Amritsar, Dec 11 (IANS) Bowing to pressure from various quarters, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Tuesday removed the portrait of British General Reginald Dyer, who had ordered his troops to open fire on innocent Indians at the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, from the Sikh museum inside the Golden Temple complex.

Hundreds of unarmed men, women and children fell to the bullets of the British soldiers in the unprovoked firing ordered by Dyer at Jallianwala Bagh, an enclosed garden inside the walled city, located close to the Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple), on April 13, 1919.

He has been labelled as the 'butcher of Jallianwala Bagh'.

Dyer's portrait remained in the Sikh museum for several years before a local organization, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Youth Forum, objected and forced the SGPC to remove it.

The forum has questioned how the SGPC never thought of installing a portrait of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in the museum instead. SGPC sources here said Bhagat Singh's portrait is likely to be installed shortly.

Bhagat Singh's birth centenary is being celebrated this year. The Parliament House in New Delhi will also soon have his portrait.

The SGPC is already facing criticism for the controversial installation of a portrait of separatist Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the museum recently. He has been mentioned as a Sikh general who fought the Indian Army. In official records though, he remains a terrorist who was killed in the army's Operation Bluestar here June 1984.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/news/article_1380274.php/

SGPC_removes_Gen_Dyers_portrait_from_museum

Chandigarh, Dec 11 (IANS) A descendant of Sai Hazrat Mian Mir, a Muslim Sufi saint from Lahore in Pakistan who laid the foundation stone of the holiest of Sikh shrines - 'Harmandar Sahib' (Golden Temple) - demanded that area in the one-kilometre radius of the shrine should be declared a holy zone.

Sai Makhdoom Syed Chan Pir Qadri, the 19th descendant of Mian Mir, called on Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Tuesday, and demanded that shops selling meat, wine and tobacco should be banned in the one-kilometre holy zone around the shrine in view of the sanctity of the shrine.

Qadri was here on a visit from Pakistan.

Qadri showed a few belongings of the fifth Sikh guru - Arjan Dev - to Badal. These included a prayer beads, a necklace and another necklace belonging to the guru's wife.

He also demanded the setting up of a visa office at Amritsar to facilitate people wanting to visit shrines and other places in Pakistan.

Mian Mir had laid the foundation stone of the Sikh shrine in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in 1588. The shrine, under the supervision of guru Arjan Dev, was completed in 1604. Mughal emperor Akbar donated the land for the shrine in 1574.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service

 http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/news/article_

1380226.php/Holy_zone_around_Golden_Temple_demanded

Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims joined Britain's equality watchdog in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas without worrying about offending non-Christians.
   
"It's time to stop being daft about Christmas. It's fine to celebrate and it's fine for Christ to be star of the show," said Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
   
"Let's stop being silly about a Christian Christmas," he said, referring to a tendency to play down the traditional celebrations of the birth of Christ for fear of offending minorities in multicultural Britain.
   
Suicide bombings by British Islamists in July 2005 which killed 52 people in London have prompted much soul-searching about religion and integration in Britain, a debate that has been echoed across Europe.
   
The threat of radical Islam, highlighted by the London attacks, prompted reflection about Britain's attitude to ethnic minorities and debate about whether closer integration was more important than promoting multiculturalism.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1499337