Sikh News Discussion – Sikh Federation (UK) raises opposition to death penalty with Prime Minister David Cameron before his visit to India next week and launch a massive international lobby

12 February 2013

The Sikh Federation (UK) has written to UK Prime Minister, David Cameron ahead of his planned visit to India next week.

The letter and other communications by the Sikh Federation (UK) with Ministers at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have urged David Cameron to raise UK and EU opposition to the death penalty in India.

The opposition to the death penalty has also been raised with French President, Francois Hollande who will be visiting Delhi on February 14-15. This visit will be followed by David Cameron who is also expected to pay his respects at the Harmander Sahib Complex in Amritsar.

Bhai Amrik Singh, Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK) said: ‘The UK and France are two of the five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council opposed to the death penalty.  They are expected to voice their concerns in person with the Indian authorities about the worrying and backward trend of the reintroduction of hangings with two in the last three months.’

The letter from Bhai Amrik Singh, Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK), to David Cameron states: ‘The British Sikh community along with many others were alarmed to learn about the latest hanging in India on Saturday. That makes it two hangings in three months and there are worrying signs India has permanently moved backwards as regards the abolition of the death penalty.’

‘The latest hanging is highly provocative and suggests India is signalling a challenge to over 110 nations, including all EU countries, which have rightly turned their back on the barbaric use of the death penalty.’

‘The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has had much correspondence from MPs representing the Sikh community about the plight of Balwant Singh Rajoana and Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar in recent years and we fear the politics in India at the present time will mean they could easily go to the gallows in the next few weeks.’

‘We understand you will be in India next week and are also likely to visit the Harmander Sahib (Golden Temple) Complex and sincerely hope you will not shy away from publicly condemning India for carrying out two hangings in the last three months and urge them to immediately reinstate the moratorium against the death penalty.’

In addition, the Sikh Federation (UK) has written to Baroness Stern as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and communicated with Fabian Hamilton MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for UK Sikhs urging them to also write to David Cameron.

Khalsa Human Rights, the human rights wing of the Sikh Federation (UK) has also issued a letter that can be sent to MPs and MEPs to try and stop the imminent hanging of Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar and Balwant Singh Rajoana. Gurdwaras have been urged to get Sangat to sign these letters in large numbers as soon as possible and send to MPs.

The Sikh Federation (UK) has also set in motion activities at the European Parliament in Brussels and at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Jagtar Singh
London

Tarlochan Singh Nahal – NRIs not ready to give satisfaction certificate to Panjab

I just spent almost a month in Punjab. I will write more about my experiences later.

Jalandhar district is the hub of so-called NRIs. It is too common to see insides of most Punjabi villages in ruin. The buildings have either totally collapsed or collapsing fast. Our two family homes have become ruins because no one has lived in them for the last almost 30 years. The front wall and entry door of our ancient and actual ancestral home (almost 250 years old) still stands and reminds one that it must have been an elegant house built with taste and style by my forefathers.

It has the same type of entrance that you see in very ancient buildings with arches and niches. The wall is about 36-inch wide and made of Nanakshahi bricks. The rest of the house was rebuilt by my uncle about 50 years ago. He left for England shortly after that and never returned. His children ara living over there. None of them will return.

The house that I built with my own hands in my younger days has collapsed.

I spent some time carefully looking at my neighbourhood. House after house is empty. Some people, mostly those who have
settled in the UK a long time ago have built magnificent bungalows, but none of them live here. They are occupied by their servants or relatives. After sometime they are likely to claim ownership of them.

I also visited my elementary school, the village Gurdwara and met with my old friends and cousins, nephews and nieces. The school building has significantly improved thanks to NRI money. I met with the Headmaster and another young teacher. They were both nice and were surprised to know that I was student of the same school almost half a century ago! The 3rd teacher was busy teaching a class. It was heartening to see your boys and girls in the class. They were better dressed than were were as they have a formal dress and we didn’t!

If a face is a mirror of one’s happiness and internal joy, that mirror looks very dim and without a shine in Punjab.

People are just living and breathing dirty air and eating unhealthy food.

Weddings are a big business. In fact, it is a super big business.  NRI shopping sprees are also a very big business. Most shopkeepers wait for the NRIs to come and shop. This year they were dismayed that not too many NRIs visited Punjab.

It was extremely cold between December 27 and January 7th. Then suddenly the weather changed and it turned sunny and warm around January 8th. It kept getting sunnier and warmer since then. The weather pattern changes at or around Maghi/Lohri (January 12 or 13).

People just live Bhangra and enjoy trashy songs. I have never seen Punjabi young men and women as unhealthy as now. While there are glimpes of hope here and there, the overall picture is dismal. It is impossible for the Punjabi youth to get any gold medal in any sport in the Olympics in the foreseeable future. The so-called leagues have brought money to the players and they do not have the internal fire and the ‘killing instinct’ in sports.

I was invited to deliver two lectures at Punjabi Universrity Patiala – by Sri Guru Granth Sahib Studies Department, and the other by the Department of Distance Learning. They were both related to Sikhi. One was around December 28th. The other one was on January 7th. Both were very well attended. The one on Jan. 7th was quite enormous and attended by about 250 intellectuls, mostly college professors and research scholars. Two vice chancellors were also among the speakers. I will share my thoughts on this at a later date.

Tarlochan Singh
tnahal99@yahoo.com
Posted to Sikh News Discussion

521.The Man in Blue – Sat Nám

On the ‘Sikh News Discussion’ yahoo group some members are discussing Nám and although the participants are meant to be ‘learned’ gentlemen, they all seem  keen to narrow down Nám to either one word or to specific texts.

I am only a sixteen year old Singh and do not claim to fully understand God and his or her nature. I also do not have a handy exact definition of what Nám means, just like I am not arrogant enough to even try to define God.

But I will explain my understanding of Nám without entering in the dialogue of the deaf that goes on in the ‘Sikh News Discussion’ group.

Nám is introduced to us by Guru Nanak on page 1 of the Guru Granth Sahib and is the third word after the figure one, the word Ongkár and the word Sat. This opening line, which Bhai Gurdas named the Mul Mantr, contains nine words/ combinations of words that all point to God.

Seven of those highlight aspects of God, but I think that the first two are more comprehensive. Ongkar is often explained as highlighting God who is both All-pervading and Almighty, both Imminent and Transcendent (inside all and over and above all) or Nirgun and Sargun (no qualities and all qualities).

Sat Nám is an even more all compassing statement. Sat of course means true, but it has been explained to me that in this context it is as if you are saying with much emphasis: Nám IS. So What or Who IS ? There is of course only one possible answer in a spiritual context: God IS, God IS the Absolute Truth.

I think that Nám is something like the Godly essence, the Godly principle and/or the Godly constitution of the Universe. Nám is present in all Gurbaní and in all other truly spiritual writings. Like God Nám is infinite and all-pervading, present on and in the planet Earth, in our solar system, our milky way and other milky ways, in the entire universe.

You and I are part of that system and therefore are part of Nám, and equally words like Vahiguru, Nirankar. Saibhang, Mukande, Paramatma and other descriptions of qualities of God are part of Nám, but they are not Nám.

You can do Nám simran using such words, you then do what is also mentioned in Gurbani, you sing God’s qualities. As we are only humans it is highly unlikely that we would come to a full understanding of all that is contained in Nám, or of all the different qualities of God.

Instead of trying to restrict God to one word we should be happy to have in the Guru Granth Sahib a guide that shows us the awe inspiring greatness of The One ! In the Gita Krishan showed Arjun the image of God, but God has such radiance that Arjun could not see God, just like you cannot look straight at the sun.

Our highest authority is the Guru Granth. This article reflects my understanding of our Guru. I hope I have not made too many mistakes.

Sikh News Discussion – Sikh Federation (UK) take up case of false arrests of Bhai Kulbir Singh Barapind and Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu

Khalsa Human Rights, the human rights arm of the Sikh Federation (UK) has today issued an urgent appeal regarding the false arrests and treatment of Bhai Kulbir Singh Barapind and Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu.

The Sikh Federation (UK) now have a number of teams that are each taking this forward.

One team runs Khalsa Human Rights and has issued the urgent action appeal and is taking the matter up with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Another team is taking the matter up with UK MPs and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Other teams are taking up the matter with Members of the European Parliament and European Commission contacts that deal with India and sharing concerns with staff at the UN Human Rights Council who work for UN Special Rapporteurs.

The urgent appeal is also being sent to Sikh Federation contacts across Europe to take up with their respective governments.

A team in Switzerland will take up the matter directly with NGOs in Geneva and at the UN Human Rights Council.

The urgent action appeal is also being shared more widely with human rights contacts and Sikh organisations in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Jagtar Singh, London, UK
jagtarkhalsa@yahoo.com