The Asian Age – China demand on Dalai meet led to border talks cancellation

New Delhi, 26 November 2011. China’s demand that an event at which the Dalai Lama was scheduled to speak here next week be cancelled led to the sudden indefinite postponement of the Sino-Indian border talks which were scheduled to begin on Monday, informed sources said on Saturday night.   The Tibetan spiritual leader, who is a persona non grata with the Chinese government, is scheduled to speak at the Global Buddhist Congregation which begins here on Sunday.

The Chinese are first said to have asked for the Dalai Lama’s address to be cancelled and when New Delhi refused to oblige, they demanded that the event itself be cancelled, sources said.   New Delhi is believed to have told Beijing that India is a democratic country and there was no no restriction on freedom of speech. There was no no way China’s demand could be met.

Beijing is stated to have conveyed that talks cannot be simultaneously held when the Dalai Lama was addressing a conference in Delhi to which the Indian side then told them that let fresh dates be worked out.  The 15th round of the talks between Special Representatives (SR) of both the sides were to start on Monday.

The 4-day Congregation, co-organised by the Public Diplomacy division of the External Affairs Ministry was to conclude on Wednesday and the Dalai Lama was to address the valedictory session. There was no official word on the reasons for the cancellation of the SR talks from both side. The Chinese embassy here also declined to comment.

Chinese Special Representative Dai Bingguo was to travel to Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon to follow up on their talks in the 14th round in Beijing in November last year.

The External Affairs Ministry on Sunday issued a terse statement “we are looking forward to the 15th round of SRs talks in the near future and the two sides remain in touch to find convenient dates for the meeting.”

Dai and Menon were expected to discuss putting in place a mechanism for border management mooted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to India last year. A decision to set up the mechanism was taken at a meeting Wen had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Sanya inApril. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/india/china-demand-dalai-meet-led-border-talks-cancellation-578

494.The Man in Blue – Follow only our eternal Guru I

Both this column and the next one start from Guru Gobind Singh’s instruction that after him the Sikh Panth should be ruled by ‘Guru Granth – Guru Panth’.

Somebody explained to me that the 10 Guru’s were like ten classes of a school, and that entering Guru Gobind Singh’s Khalsa was like matriculation. Under Tenth Guru the people who were always ruled from above by various Maharajas and Sultans were fully emancipated and were able to rule themselves under the guidance of the Guru Granth Sahib.

But ‘Guru Granth – Guru Panth’ is not just relevant when you discuss leadership in Sikhism. If it was adhered to by the Sikhs it would end the silly discussion over the Dasam Granth. Sikhism is a liberal tradition and we are free to read any book, both from outside our own tradition, from the margins of Sikhism or from within it.

Our Guru is the Guru Granth Sahib. We do not have sufficient evidence to decide who the author is of the various elements that make up what is now known as the Dasam Granth. But we can study the Dasam Granth and see which parts are in tune with the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib and which are not.

We should bear in mind that Guru might have collected or retold some of the stories, without seeing them as sources of Sikh teachings. Many scholars have collected or retold Greek, Celtic, Germanic or Nordic ancient stories without seeing them as sources of eternal truth. These stories, like the puránas, can give you important clues to the culture and the history of their times.

The writings of Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal are not included in the Guru Granth Sahib, like the shabads of our bhagats, but they are seen as sources of Sikhism. These two authors were contemporaries of our Gurus and were close observers of Sikh history. They are important sources of information about our Gurus and their time, but they are not part of the eternal Sikh Guru, the Guru Granth Sahib.

Bhai Gurdas writes about the mul mantr and the gur mantr, terms that are not found in the Guru Granth Sahib. What Bhai Gurdas calls the mul mantr is given prominence in the Guru Granth Sahib, both in its full version (Ik Ongkar to Gurprasad) and in various shortened forms. The ‘gur mantr’ (Vahiguru) is only found four times in the Guru Granth Sahib, and is not called gur mantr’.

The conclusion from this evidence is clear. We can do simran on all ‘God Words’ that we find in the Guru Granth Sahib or in other sources, as long as their meanings are not in conflict with the teachings of our eternal Guru.

What Bhai Gurdas calls the mul mantr is a very important statement of Guru’s vision of God, and of course we should meditate on it. But meditating means ‘thinking about’ and not mechanical repetition of a word or combination of words.

The Tribune – First SGPC meet at Teja Singh Samundari Hall

Amritsar, November 25 The Amritsar administration has announced the venue and timing of the first meeting of the newly elected SGPC members scheduled to take place on December 5.

As per a release issued here today, the meeting would be held at the Teja Singh Samundari Hall, which houses the SGPC headquarters, here at 1 pm on December 5.

The meeting would witness co-option of 15 members, which includes five from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh while the remaining 10 from other states of the country.

The SAD had swept the SGPC elections held in September, winning 157 of the 170 seats. The remaining 13 went to others, including Independents, Panthic Morcha and SAD (Amritsar). (TNS)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111126/punjab.htm#19

Dawn – Pakistan protests attack ‘in strongest terms’ with Nato, US

26 November 2011

Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday lodged a protest “in the strongest terms” with Nato and the United States over an attack on a Paksitani border post, which security officials said killed 20 soldiers.

“Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the Nato/ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) attack on the Pakistani post,” the foreign ministry announced.

“On his directions, the matter in being taken up by the foreign ministry, in the strongest terms, with Nato and the US,” it added. (AFP)

http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/26/pakistan-protests-attack-in-strongest-terms-with-nato-us.html