Refusal of Asylum to Afghanistan's Sikh

How can they go back?


An email received from Lili Van Heers ( a spokeswoman for the Sikh community in Belgium and is an author of a book on Sikhism in Dutch Language entitled: The Sikhism and the Sikhs (2008, Manohar Publishers):"

"I read the article about the documentary on Afghan Sikhs on Sikhsindia blog.I would like to add this.

One of my students Maninder Singh from Kabul in Belgium is a young Afghan Sikh who asked for asylum in Belgium together with his parents. He daily came to the Dutch lessons and tried his best to learn the language. On the day of the exams ;he didn't turn up. Because this was odd: I rang him and he sounds very sad. They( He & his family ) had been refused asylum and had to vacate their council house within a week and subsequently leave the country. He was worried about his elderly parents as their health was poor.

He said"If we have to sleep in the streets, we will have no access to a doctor and to medicine anymore". He could not understand the decision of the Belgian government after two years in this country.
How can they go back? They have nothing in Afghanistan, no family and no house anymore. Trying to ask for asylum in another European country is of course no option because of the Schengen agreement.

I myself cannot understand the refusal either, considering the dangerous conditions in Afghanistan, the precarious situation of the Sikhs over there and the health problems of the parents".

With thanks:Lili Van Heers(Belgium )

Sarna dares SAD (Badal) to prove charges

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna today challenged the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) to prove the allegations levelled against him.

He said that he had not sold the Guru Harkishan Hospital adjacent to Bala Sahib Gurdwara located on Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan.

The police registered an FIR against him on the direction of the district court Saket (southeast Delhi) under section 420 (cheating), 468 (forged documents) and 471 IPC (using forged documents as genuine).

SAD (Badal) member Kuldeep Singh Bhogal had filed the case against Sarna.

Addressing a conference, Sarna said, "First the Badal members had got the DSGMC election stayed. Now, they have got a complaint registered against me. They do not have any agenda for the community."

He said that the land has been given to a private company on lease. There is nothing illegal about the land being given on lease to a professional company in order to run the hospital.

He will submit the evidence concerning the Hari Kishan Hospital to the court. If the allegations against him are proved correct, Sarna said that he and his brother Harvinder Singh Sarna would leave politics and if they are not proved, he would get a criminal case lodged against Bhogal and the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Sarna said that Bhogal filed the case against him on the instigation of Parkash Singh Badal.

with thanks : TRIBUNE : Link in the headline above for detailed news.

Do Not Take Racial Profiling and Hate Crimes Lightly

US Attorney Ms Melinda Haag on Hate Crime Tracking Issue:


UNITED SIKHS organisation invited Honorable Ms.Melinda Haag, United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, at El Sobrante Gurdwara to explain her role as US Attorney, and to discuss the issues, concerns and challenges of Sikh Americans in the region.
Honourable Haag who also works very closely with the FBI and law enforcement officials to prosecute federal crimes informed UNITED SIKHS Director, Jatinder SIngh that a call has been placed already to the FBI Special Agent In Charge and a member of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee about the hate crime tracking issue raised by the community.She said"The United States Attorneys have a broader role in our communities. We have a role in outreach with all of our communities to make sure that the people in our districts know when they have a problem, we can address them".She listened concerns of Sikh Americans who were victims of hate crimes,workplace discrimination and bullying in schools. she assured that the office of United States Attorney for the Northern District of California is aware of the challenges and obstacles faced by the Sikh community in workplace and schools, and is committed to provide maximum support to resolve such issues.

UNITED SIKHS’ Director,Jatinder Singh said,"In the decade aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, Sikhs and other minority communities have faced a rapid increase in hate crimes. Such incidents continually highlight the issue of Sikhs being targeted for their distinct external appearance and dress code.Just recently, Sikhs had incidents like stabbing of Sikh preacher Anup Singh by a 26 year old at an airport in Fresno,CA and murder of two elderly Sikh men in suburban Sacramento. All these three men were wearing dastaars (Sikh turbans)and sported beards in accordance with their Sikh faith.

With Thanks: UNITED SIKHS

3 tried to sell off Sikh holy book for 20cr

NEW DELHI: Three persons have been arrested on charges of trying to sell off an old, hand-written copy of the Guru Granth Sahib - the holy book of the Sikhs - to some persons in the city for Rs 20 crore. 

The accused have been identified as Praveen Babbar, who owns a hotel in Karol Bagh; Santosh Singh from Mirzapur, UP; and Kalyaneshwar Gautam from West Champaran in Bihar. 

They told cops during interrogation that the copy of the Guru Granth Sahib was 300 years old and they had procured it at Patna Sahib Gurudwara. A police team has been sent to Bihar to investigate the matter, while expert opinion has been sought to find out the historicity of the holy book. 

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

Court questions construction of parking at Gurdwara Rakabganj

The Delhi High Court has asked the New Delhi Municipal Council to explain how the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) is building a multi-level underground parking lot at a cost of Rs.400 crore inside Gurdwara Rakabganj in the New Delhi area without mandatory permissions as the shrine is a notified Grade III heritage building.

Justice Vipin Sanghi asked the NDMC to file a status report on the alleged construction of the parking facility without taking mandatory permissions from different government agencies concerned by March 22, the next date of hearing.

The Court asked for the explanation on a petition by the Sikh Forum for Service and Justice challenging construction of the parking facility.

The construction of parking lot is going since the laying of the foundation stone by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit last year.

The petitioner, G.S. Oberoi, president of the Forum, through his counsel Avtar Singh submitted in a fresh application that he had obtained information through RTI route that the DSGMC had sought no permission from the Heritage Conservation Committee to build the parking.

The petitioner further said that in a reply to a RTI application, the local body said that the Gurdwara Management had submitted a proposal to build the parking but it was rejected.

with thanks : The Hindu : link in the headline above for detailed news.

US court to hear 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

New York: A US court is set to hear on March 15 a plea for "default judgment" against India's Congress party for failing to defend charges of conspiring, aiding, abetting, organising anti-Sikh riots in November 1984. 

The case will be heard by Judge Robert W Sweet of the US Federal Court in New York, according to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a US-based community organisation, which filed a motion before the Court on February 02 for such a judgement. 

The US court had issued summons to Congress party on March 01 last year asking it to file its answer within 21 days in the class action law suit filed under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). 

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

SC setback for Sehejdharis: SGPC can elect office bearers

The Sehajdharis suffered a major setback on Friday after the Supreme Court stayed an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court wherein it had quashed a central government’s notification (in October, 2003) barring the Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) elections.

The apex court said that the SGPC, considered the Mini-Parliament of Sikhs, can carry out its functions normally. Days after the High Court judgment, the Sehajdhari Sikh Party (SSP) had demanded fresh SGPC elections stating that the Sehajdharis be allowed to cast their votes.

After the temporary relief from Supreme Court, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said that they would now wait for the Ministry of Home to issue a notification pertaining to the election of the office bearers of SGPC.

“We now look forward to Home Ministry to issue notification for the election of office bearers,” Makkar said.

The SC directions today paved the way for 185-member body to elect its 11 member executive body, besides the president, senior vice-president, vice-president and general secretary.

A question mark over the newly formed SGPC had arisen after the Punjab and Haryana High court had restored the voting rights of Sehajdhari Sikhs quashing the 2003 notification by the Union government that barred Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in SGPC polls.

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

HC to hear next week plea on DSGMC polls

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today decided to hear next week the city government's plea against the single judge's order virtually staying the elections of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee due in March. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahi Endlaw fixed Tuesday to hear the appeal of Directorate of Gurudwara Elections (DGE) against the single judge's order asking it to complete the exercise of delimitation of area of 46 wards in a month and restraining it from issuing notification for the elections. Filing the petition through counsel Rajiv Nanda, the government said the single judge has no right to pass such order once the Directorate has declared the schedule for the polls. The lawyer also argued that the exercise for delimitation would take long time and that it could be done after the elections. Giving the order to the DGE on February 8, the court had also directed it to complete the exercise with regard to the electoral rolls within a month before issuing the notification for the Sikh body's polls. The court had passed the order on a petition filed by Harmohan Singh, who wanted to contest the elections, alleging that the Directorate has announced the schedule for the elections and the notification was yet to be issued. "The elections of DSGMC on the basis of incomplete list of voters and without delimitation of wards will cause unfair representation of the members from each ward," the petitioner said. He contended that number of duplicate voters have been mentioned and said non-Sikh persons also figured in the voters' list.

with thanks : IBNLive : link in the headline above.

Sant Samagam

13-year-old boy pens book on Sikh religion and tenets

A 13-year old Sikh boy from Surrey in Canada has penned down a book on Sikh tenets and Sikh religion, perhaps becoming the first writer of his age to write on the topic.

Introduction to Sikhism, the book in English by Bikramjit Singh Bains was released on Thursday by Akal Takht chief Giani Gurbachan Singh in Amritsar. The Akal Takht chief was all praise for the big initiative at a small age by the young writer. Bikramjit is the grandson of noted Encyclopaedist Dr Raghbir Singh Bains, who has to his credit writing the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism.

Bikramjit started work on his book when he was 10 on the occasion of Baisakhi in April, 2009. He got so inspired with the Sikh tenets as he researched for the contents that he got baptised (became an Amritdhari Sikh) in Surrey last year, amid carrying out the task of completing the book.

with thanks : Indian Express : link in the headline for detailed news.

Furnish details of 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims: MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the state government to furnish details about victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots that broke out across the states following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The joint secretary of MHA, KK Pathak, shot a letter to the state government seeking information on the victims of the riots and whether compensation has been awarded to them. A senior state home department official said the letter was sent in connection to a question asked by a Rajya Sabha MP who wants to know the progress made in the “implementation of rehabilitation package to provide relief to the victims of riots.”

According to reports with the state disaster management department, West Bengal has recorded six deaths during the anti-Sikh riots and all of whom have been compensated. A total of 68 claims for compensation had been submitted to the state government of which 36 persons have received compensation from both the Centre and the state governments. The remaining applications have been turned down by the Centre, the official said.

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