497.The Man in Blue – The Khalsa Principles

I think that Guru Gobind Singh laid down the Khalsa principles in order to make sure that the Sikhs, although using violence to fight against injustice, would not leave the narrow path that leads to God.

If you want to understand Guru Gobind Singh’s concept of Sant Sipahi (saint-soldier) you only have to look at the example set by Bhai Ghanaya, who cared for  all the wounded after the battle.

In spite of hardship suffered by the Sikhs caused by the Mughal government, Bhai Ghanaya kept seeing God’s presence in all. Bhai Ghanaya had just been part of fierce fighting, but he was not possessed by ‘krodh’ (anger), and served all the wounded, whether Mughal or Sikh.

Many Sikhs these days are angry. They are angry with the Muslims because of the terrible things that happened during partition in 1947 and they are angry with the Hindus because of what happened in India in the seventies and the eighties.

I understand why they are angry and it is of course easier for me not to be angry.  I did not have to leave my home and lost many relatives in 1947 and neither I nor any of my relatives suffered during the attack on Harmandar Sahib or during the anti-Sikh pogroms after the murder of Indira Gandhi in 1984.

So if you feel that I am criticising you for failing the Guru’s very high standards, know that I understand your anger and know that I too make many mistakes. I can write nicely about kám (lust), krodh (anger), lobh (greed), moh (attachment) and ahankar (pride), but I struggle with these human inclinations like everyone else.

Let us not forget the past, neither the good nor the bad things, but let’s not look back in anger, as anger will damage us more than it will damage those who think that they should be our enemies.

A Gursikh, a Khalsa should be somebody who sees God in All, who will not judge a person on their label, but will judge only on their actions. Remember that there are plenty of rotten apples amongst us before we judge the Muslims or the Hindus.

Remember that in 1947 many Muslims were massacred or forced to leave the homes in which they had lived for generations. Remember that in the days of Mughal persecution and during partition some Muslims stood up for humanity. Equally in 1984 in Delhi there were Hindus who stood up against injustice.

And let us not be naive about the eighties in Panjab, we cannot blame all crimes against humanity on others. To me it is clear (and understandable) that many acted in anger against ‘the Hindus’ or the ‘Government agents’. We should not use suffering as an excuse for not being Guru’s Khalsa. Khalistan can only be achieved if we practise Sikhí, otherwise it will just be another corrupt South Asian state.

United Sikhs – Sikhs win Turban Case Against France at the UN

“The UN Human Rights Committee has asked France to submit a report by March 15th on measures it is taking to remedy the violation of the religious freedom of 76 year old Ranjit Singh,who was asked to remove his turban for his ID photo” said Mejindarpal Kaur, United Sikhs Legal Director, who is in the fore-front of a legal campaign for French Sikhs’ right to wear their turban.

Bobigny, France, 12 Jan 2012 – The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has concluded that France had violated the religious freedom of 76 year old Ranjit Singh when he was asked to remove his turban for his ID photograph. This was disclosed today at a media conference, in Bobigny (near Paris), by the UNITED SIKHS legal team, who had filed a communication on behalf of Ranjit Singh to the UNHRC in December 2008.

The media conference was told that the UNHRC observed that “even if the obligation to remove the turban for the identity photograph might be described as a one-time requirement, it would potentially interfere with the author’s (Ranjit Singh’s) freedom of religion on a continuing basis because he would always appear without his religious head covering in the identity photograph and could therefore be compelled to remove his turban during identity checks.”

The Committee said that France had failed to explain how the Sikh turban hindered identification since the wearer’s face would be visible and he would be wearing the turban it at all times, therefore, the regulation constituted a violation of article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which was entered into force for France on 4 February 1981. You may read the Committees views in full here. The views were adopted at the 102nd session of the Committee’s sitting.

“I had faith that truth and justice would prevail and I patiently waited for this day. I pray that France will now fulfil its obligation and grant me a residence card bearing my photo without baring my head,” said Ranjit Singh, who despite his ill-health has had no access to the public health-care system or to social benefits since 2005 because his residence card was refused due to his refusal to remove his turban.

“United Sikhs is heartened by the Committee’s observations that France is under an obligation to provide Ranjit Singh with an effective remedy, including a reconsideration of his application for a renewal of his residence permit and a review of the relevant legislative framework and its application in practice. France, the Committee noted, is also under an obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations in the future,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, United Sikhs Legal Director, who addressed the media conference.

“We now look to France to fulfil its treaty obligations under International law and its moral duty to ensure that the freedom of religion and belief is upheld for everyone who lives within its territory,” she added.

“We are very pleased with the views that the Committee adopted and we welcome France’s compliance with these findings. We also look forward to a similar resolution for Shingara Singh, whose case is still pending before the Committee,” O’Melveny & Myers, a New York law firm engaged by United Sikhs, said in a statement through their attorneys who spoke during a telephone interview. A decision is still awaited for Shingara Singh, whose passport has not been renewed by France because he refused to remove his turban for his ID photograph.

Issued by:
Mejindarpal Kaur, Legal Director
International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy ( ICHRA)
United Sikhs law@unitedsikhs.org +33 605800605 +44 8701993328

www.unitedsikhs.org

The Tribune – 81% milk adulterated in Punjab

Ruchika M. Khanna, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 12 In the land of milk, the quality of milk that you get in your home every morning is simply dependent on the milkman. No wonder, Punjab has gained notoriety for having high levels of adulteration in the milk sold across the state.

From adding water to packaged milk before selling it as loose milk to adding glucose powder and/or skimmed milk powder (SMP) in milk, milkmen are doing it all to make a quick buck. Thus the milk that you get each morning is certainly not as healthy as you would want it to be. The only solace is that harmful substances like urea, detergents or non-fat solids are not being used by the milkmen before he delivers it at your doorstep.

The National Survey on Milk Adulteration 2011 has revealed that 81 per cent of the milk supplied in Punjab is adulterated or substandard. This study says that 88 of the 109 samples taken by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India were found not conforming to standards. Most of the adulteration was found in the milk which is sold loose while the packaged milk samplers were found to be intact.

The average milk production in Punjab is around 257 lakh litres per day. Of this, 55 per cent of milk is retained by dairymen for personal use and 25 per cent is procured by organised dairy players for supplying it as packaged milk and other milk products. The remaining 20 per cent is procured by milkmen and sweet meat sellers, and it is in this milk that maximum adulteration has been found.

Though officials of Milkfed, Punjab, said they had not yet seen the report, they confirmed the supply of adulterated milk by milkmen in the state. “In case of packaged milk, all companies have a strict quality control, but there is no check on the quality of loose milk that a vast majority of the population still consumes. In the past, we have held camps where we asked consumers to get their milk samples checked. Even now, we ask consumers to get the samples at any of our Verka milk plant for a quality check,” said a senior official in R&D cell of Milkfed.

He said in most cases, the milkmen buy full cream packaged milk and then dilute it with water. “This reduces the fat content in the milk, although the milk is not without fats,” said the official.

Milking Profits

- As per a national survey, 88 of the 109 samples taken by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India were found not conforming to standards

- Most of the adulteration was found in the milk which is sold loose by milkmen while the packaged milk samples were found to be intact

- From adding water to packaged milk to adding glucose powder or skimmed milk powder, milkmen are doing it all to make a quick buck

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120113/punjab.htm#15

The Hindu – Polio free year, India’s greatest public health achievement: WHO

Washington, 13 January 2012. The United Nations and leading world organizations celebrated India’s first polio free year and termed it as a major milestone in their fight against this dreaded disease.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan, termed it as the “greatest public health achievement” of India, the Bill Gates, of Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation described it as a major milestone in the global fight against polio.

“This is a major milestone in the global fight against polio. Children in India are now protected against this debilitating, but preventable disease, bringing us one step closer to saving and improving the lives of all children,” Mr. Gates said.

Mr. Gates in particular congratulated the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, the Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal on this achievement.

This success is the result of Indian Government’s hard work and great partnerships with Rotary International, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO and UNICEF as well as millions of volunteers, health workers and community leaders, said the Seattle-based foundation.

Celebrating the occasion, the World Health Organisation said, if all pending samples for the virus test negative, India — once regarded as the world’s epicentre for polio — will become free of the disease for the first time in its history, reducing the number of polio-endemic countries to three: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

“India’s success is arguably its greatest public health achievement and has provided a global opportunity to push for the end of polio,” WHO Director General, Margaret Chan said.

U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake attributed India’s remarkable progress to strong leadership at a national and state level, which pushed for the launch of a comprehensive polio eradication programme that enabled very poor and populous states to have high immunization coverage.

“India’s achievement is proof positive that we can eradicate polio even in the most challenging environments — in fact, it is only by targeting these areas that we can defeat this evil disease,” Mr. Lake said.

Headquartered in the U.S., Rotary International, which was majorly involved in the polio-eradication campaign in India, termed it as a major milestone in the global effort to eradicate the crippling disease polio.

“With the support of their Rotary brothers and sisters around the world, Indian Rotarians have worked diligently month after month, year after year, to help organise and carry out the National Immunisation Days that reach millions of children with the oral polio vaccine,” Rotary International president, Karlan Banneker, said.

Rotary launched its polio eradication program in 1985 and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since then, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99 per cent, from more than 350,000 cases a year to only 604 in 2011.

The 12-month milestone in India — where the last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal on Jan 13, 2011 — continues the progress of 2010, when the country recorded only 42 polio cases out of 1,352 worldwide.

However, UN health officials still felt the need of being vigilant. In spite of the current progress, WHO warned that there is no room for complacency.

“It is a very welcome milestone, but it is not the end of the road,” WHO’s spokesperson for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Sonia Bari, told the UN Radio.

Ms. Bari said the Indian Government must remain vigilant and respond very rapidly to guard itself against any importation of polio from other countries. (PTI)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2798074.ece  

Sint-Truiden – Hasselt – Antwerpen – Rotterdam – Den Haag vv 26 and 27 November 2011

26/11, Antwerpen Centraal, Koningin Astridplein, De Lijn Tram 11

26/11, Antwerpen Centraal, high level

 26/11, Antwerpen Centraal, low level
Thalys Highspeed and IC trains to the Netherlands

 26/11, Antwerpen Centraal, low level
Thalys Highspeed and IC trains to the Netherlands

To see more Belgium/Netherlands Public Transport pictures go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622685920411/

More Belgian/Netherlands pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – India hopes dialogue with Pakistan will remain on track

Ashok Tuteja, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 12. India is keeping a close watch on the developments in Pakistan and hopes that the stand-off between the civilian government and the Army will not have a bearing on the dialogue process between the two countries.

Talking to reporters here today, Home Minister P Chidambaram stated that India was following the developments in Pakistan. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), at its meeting this afternoon, is understood to have taken note of the fast-evolving situation in Pakistan

Senior officials said what was happening in Pakistan was an internal matter of the neighbouring country but India would have to remain alert.

On whether there was any possibility of a military takeover in Islamabad, one source said the situation was so fragile that nothing could be ruled out. Though India would like democracy to flourish in Pakistan, it would deal with any dispensation that is at the helm of affairs in Islamabad.

But New Delhi believes that the dialogue process, which was resumed in February last year after a hiatus of two years following the Mumbai attack, would remain on track, notwithstanding the internal developments in Pakistan.

As of now, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma is scheduled to visit Pakistan next month to sign three agreements on removing non-tariff barriers in bilateral trade.

The Defence, Water Resources and Foreign secretaries of the two countries are also tipped to meet in the coming days as part of the second round of the dialogue process. The Indian Foreign Minister will visit Pakistan in July to review the progress in the second round of the dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart. However, all these plans could go awry if the situation in Pakistan goes out of control, the source added.

The sense in strategic circles is that the situation was not conducive for a takeover by the army in Pakistan, since the country was passing through an unprecedented economic crisis. It would be difficult for the army to manage the affairs of the state. Pakistan is facing an acute resource crunch on the petroleum front and even its key allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have refused to extend the credit time limit for the country.

There is a feeling here that the army would prefer to remain in the barracks at this stage as its image has already taken a beating due to recent developments, particularly the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US forces at Abbottabad.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120113/main4.htm

BBC News – High-profile dissidents freed in Burma amnesty

BBC, 13 January 2012. Several high-profile dissidents have been set free in Burma in the latest in a series of prisoner amnesties.

Those freed included Min Ko Naing, who was one of the leaders of a failed pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

Former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who was detained in a purge in 2004, has also been freed from house arrest.

State TV had announced that 651 prisoners would be freed under a new presidential pardon, but did not say how many would be political prisoners.

Burma has faced calls from the international community to free more dissidents.

The BBC’s South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says given the stature of those set free, this could be the most significant breakthrough yet in Burma’s moves towards reform.

‘Positive sign’  

Min Ko Naing was considered by many to be the most high-profile political dissident still to be behind bars.

A crowd greeted him as he emerged from prison in Thayet, 545 km (345 miles) north of Rangoon, the Associated Press reports.

Another veteran member of Burma’s 88 Generation Students, Nilar Thein, confirmed to the BBC that she had been freed from Tharya Wadi prison.

The activist served eight years in prison after the 1988 demonstrations and was jailed again in 2007 for 65 years for illegally using electronic media.

“I’m healthy and happy to be released and happy to see my baby. I was released today along with nine other political prisoners in Tharya Wadi prison but there are still 25 more left inside,” she told the BBC.

Her husband, Kyaw Min Yu, known as Ko Jimmy, has also been freed, as well as Htay Kywe, a student activist also jailed in 2007 for 65 years.

U Khun Tun Oo, the most senior political representative of the Shan, the largest of Burma’s ethnic minorities, has also been freed.

The party of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the move was a “positive sign”.

“We welcome the release. Some [dissidents] are on their way home already,” AFP news agency quoted a spokesman as saying.

Reform process

Burma’s new government has freed a number of political prisoners since embarking on a process of reform.

The military-backed civilian government came to power in November 2010, after the country’s first elections in 20 years. Before that Burma was governed by a military junta.

It has freed Aung San Suu Kyi and entered into dialogue with her and her National League for Democracy party. Ms Suu Kyi is now expected to stand for parliament in a by-election in April.

Western nations have welcomed the reform process but called on the government to release political prisoners and resolve ethnic conflicts in border regions before sanctions can be eased.

No official tally of the number of political prisoners is available but prior to Friday’s releases opposition groups estimated that between 600 and 1,000 remained in custody.

Hopes of a significant release were raised on Thursday when the announcement said detainees would be freed so they could help in the task of nation building.

The releases come a day after the government signed a landmark ceasefire with a rebel group.

The ceasefire was agreed at talks with the Karen National Union (KNU) in Hpa-an, capital of eastern Karen state. The Karen have fought for greater autonomy for more than 60 years.

Analysis

Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

This is a positive trend. Burma would like to prove to the world that it is committed to reforms.

I have been talking to key decision makers in both Burma and the US about the possibilities of sanctions being lifted. If Burma continues with this pace, it is very possible that sanctions may be lifted within two years, in time for Burma taking over the Asean chair in 2014, if not before that.

The international community will want more and I think we will see more. A key thing to look at is the future relationship between the military and the government. President Thein Sein will have to find a balance – not too fast, too soon, or too slow, too little.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16540871