PM cancels Punjab trip, SGPC and Akalis upset

Chandigarh: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's much awaited visit to Punjab to inaugurate the ambitious Khalsa Heritage Complex (KHC) at Anandpur Sahib has been cancelled, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) said Thursday.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had said the KHC, touted as a landmark monument of Sikhism, would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister between Nov 15 and 25.

Manmohan Singh, a Sikh himself, had agreed "in principle" to a request by the Chief Minister to inaugurate the KHC at Anandpur Sahib, 80 km from here, when the latter called on him in New Delhi in October.

The SGPC, considered the mini parliament of Sikh religion, and the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal have blamed petty politics of Punjab Congress leaders for the cancellation.

"The visit of the Prime Minister has been cancelled. The Sikh community had bestowed an honour on the prime minister, who is himself a Sikh, to inaugurate this great monument. But his visit has been sacrificed by petty politics," SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said in Patiala Thursday.

"The Prime Minister should not be so weak that he is influenced by others so easily," said Makkar, sounding bitter.

Punjab Congress president and former chief minister Amarinder Singh had last month written a letter to the prime minister to not come for the KHC project inauguration as it had already been 'inaugurated' in 2006.

Punjab Congress leaders were worried that the prime minister coming for an event for the Badal government and the SGPC so close to assembly elections could be detrimental to Congress interests.

Assembly Elections in the state are likely to be held February-March next year and parties in the state are already in election mode.

"It is unfortunate that he (PM) has said that I am not coming. It was an honour for him, being a Sikh, to inaugurate this prestigious project. The Punjab Congress and Amarinder Singh are responsible for this cancellation (of the visit)," Chief Minister Badal said.

with thanks : ZEENEWS : link above for detailed news.

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B S Vohra in the service to the society

B S Vohra in the service to the society

B S Vohra in the service to the society

B S Vohra in the service to the society

B S Vohra in the service to the society

B S Vohra in the service to the society

B S Vohra in the service to the society

Sabah gets RM350,000 to build Hindu, Sikh temples

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Sabah will receive RM350,000 to build three Hindu temples and a Sikh temple.

State MIC chairman Datuk V. Jothy said the allocation was given by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

"A sum of RM200,000 is allocated to build the Sri Murugan Temple in Tawau, Sri Subramaniar Temple in Lok Kawi Camp and Pasupathinath Temple in Kota Kinabalu, and RM50,000 for building a Sikh gurdwara, also in Kota Kinabalu.

"I am very touched by the concern shown by the deputy prime minister and the allocation is a recognition for the Indian community's contribution in Sabah," he said after holding a Sabah MIC Deepavali open house which was attended by Muhyiddin.

Jothy said the large allocation for Sri Murugan Temple was for the preparation of a Hindu festival celebration next year called Maha Kumba Bisegam, held every 12 years.

with thanks : mysinchew : link above for detailed news.

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1984 Sikh riot: They took their time to kill between meals

The horror of those 72 hours, when frenzied mobs butchered thousands ofSikhs in 1984, has not left senior journalists Rahul Bedi and Joseph Malliakan, who covered theriots, to this day.

"To visualise that time close your eyes and imagine that there's no state. The police remain inert while rabid mobs attack you minute after minute with military precision. The administrators look the other way with complete indifference and the situation seems never to abate," Bedi, who covered the massacre in Trilokpuri's Block-32, says.

The massacre in the small colony in east Delhi was planned, he found out. Nearly 320 Sikhs - men, women and children - were killed over two days.

On reaching the spot on November 1 evening, a day after Gandhi's assassination, Bedi and Malliakan were chased away by a mob. But the journalists persevered and made it to the spot on the following morning, where they saw "meticulous slaughter of Sikhs while policemen nearby watched, bothering not even to call for reinforcements".

"The massacre continued for two long days in houses on either side of a bylane. The killers were so exact and meticulous that they did not even hurry with their job, just took their time to rape, murder and torture them between meals," Bedi says.

Malliakan, now editor of JEM magazine, says he still cries on recalling those four days.

"I saw a Sikh along with his wife dragged out of his tenement, doused with kerosene and set on fire. Those scenes have not left me. There is no closure to it," he says.

with thanks : India Today : link above for the detailed news.

Another Sikh Controversy

Another controversy has erupted at an Alberta jobsite after a 24 year-old Sikh man from England was ordered to either shave his beard or leave, because of safety concerns. He chose to fly back home...

Another controversy has erupted at an Alberta jobsite after a 24 year-old Sikh man from England was ordered to either shave his beard or leave, because of safety concerns. He chose to fly back home earlier this week, saying the experience has turned him off Alberta and adding he doubts he would return if offered another job. He plans to meet with Human Resources officers and union officials with his company, to determine if they will take further action, against TransAlta Corporation.

He was ordered off the job at the Sundance plant, near Wabamun, west of Edmonton, after being told the length of his beard interfered with a respirator and posed a safety risk.

However, for religious reasons, he is not allowed to shave his beard. He had been working at the plant for five weeks and had passed an earlier mask fit test without a problem.

with thanks : mileOcity : link above.