White House denies rumors about Obama and Sikh temple

(RNS) The White House has denied reports that President Obama will avoid a Sikh shrine while visiting India next week because the required head covering might have fanned false rumors about his faith.

"The decision we made was driven by ... the interests of time, how to best advance our common interests with India in these three days," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser on Wednesday (Oct. 27).

Sikh leaders had hoped the president would visit the temple, which they consider their holiest site. Obama has been dogged by persistent -- and false -- rumors that he is not Christian, but Muslim.

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Britain's longest serving Asian police officer retires

It's a career that took a fresh faced 17-year-old cadet with Thames Valley Police in 1975 to the country's elite anti-terrorism branch.

Along the way he has protected the royals and senior MPs, and worked on the drugs squad.

Now 52-year-old Detective Constable Harinder Singh Sangha is hanging up his truncheon after 35 years service.

"I have had a fantastic career. There's been a few lows. But lots of highs," he said.

It's rare for anti-terrorist officers to give interviews. But Asian colleagues and the Metropolitan Police Sikh Association (MPSA) encouraged Det Cons Sangha to go public because of his ground-breaking career.

"He has been the first in many things and is a good role model," said Det Sgt Gurpal Virdi of the MPSA.

with thanks : BBC News : link in headline above for detailed news.

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The empty-headed twenty per cent

One aspect of the planning for President Obama’s trip to India is downright depressing — and there’s no weighty issue to blame, just the ignorance of a surprisingly large group of Americans. White House organisers are reportedly considering taking the city of Amritsar off the itinerary. The reason? Amritsar is home to the Sikh Golden Temple, which is more or less a mandatory stop for a head of state visiting the city, but those who enter it are required to cover their heads.

Something like 20 per cent of Americans still falsely believe Obama to be Muslim. Sikhs aren’t Muslims, but Obama’s staffers are worried that any picture of him wearing religious headgear (Golden Temple officials have said baseball caps and the like aren’t acceptable substitutes) would spread like wildfire among the paranoid minority who remain unconvinced of Obama’s faith. It’s a reasonable fear, given the crazed intensity of some of Obama’s critics, but the White House shouldn’t give in to it. If it fits his itinerary, he should go to Amritsar and visit the temple, wearing headgear.

with thanks : IndianExpress : link in headline above for detailed news.

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Court paves way for fresh criminal proceedings for Sajjan

In fresh trouble for senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, a Delhi Court on Saturday paved the way for initiation of criminal proceedings against him in another case relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riot.

The court rejected the plea of the Delhi police to club the case involving Kumar with the ongoing trial in another case relating to the carnage.

"There is no order on judicial records with regard to clubbing to FIR no 67/87 (allegedly involving Kumar) with FIR no 418/1991," District Judge S K Sarvaria said.

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Sikhs in Malaysia eagerly await Singh's visit

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's three-day visit from Tuesday is being eagerly awaited not only by Malaysian government but also its minority ethnic Indian community, especially the Sikhs who have applauded his contribution to India's fast-paced growth. The Sikh community is "very, very proud" that a Sikh has risen and become the Prime Minister of India, one of the biggest democracies of the world, a prominent Malaysian Sikh leader said referring to Singh's upcoming visit here.

"We, the Sikhs in Malaysia, are so proud that Manmohan Singh has turned India around at such a fast pace and put the country on the path of accelerated development," President of the Malaysia National Sikhs Movement, Darshan Singh Gill, a fifth generation Sikh in Malaysia whose great-great grandfather arrived in the then Malaya in 1880s,said.

Gill, who has been awarded the title 'Tan Sri' by the King of Malaysia, said he had met Manmohan Singh during his visit to Delhi earlier this year when he had presented him with a book on Sikh Community in Malaysia, compiled by him.

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