The chief constable of West Midlands Police yesterday spoke of the force's role policing a Sikh demonstration outside its headquarters which he described as a "very difficult episode".

As part of a report made to the West Midlands Police Authority yesterday, Sir Paul Scott-Lee said a police presence was necessary at the demonstration which was sparked by claims that a Sikh woman had been forced to convert to Islam.

The teenage student, thought to attend Sutton Coldfield College, was placed under police protection after an armed gang smashed their way into a house in Erdington in May and threatened the occupants, apparently in search of her.

Concerns had been raised by members of the community that she had been held against her will.

At the time, the police confirmed the teenager had been placed in protection and was safe and well. It has since been claimed that she converted by choice.

The chief constable said Operation Resemble, the name given to the policing of the planned march from Soho Road to Lloyd House earlier this month, was set up to ensure it passed peacefully.

full story

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/news/tm_headline=police-chief-tells-of-sikh-demo-challenge%26method=full%26objectid=19375399%26siteid=50002-name_page.html

Defence chiefs have abandoned plans to raise a regiment of British Sikhs amid fears that the move would be branded racist.

The proposal to create the regiment, reminiscent of those that fought for Britain in the two world wars, was dropped by the Ministry of Defence after discussions with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).

Sikh leaders had informed Army recruitment officers that they could easily find enough volunteers to form a 700-strong regiment. However, despite the infantry being under strength by 3,000 soldiers, the offer was rejected.

Lieutenant General Sir Freddie Viggers, the Adjutant General with responsibility for recruitment, is understood to have accepted the argument put forward by race commissioners at the CRE that creating a Sikh regiment would be divisive and amounted to "segregation"....

Kuljit Singh Gulati, the general secretary of the Sikh Temple in Shepherd's Bush, west London, said: "The Sikhs have a long and distinguished heritage of serving with the British Army.

"I know there are many, many Sikhs who would join up and would serve wherever required. But if you want to get them in large numbers they need their own regiment, something they would take a huge amount of pride in.

"They would regard it as very prestigious. It is a shame that it now looks as though it will never happen."

Leaders of Britain's 500,000 Sikhs were supportive of the idea of a new regiment....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/24/nsikh124.xml

Mourners lined up a street in Kent to pay their last respects to a Sikh cab driver and a prominent member of the community who was allegedly murdered.

Gian Chand Bajar, 71, died in hospital Thursday after being found severely injured in Gravesend while on duty last month. A man who intended to kill him apparently ran the cab over him.

Investigators have arrested and charged a 20-year-old man with the murder.

A fleet of 100 cabs followed the horse and carriage carrying his body from Gravesend to the crematorium. Black ribbons were tied around the wing mirrors of the cabs as a mark of respect.

Many members of the Sikh community gathered at the Guru Nanak Education and Sports Complex ground, a site where a new gurudwara is coming up. Bajar had worked tirelessly to build the 12 million pound gurudwara, which is nearing completion, Kent News reported.

"We cannot imagine how we will cope without him," said Verinder Bhoombla, Bajar's son-in-law. "He was a person who led by example, who was there not just for the family, but for the whole community."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=c1495fcc-a6f8-43d2-b364-b01e25b8ae42&&Headline=Hundreds+mourn+murder+of+Sikh+cabbie

By Crime Reporter

WITNESSES are being asked to come forward after a violent assault during which a Sikh's turban was knocked off his head.

A group of Asian men from the Sikh community were in Fort Gardens, Gravesend, when they were approached by a group of teenagers.

The teenagers were drinking beer and began playing football close to the men.

The football was then directly kicked towards the group, knocking the turban off one of the men.

The youths then started throwing stones, and when they were asked to stop, one member smashed a beer bottle and approached the men.

He punched one of them in the face, causing bruising and swelling to the victim's left eye.

The teenagers then shouted racist comments as they walked off towards the canal basin.

Police want to speak to anyone who witnessed the attack which took place on May 25 at around 5pm, or anyone who knows who the youths are.

The group is thought to be local and may have visited the gardens before.

They are all white and believed to be aged between 14-17-years-old.

Three girls and three boys made up the group and one of the girls was wearing a green top.

The boy who carried out the assault is described as around 5ft 6 tall and was wearing a white t-shirt.

Detective Constable Richard Debnam of Kent Police, who is investigating the case, said: "This mindless act of violence on law-abiding members of the local community will not be tolerated.

"Everybody should be able to enjoy the gardens and parks of Gravesend in peace without being subjected to this kind of harassment.

"I would encourage anyone who may have any information to contact us so that we can put a stop to this anti-social and destructive behaviour."

If you have information which may help police with their inquiries, or witnessed the incident, please call DC Debnam at Gravesend police station on 01474 565 282 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111.

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.1490533.0.witness_appeal_after_violent_assault.php

PRIMARY school pupils have welcomed a visitor from the Sikh community.

Roop Singh spent the day with students from Leyburn Primary School. Children from the town's other primary school, St Peter and St Paul's, also joined in the activities.

Mr Singh, from Leeds, started the day with a talk in assembly about perseverance.

He then talked to year three children about the significance of the symbols in the Sikh religion.

After lunch with boys from year five, he took part in arts and craft activities with children in year three again.

Leyburn primary deputy headteacher Lucy Hall said: "The children had a wonderful day and learnt a lot about a different religion and culture in a fun way.

"Some of the pupils thought it was the best day they had ever had at school.

"http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/newsbyedition/northyorks/display.var.1487122.0.sikh_visitor_entertains.php

By Sam Sheringham

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Monty Panesar, dubbed the ``Sikh of Tweak'' by U.K. newspapers, became England's highest-ranked spin bowler in 30 years after taking a series-leading 23 wickets against the West Indies.

Panesar, a 25-year-old Northamptonshire left-armer, surged to sixth in the world rankings today from 12th and earned praise from Derek Underwood, the last England spin bowler to feature as high in the sport's elite.

``Already he is a world-class spinner,'' Underwood, who took the last of his 297 Test wickets in 1982, told the Daily Mirror. ``I would love to think that he will go and pass me in the wicket-taking list. He certainly has the ability.''

Panesar's emergence as a spinner capable of dismissing leading batmen on all surfaces has given England's attack a dimension it has lacked for several years. Australia's leg- spinner Shane Warne, who retired from international cricket in January, and Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan are Test cricket's all-time highest-wicket takers.

Since bursting into the team last year, Panesar has taken 65 wickets in 17 Tests, six fewer than Underwood at the same stage of his career. Panesar has six five-wicket hauls to his name, one more than his predecessor Ashley Giles managed in 54 elite matches.

Throughout England's 3-0 series victory, the Windies batsmen struggled to cope with Panesar's range of flighted, turning deliveries. He snared six first-innings wickets at Lord's, his first 10-wicket match haul in Manchester and finished off the tourists with a four-wicket burst in Durham yesterday afternoon.

`Unbelievable Series'

While a dry pitch full of cracks in Manchester was conducive to spin, Panesar's displays amid damp, overcast weather at Lord's and Durham showed he was capable of deceiving batsmen whatever the conditions.

``It's been an unbelievable series,'' Panesar told the post-match presentation. ``I feel very lucky with the way things have gone.''

With the final Test drifting toward a draw yesterday afternoon, as England's seamers failed to break a partnership between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo, captain Michael Vaughan turned to Panesar.

Bravo went on the attack, lofting Panesar to the boundary before trying to repeat the shot and skying a catch to Ryan Sidebottom in the deep. Panesar then dismissed Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin in quick succession before ending the innings by bowling Chanderpaul, who had batted for almost 18 hours in the series without losing his wicket.

`Perfect' Delivery

Panesar's delivery to remove Ramdin drifted toward the right-hander's pads, dipped and spun sharply off the turf to beat the bat and clip the top of his off stump. Vaughan called it the ``perfect ball.''

``That delivery will be shown to left-arm spinners for a long time,'' said Vaughan. ``He's going to put a lot of good players under pressure.''

Panesar, the first Sikh to play for England, made an instant impact in Tests, claiming record century-maker Sachin Tendulkar as his first victim in March last year. Dropped in favor of Giles for the first two Tests of the Ashes series in Australia, he took five wickets on the opening day of the third match in Perth.

Panesar, who wears a patka head-covering and has a thick beard, is celebrated by fans for greeting his wickets with a leap and a wide-eyed charge at teammates. His tendency to drop catches and make fielding blunders has added to his popularity, prompting U.K. media to coin the phrase ``Monty-mania.''

Panesar's next challenge will be a three-Test series starting July 19 against India, whose batsmen have honed their skills on the spin-friendly pitches of the Asian subcontinent.

``He will know there are going to be tougher days to come and he will have to cope with them just as well as he has done with everything else so far,'' said Underwood. ``He will be in the England team for many years to come.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601077&sid=ayvgFqDax1A4&refer=intsports

By Rebecca Rosen Lum

CONTRA COSTA TIMES Article Launched: 06/18/2007 03:03:13 AM PDT

Floats festooned with flowers rolled through the streets of El Sobrante on Sunday as 8,000 Sikhs from the Bay Area and beyond celebrated an annual holiday that extols interfaith harmony. The "spiritual peace march" began at the Sikh Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, where tour buses brought worshippers from Stockton, Sacramento, and Yuba City. Nagar Kirtan has its roots in a traditional event commemorating the martyrdom of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Sahib Ji, who was tortured to death by India's Mogul rulers 401 years ago. The holy book Ji contains hymns sacred to religions and castes throughout India. The holiday's name literally means the singing of spiritual songs.

The more than 500-year-old Sikh faith began in the Punjab region of India. Today, adherents number nearly 23 million worldwide. Estimates in the United States range from 190,000 to 440,000.

Sikhs hold that all religions serve God and share a vision of love and peace. This is the second year the Sikh Center has made a community party of the holiday. The public ceremony serves to educate Americans, who have been known to confuse Sikhs with members of the Taliban. "America has gone from a Christian country to the most diverse nation in the world," said J.P. Singh, president of the temple, or gurdwara. "The education hasn't kept up."

Last year, Christian fundamentalists showed up to leaflet their disapproval of both the march and the faith. This year, a center delegation invited the faithful of other denominations to join it at Sunday's event in a show of harmony and mutual respect, Singh said.

"We got a very warm welcome from the Mormons," Singh said. "They sent us a very warm e-mail." Methodists also extended their hands, he said. Early Sunday, Sikh women in colorful shawls and men dressed in white sprayed the streets, then swept them clean to make way for the parade and its performers. Long ribbons of flowers swung from the main float, which carried the holy book.

A group of boys and girls from the Fremont gurdwara performed a precision Gatka martial arts routine that involved lots of leaping, spinning and split-second landings on deeply bent knees while tossing a lasso-style rope wheel from one to the other. Members of the Fremont temple drove a gilt replica of the Golden Temple in Punjab. Some parade watchers clasped their hands or bowed slightly as the procession passed by.

Earlier in the day, Graciela Lechon of El Sobrante drove to the hilltop center to inquire about the festivities. "The people were just so lovely and welcoming," she said. "I thought, what a wonderful opportunity to bring our communities together."

But as the procession moved downhill, a man inside a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall turned away. The congregation had refused to accept printed invitations to the event, Singh said. Regardless of the reception, believers say the story of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Sahib Ji bears some likeness to other faiths. "Arjun Dev Ji sacrificed for the nation," said Baljeet Sidhu, who came to this country two years ago. "He was placed on burning fire. Hot sand was put on his head. He was so peaceful he never cried." Ishvinder Pajmaj and Jitinder Kaur of Hayward carried orange banners bearing the circular Sikh symbol. "It means 'God is one,'" Pajmaj said. Posters on the floats spelled out Sikh virtues or quoted the Fifth Guru. "No one is my enemy, nor is anyone a stranger to me," read one.

Another listed prized social values: democracy, fortitude, freedom, liberty, status of women and egalitarianism.

Ten-year-old Harkiran Chahal's family drove from Rockland for the festivities.

"It's fun to look all around at all the different cities," she said, waiting in line with her two brothers for an Indian lunch, which the center provided for free.

The event ended with a two-hour ceremony in the gurdwara.

"This is only the second year," Singh said, panning the cheerful crowd. "It will grow."

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_6168710?nclick_check=1

A group of Sikhs from around Europe is issuing a legal challenge to the French law that bans the wearing of turbans on ID document photos. A case was lodged before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg on 11 June.

The director of United Sikhs, Mejindarpal Kaur, said that “if left unchecked, the French law, which undermines the freedom for thought conscience and religion, will have a domino effect on this freedom globally.”

The case before the ECHR will be the first such since France passed a law in March 2004 banning the wearing of religious symbols, including the Sikh turban, in public schools. A British Member of the European Parliament, Neena Gill, urged France and other EU member states to reflect upon the British model. “In Britain those wearing articles of faith including Turbans are treated equally. Many Turban-wearing Sikhs are police officers, army officers and judges. Therefore I would ask French authorities to reconsider their position and treat Sikhs as equal members of their society,” said Gill, who lives in the UK.

Shingara Mann Singh, 52, a French national for over 20 years, told journalists that his replacement driver’s licence was refused by the French authorities in 2005 and again in 2006. France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil D’Etat, has ruled that public security justifies a law which requires Sikhs to remove their turbans to be photographed for driver’s licences. “I will give up my head but not my turban, which covers my unshorn hair,” he underlined.

Shingara Singh’s lawyer, Stephen Grosz, told the press conference that “forcing a Sikh to remove his turban is an affront to his personal dignity and an insult to his religious beliefs. France is almost alone in imposing this unnecessary requirement,” he added.

Another lawyer, Francois Jacquot, from France, said that almost every country in the world where there is a Sikh community allows a Sikh to wear his turban on ID photographs. An estimated 10,000 Sikhs live in France. Gill said Sikhs were facing similar problems in Belgium and Germany also.

http://www.secularism.org.uk/sikhschallengefrenchturbanban.html

At work last week I took the opportunity to ask a Sikh colleague about her approach to her faith. she was a little pressed for time, and simply replied: "it's very strict." I immediately thought that if a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim all gave that reply to the same question we would probably make 3 different assumptions: perhaps it is hard to keep a kosher kitchen in a gentile environment, or the Christian teachings on personal morality are tough to follow, or maybe Islam's five pillars place a great deal of stress on the individual.

It's not just a question of faith, though. If an indigenous Briton complains about their faith's strictness, we tend to put it down to their own personal circumstances (eg work situation, or teenage hormones); but for the rest we assume it's a conflict between an inflexible and outdated set of beliefs and the liberal, modern, western world. Given that the Christian Church is constantly at loggerheads with secular figures in the west, the diversity of muslim faith, and the fact that the Sikh religion is far younger than most people seem to think; is this not just another example of one rule for "us", and another for "them"

Soon after the 7/7 bombings in London , it came to the attention of ethnic confusion Britain that the media can really add to the problem that already exists with reference to social cohesion and differentiation of race, creed and religious groups.

Definitions of confusion

It came to my attention that an article had been published which would arguably lead to more bias/attacks on Sikhs in Britain/Europe. An image of a Sikh girl with a turban getting on to a London underground Tube  was used in article 'After the bombs'. This was in the context of a series of articles about Islamic extremist and the 7/7 bombings. The question we need to ask ourselves was this is a genuine mistake or is their something more sinister that lurks beneath the veneer of everyday media? Do the media help or hinder social cohesion and differentiate between 'Asians' and what are deemed as others? are we helping the indigenous British embrace others alien to them with this coverage?perhaps they are only considering sensationalism and have not even thought to ponder the ramifications of their writing.

Tony Blair yesterday described the media 'like Feral beast.'

I attach the link to an article that i make reference to above and the image which caused shock and awe, in addition to the response from the editor further to complaints. I think you will agree this kind of press leads to further ethnic confusion Britain.

http://www.panthic.org/news/124/ARTICLE/1743/2005-09-04.html

NEW YORK: Angry over non-payment of wages and exploitation at workplace, a group of Indian-American Sikh construction workers have filed a lawsuit against their employers in a city court.

In the complaint filed on Tuesday, the workers, all members of New York Construction Workers United (NYCWU), a worker's body, alleged that even after putting in long hours of work in dangerous conditions they were not fully paid and often discriminated against.

"I was paid only $1,000 by my employer. Sometimes we have to work with our bare hands because the contractor won't give us equipment. And there is so much discrimination in who gets hired so we don't always get steady work," Kalvinder Samra, one of the complainant said.

Samra added that physical threats and harassment on the job are common. He hoped that other workers would see his coming forward as a sign that they must also protest injustice. "We have to fight together for justice and real change in our industry," he said.

Similarly, Jaswinder Singh, Gurdev Singh, and Darshan Singh, all Sikh immigrants from India, worked on contract basis at a hospital in Queens. Their employer paid them for less than half the days they worked, IndoLink, an ethnic magazine reported.

Another Sikh, Balvinder Singh said he performed steam cleaning, pointing, and roofing work at a large residential building in the Bronx area over the course of two months in 2005 and 2006. Although he was promised over $15,000 for his work, he was paid only $3,000.

The New York State minimum wage is currently $7.15 per hour

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/The_United_States/Indian-American_Sikhs_sue_employers/rssarticleshow/2121149.cms

Sikhs have gone to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to challenge a French law banning the wearing of turbans for ID documents.

The United Sikhs organisation filed a complaint on behalf of French national Shingara Mann Singh, 52, who was refused a replacement driver's licence.

By law applicants have to remove all headgear for security reasons.

A French law adopted in 2004 also bans the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in state schools.