans if they wanted to play. They were told that wearing turbans violated the rules of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

This is a shame! How can our country’s top sportsmen be humiliated like that?Sign this petition and ask FIBA to change its policies. Sikhs should be able to play with their turban on if they want to.

My faith and religion have played a big part in my successful career. FIBA’s policies should be more sensitive to people’s faith. Sign this petition and tell them so.

If atleast 25,000 people sign this petition, FIBA will know that this is an issue of great importance and change its policies to be more sensitive.

After you sign this petition, forward my mail to your friends and family. Let us support our country’s sportsmen in every way that we can.

Thanks in Advance


The Master Spinner

Read life of a Sikh teen

After a successful inaugural event last year, the Big Town Read is back for the 2014 Marlborough LitFest.

Book lovers are invited to read The Times journalist Sathnam Sanghera’s debut book The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton ahead of a question session with the author in September.

It puts a spotlight on the typical teenage frustrations of growing up in a provincial town focusing on of life in a Punjabi Sikh family in the 1980s and 1990s. Mr Sanghera depicts how he and his family came to terms with his father and sister having a serious mental illness.

The event is run in partnership with The Reading Agency which chose this novel for World Book Night in April.

with thanks : gazatteandherald : LINK : for detailed news.

Stop attacks on Sikhs in US, Pakistan: Punjab MPs

Members of Parliament from Punjab on Tuesday voiced their anguish in Rajya Sabha over alleged repeated attacks on Sikhs in United States and Pakistan. They asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the matter to ensure their safety and security.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Shiromani Akali Dal's Balwinder Singh Bhunder said Sikh minorities in US and Pakistan were being assaulted and many of them have been murdered due to hate crimes. He demanded that the Prime Minister should take up the matter with the two countries and ensure they get protection.

He also raised the issue of citizenship not granted to Afghan Sikhs coming to India. Bhunder said Sikhs were a brave community and had taken part in many freedom struggles and sacrificed their lives and their protection needs to be ensured. These hate crimes should stop, he said.

with thanks : IndiaToday : LINK : for detailed news.

Sikh group asks Indian PM to take up safety issues of the community abroad after string of hate crimes

A north Indian committee has urged the Indian government to take up the matter of hate crimes against Sikhs in the United States and New Zealand in the wake of recent attacks.

Chandigarh-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has approached Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of safety of Sikhs with the U.S. and New Zealand governments, reported IANS. According to SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, they have demanded the culprits behind the alleged hate crimes be brought before law.

In a similar development, U.S.-based civil rights group The Sikh Coalition appealed to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to address the issue of discrimination against Sikh minority community, reported the Press Trust of India.

with thanks : vancouverdesi : LINK : for detailed news.

Construction has begun on Sikh temple in Westborough

Vantage Builders Inc. said Wednesday that construction has begun on a 21,000-square-foot Sikh temple in Westborough.

The new temple will be called Gurduara Sahib, and it will become the principal place of worship for the New England Sikh community, Waltham-based Vantage Builders said. The temple is for the New England Sikh Study Circle, which was established in 1968 to serve as a Sikh center for spiritual growth, political understanding, community activism, and social gathering.

with thanks : bostonglobe : link : for detailed news.

Another Sikh, his mother attacked in New York

Just days after a Sikh man was hit and dragged by a truck, another Sikh man and his mother were attacked here by a group of teenagers who called them 'Osama Bin Laden' in an apparent hate crime, sparking fresh outrage among the community members. 

The Sikh man, a physician scientist, said in a statement that he and his mother were attacked in a Queens neighbourhood on the night of August 7. 

He said that in accordance with Sikh religious beliefs, both he and his mother wear turbans and maintain uncut hair. 

They were confronted by about 10 teenagers who called them "Osama bin Laden and told us to go back to your country." 

The teenagers also used derogatory language against the man's mother and made fun of her facial hair. 

The Sikh man told them to stop, but the teenagers surrounded him and punched him in the face and neck. They also tried to throw a bottle at the Sikh man and then fled. 

The man, who chose to remain anonymous, said he tried to pursue them but could not as he was in a lot of pain. He then called the police and was treated at a hospital. 

"I want the New York Police Department to investigate this attack as a hate crime and arrest the people who attacked me before they hurt someone else. I want witnesses to come forward and contact the police immediately," the man said, adding that his mother was visiting him from India. 

with thanks : Business Standard : LINK : for detailed news.

Alleged hate crime in New York City leaves Sikh father critically injured

A New York City Sikh father of two is seriously injured and recovering in hospital after a pick-up truck ran him over in an alleged hate crime last week, according to a release from the Sikh Coalition.

The Sikh activist group organized a rally on Tuesday, calling on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

According to the Huffington Post, the 29-year-old father, Sandeep Singh, was walking home with a friend in Queens when a man in a pick-up truck began shouting racial slurs at them.

Amardeep Singh, with the Sikh Coalition, told HuffPost the driver called the men “terrorists” and told them to “go back to your country.”

Singh then attempted to engage the driver in conversation by saying “I am not a terrorist,” while standing in front of the truck as he called police, HuffPost reported.

But as Singh began to dial, the truck lurched forward and struck Singh.

with thanks : vancouverdesi : LINK : for detailed news.

Anti-immigration flyer targeting Sikhs surfaces in Brampton

LINK

HSGMC issue : Hindustan Times

Control of gurdwaras in Haryana: SC orders for status quo

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the SGPC and newly formed Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) to maintain status quo on the management control of gurdwaras prevailing at 2:30pm on Thursday in Haryana till further orders. 

During the hearing, the Haryana government informed the SC that the new state committee has forcibly taken control of Sikh gurdwaras in the state. 

The SC asked Haryana DGP and district administration to maintain status quo with regard to gurdwaras and not permit any violence. 

The next hearing in the case would take place on August 25. 

With thanks : Times of India : LINK : for detailed news.

Sikhs targeted in Pakistan : Times Now :

Protests erupted in Pakistan's Peshawar city after unidentified gunmen opened fire in a market area killing a Sikh businessman and injuring several others. Infuriated Sikhs took to the streets protesting against targeted killings of people from the Sikh community.

LINK to view the Video

HSGPC continues siege of Kurukshetra gurdwara

IANS  |  Chandigarh   August 3, 2014 

Members of the newly-constituted Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) Sunday continued their siege of Kurukshetra's Gurdwara Chatti Patshahi on the second day of their bid to take over the Sikh shrine.

Even though there were not many people from the HSGPC side till afternoon, tension built up after 3 p.m. as some protestors tried to breach the police barrier near the gurdwara. However, police prevented them from proceeding ahead.

Heavy police deployment was seen near the gurdwara Sunday. Leaders of the HSGPC and their supporters had Saturday laid siege just 100 feet from the gurdwara, one of the state's biggest, in Kurukshetra, about 110 km from here. Those trying to take control of the shrine breached two police barriers Saturday along the route.

Members of the task force and other volunteers of the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which still controls Sikh shrines in Haryana, were inside the shrine premises, ready to resist any attempt for a forcible take over. Many people from both sides were carrying traditional weapons like swords, spears and sticks.

A high-level delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal, comprising SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, Akali Dal general secretary and former union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and others met Haryana's new Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki at Haryana Raj Bhawan here Sunday and demanded immediate review of the Act passed by the Haryana Assembly allowing the creation of the HSGPC.

The delegation told the governor that by enacting this measure unconstitutionally, the Haryana assembly had violated the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. They urged the governor to direct the Haryana government to stop the "illegal" HSGPC from forcible takeover of Haryana's Sikh shrines.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said Sunday that the forcible takeover of Haryana gurdwaras would not be allowed at any cost.

The HSPGC had Friday asked the SGPC to hand over records of the Haryana gurdwaras to it, but the latter categorically refused to do so.

Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the SGPC are locked in a bitter controversy with Haryana's Bhupinder Singh Hooda government over the creation of the HSGPC.

On June 11, the Haryana assembly had passed a bill under which a new committee would be set up to manage gurdwaras in the state. The Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Bill, 2014, got the assent of the state governor June 14.

The SGPC, the mini-parliament of Sikh religious affairs, which controls gurdwaras across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, will lose control over gurdwaras in Haryana with the new law.

The SGPC, which has a Rs.950 crore annual budget, controls majority of the gurdwaras in Punjab, including the holiest of all Sikh shrines 'Harmandar Sahib' (popularly known as Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

with thanks : Business Standard : LINK

The 'Flying Sikh' who won India's first Commonwealth gold

When Milkha Singh took to the track at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff most people had never heard of him. But he was to make history there and is now hailed as one of India's greatest athletes.

It was the night before the 440 yards final at the British Empire and Commonwealth games in Cardiff and Milkha Singh was having trouble sleeping.

"When a person makes it to the final he is under so much stress that he is unable to sleep," recalls Singh. "It was a very difficult night."

Singh had won two gold medals at the Asian Games in Tokyo just a month before, but the Commonwealth Games were different.

with thanks : BBC News : LINK : for detailed news.