ECB is about differentiating Sikhs
from the word 'Asian.'
Its a Vision to help raise awareness
of Sikhs in the Western World,
their history,beliefs and identity.
Space is running out at the Sikh temple in Elsmere. On a Friday or Sunday evening during services, members squeeze together to sit in prayer. The women, backs against the wall, crowd into one room, the men in the other, and when those fill, any small nook will do.
To follow building code, temple organizers have set up two large services to accommodate the growing population. They're also planning an expansion this year on the existing grounds of the Elsmere property.
The growth, even for Sikhs -- a minority group within the Asian Indian community -- mirrors a boom found in the U.S. census.
In Delaware, the 2007 U.S. Census shows that Asian Indians, with 8,416 estimated members, are the second-largest immigrant group. Nationally, the census put the Asian Indian population at 2.5 million.
As a student at the University of Delaware, Bill Swiatek, now a senior planner with Wilmington Area Planning Council, documented the rise of the group in Delaware through research for his undergraduate and graduate thesis.
Delaware has attracted many Asian Indians, says Swiatek, largely because of the strengths of its industries. Swiatek found that many came as doctors and engineers in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
"Delaware was a big feeder," remembers Prem Tandon, an engineer who ended up in Delaware working for what was then a Getty refinery in Delaware City.
They were few in number but, like many immigrant groups, they came looking for opportunities with companies like DuPont, Hercules and others that coveted their skills.
"Forty years ago, it was much different," Tandon recalls. "There were probably a total of 15 of us. I don't blame the non-Indians for saying, 'That guy looks strange.' But now the Indian community has made great progress and we're in the mainstream."
Jitu Asthana, also an engineer, came to Delaware during that time with his wife. They were in Nashville for a while before landing in Delaware. It was easy to socialize with other Asian Indians here, he said, because the numbers were so small. They watched movies together, held parties, marked professional and personal strides together.
"But we made a big effort to get organized," he said.
Building a community
Organization is a skill not lacking in the wave of Indian immigrants that Asthana and Tandon arrived in.
Do a search of Delaware and Indian organizations and a small phone directory worth of names pop up: There's the Hindu Temple Association, the Gujarati Samaj of Delaware Inc., undergraduate student associations, graduate student associations, merchant groups and two Hindu temples on the long list.
Asthana and Tandon are part of the Indo American Association of Delaware, whose mission is to educate others about Asian Indians, to promote the Indian heritage for younger generations and to promote unity among the Indo-American community.
As Tandon is careful to point out, India is a big country and it certainly isn't made up of a monolithic group of people.
"India itself is so huge, there's so much diversity," he said.
You'll find the same diversity in Delaware's Indian population: Hindus make up the largest religious group, but, as the Elsmere temple shows, there are also Sikhs, Muslims and Christians.
But there is one thing that ties those groups together, Tandon says.
"Delaware is one of the best places to raise a family," Tandon said, and if you know anything about Indians, you know that family is big.
Swiatek, the researcher, said that those family ties seemed to have brought a second group of Indians to Delaware: the merchant class.
Sid Sharma, of Newark, who came to Delaware in the 1980s to study in nearby Drexel University said he noticed the rise of the merchant class as he drove between Delaware and Pennsylvania.
In a matter of years, Indian stores began cropping up one by one in Delaware, a change from when he first arrived and had to buy goods for home in Philadelphia. He also noticed something else about the new wave of arrivals.
"The person who came started bringing their families here, which were non-professional," he said.
Tandon added: "And it was good that they brought them. It made it more emotionally peaceful for Indians."
The families, and single members of the Indian community, would gather to socialize and watch Indian movies at UD, where Asian Indian student groups also started making their presence known.
Branching out
For the most part, Swiatek says, Asian Indians settled in exclusively "white middle class" areas in northern New Castle, mainly in Hockessin and Christiana. Because most were highly educated and fluent in English before they came, they were able to settle anywhere in the region.
Being part of the mainstream community is important to the professional class.
"I didn't want my kids to be different than Joe Blow on the street," Tandon said.
In the past decade, however, some things have changed. Swiatek has noticed that those in the merchant class have settled in some of the area's less-affluent neighborhoods and tend to congregate with one another more than the more professional groups did.
The population has gotten so big, the earlier arrivals say, that it's a lot harder to keep track of what each group is doing and what the new trends bring. They point out that Asian Indians have become part of the nation's mainstream. They point to Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, who is being touted as a rising political star, even as presidential material.
"The first generation who came were doctors or engineers," Tandon said. "Our kids have diversified. They used to be doctors or engineers. Now they are journalists and politicians."
However, while moving into the mainstream, they're careful to note that they haven't forgotten to honor their heritage.
"They see themselves as a hybrid, as being an Indian and an American," Swiatek said.
The next step, Tandon says, is to focus on helping those outside the Asian Indian community.
"The association is focusing on work we can do with the non-Indian community," Tandon said. "We feel we had the opportunity to stay here, make money and we can do something for the community and that is to provide charity. The more we do these things, the more comfortable people are and they don't feel, 'These are strangers.' "
A Sikh security guard who was asked to trade in his turban for a hard hat at a Milton Home Depot will have his case heard before the Human Rights tribunal today.
Deepinder Loomba has been fighting the hardware franchise for almost four years after a supervisor at a Home Depot construction site asked Loomba to wear a hard hat.
Loomba, who immigrated to Cananda in 2002 from Uganda, said the turban is part of the Sikh religion and his hair cannot be exposed in public. The incident occured in December 2005.
The Brampton resident said the external patrol he was conducting was not inside where construction was taking place but the company is arguing the whole perimeter including the entrance-way and desk where Loomba sat required a hard hat be worn.
After two failed mediations, the case is finally being heard today through Wednesday.
A LAMPETER university professor helped secure the conviction of two ultra-racists and set a legal landmark after giving expert evidence during a dramatic trial. It was a day like any other until Prof Dan Cohn- Sherbok, a Reform Rabbi and lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, took a call at his desk from the counter-terrorism section of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Two men, 51-year-old Simon Sheppard and 42- year-old Stephen Whittle, stood accused of inciting racial hatred after publishing a series of online arti- cles that scathingly attacked Judaism and denied the holocaust, whilst claiming that Anne Frank’s famous diary was fiction “written for her own amusement”. The conversation saw Prof Cohn-Sherbok recruited to give evidence for the prosecution in a trial at Leeds Crown Court, where he would later argue that Jews should be regarded as a ‘racial’ group - crucial for the charge to stick - rather than merely a religious one. “Essentially, these two had been using the internet to disseminate hateful material about Jews, blacks, women and others”, he said. “My brief was this: are the Jews a religious group or an ethnic group? “The distinction can be critical, because the law is different for each. “I had to ask for the meaning of ‘ethnic group’, and was given criteria from a previous court case about Sikhs - in that case, at the House of Lords, it was ruled that there were seven criteria, including a common language, being a minority, having a long history, etc. “Obviously the history of the Jews goes back to biblical times, which is nearly 4,000 years ago. “And Jews have the sacred language of Hebrew.” Jurors found both men guilty after three days of deliberations, but they fled to the United States, claiming political asylum, before being sentenced. Both remain in detention whilst their case is decided. Prof Cohn-Sherbok, himself from the US state of Colorado, returned to Leeds a second time for a further trial - conducted in the defendant’s absence - regarding a publication, Tales of the Holohoax, that the jury couldn’t decide on the first time round. “I made same case again”, he said, “and explained why the material was really anti-semetic and not just satire. “They accepted my argument, and this is of partic- ular importance because the Attorney-General was watching the case closely. “If they had been acquitted, [she] may have had to declare that anti-semitism wasn’t punishable by law. “It really is of critical importance to the British Jews - it means they’re protected by the law.”
After 90 years and a long campaign, the victims of a British atrocity in a holy city are being recognised as martyrs and freedom fighters by the Indian government
By Andrew Buncombe Friday, 9 January 2009
Alamy
The massacre at Amritsar (above) inspired Gandhi to become more involved in mainstream politics and was a turning point in the campaign for Indian independence
On a sweltering afternoon 90 years ago in April, a squad of Gurkha and Baluchi troops under the command of British officers marched into an enclosed park in the city of Amritsar and levelled their weapons. The park was densely crowded and there was only one way in and out. The officer in charge – General Reginald Dyer, whose name will forever be cloaked in infamy – then gave the order to fire.
Within 10 minutes the soldiers had fired 1,650 rounds, and hundreds of people lay dead, dying or wounded in the city's Jallianwala Bagh. General Dyer could not have realised that the massacre, and the outraged response it triggered, marked a crucial landmark in India's struggle for independence. Yet, despite the importance of the atrocity in the freedom struggle, the people who died there have never been officially recognised by the Indian government. Until now.
After a decades-long campaign by the relatives of those killed, officials have announced the dead shall be officially recognised as "freedom fighters". While it is unlikely any relatives will be able to claim compensation (that right was limited to spouses and daughters of those killed) the families say the decision marks the significance of what was one of the bloodiest and most shameful incidents of Britain's colonial rule in India, and the sacrifice of those killed.
"I am very happy indeed," said Nand Lal Arora, a marketing executive whose grandfather, Faqir Chand, was among those killed on 13 April 1919. The event was portrayed in Richard Attenborough's epic Gandhi. "My father and grandfather had gone to the park to hear the speeches. My grandfather was on the stage when the shooting started and he was killed. My father suffered a back injury. My grandfather and family did something for the country and I'm glad the government has decided to recognise it."
The massacre at the park, or bagh, in the holy city of Amritsar came against a backdrop of growing unrest within the Punjab and elsewhere in India against British rule. In the aftermath of the First World War, the Indian National Congress had stepped up its demands for greater autonomy for India and there had been unrest in several cities in the region and in Amritsar itself. Just two days before, a British woman had been attacked by a mob. Much of the agitation was in protest against the Rowlatt Act, anti-sedition legislation that gave the authorities unprecedented powers to prohibit meetings, newspapers and anything else considered a threat. Those people gathered in the park that afternoon did so in contravention of martial orders, to hear speeches against the Act. General Dyer, who had been born in India and spoke Urdu, then the lingua franca of large parts of northern India, had decided he needed radical action to impose order. Well before he marched his troops into the park, he had decided he would order them to fire if he found crowds gathered in contravention of his orders.
At the subsequent inquiry, General Dyer – who was ultimately forced to resign from the Army but who became a hero to many in Britain for his actions – told investigators: "I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself."
Asked if he had afterwards provided medical care for the injured, he responded: "Certainly not. It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there."
On a recent afternoon, Bhushan Behal, who heads an organisation of victims' families and who has fought for "freedom fighter" recognition for the past three decades, led The Independent on a tour of the Jallianwala Bagh, which was long ago converted into a memorial garden. Mr Behal said his grandfather, Harrar Behal, a lawyer who had been speaking that fateful day, was the first to be killed.
"He was on the stage, the first person shot, said Mr Behal. "We have the names of 464 people who were shot but maybe there were 2,000 in total who died [that day or later]. I am very happy by the government decision. I have fought for this for 30 years so we are feeling very happy."
The well-tended park is today a quiet, reflective place. But signs remind visitors that the ground now planted with roses is soaked with the blood of hundreds of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims and it is not hard to find signs of the violence wrought that afternoon 90 years ago by General Dyer and his men. A brick wall, specially preserved, still shows the deep marks from bullets. A short distance away is a well into which scores of desperate people leapt to escape the gunfire. A marble memorial marks the spot where the stage had been set up and where Mr Behal's grandfather and others had been speaking.
Another member of the group, Bobby Chouhan, who is not related to anyone killed in the incident but who has been campaigning, added: "The [lives of these] people helped the freedom movement. It was related to the freedom movement."
Historians agree. Professor Harish Sharma of Amritsar's Guru Nanak Dev University, said the massacre and the response in India and in Britain, was a decisive moment in the struggle for independence which would eventually be won in 1947. In particular, the killings inspired Mohandas Gandhi to become more involved in mainstream politics. He described the killings as "a calculated piece of inhumanity toward utterly innocent and unarmed men, including children, and unparalleled for its ferocity in the history of modern British administration". Mr Sharma said of the massacre: "This was a key event. It brought about a U-turn in the nationhood movement."
Nigel Collett, author of the seminal biography of General Dyer, The Butcher of Amritsar, agreed the massacre was instrumental in changing the direction of the freedom movement and convincing Gandhi that he could no longer stand on the sidelines. "It was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said. "He said he never trusted the British again. It was an important part of the national struggle."
The British government paid compensation to the victims' families in 1921. And in 1997 the Queen and Prince Philip visited the site, an occasion when the Duke of Edinburgh made one of his typical off-hand comments. Yet the Indian government moved to honour the victims only after a long struggle, not only by relatives of the victims but by the state authorities.
In a little-noticed directive issued late in December, the Home Ministry said the victims would be newly recognised, along with about 60 Indians killed by the British in 1872 in the so-called Kuka massacre. They will now join countless numbers of "freedom fighters" recognised for their role in India's independence, in incidents ranging from the events of the 1930s and 1940s to the Goan liberation struggle of 1955.
The communiqué said: "Respecting the sentiments of the Punjab government, the ministry is pleased to accord freedom-fighter status to the martyrs of Kuka movement of 1872 and that of Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. These massacres have been formally included in the national freedom movement."
There is an intriguing and just possibly remarkable footnote to the struggle for recognition for those killed at Jallianwala Bagh. On the edge of Amritsar, an old farmer who claims to be the sole survivor of the massacre shares a house with his son, grandson and great-grandson.
Shingara Singh says he was aged 23 at the time, which would make him 113. Opinion is divided about the veracity of his claims. The government of India has honoured him with a meeting with the President, but others who have examined his testimony, including Professor Sharma and Mr Behl, are adamant he could not have been there.
The old man with deeply creased skin and dressed in a bright orange turban, burned with anger when asked about the British military who committed the massacre. "I am angry," he said. "I want to kill the British who did this."
Mr Singh said he and others had been on the way to the Golden Temple but that it had been blocked by police and they instead gathered at the bagh. He told how the troops had entered the park, how they had begun firing and how people battled in vain to escape. Holding up his thin arm, he said he was shot in the biceps before he hid behind a low wall. "People were shouting, 'We are dying, we are dying'," he said.
As unlikely as it seems, is it possible that Mr Singh is a direct link to this event, a remarkable lone survivor? As he sat amid the quiet of the farmland where his family has grown wheat and rice for decades, Mr Singh was asked about those who doubted the truth of his story. In a moment, the old man's eyes flashed with anger. "Maybe you are hearing this from my enemies," he roared. "Just put them in front of me."
Local Sikh sues IRS after losing job over religious knife
A local Sikh woman sued the Internal Revenue Service this week, alleging that the IRS violated her religious freedom by prohibiting her from wearing a small ceremonial knife to her job as a revenue agent.
The lawsuit, filed in Houston federal district court on Tuesday, states that the IRS fired Kawaljeet Kaur Tagore in July 2006 because she refused to take off her kirpan, an article of faith that Sikhs are required to wear at all times. The blunt blade, worn sheathed, is intended to remind the bearer of a Sikh's duty to protect the weak and promote justice.
Tagore, 35, is the same woman who said she and her family were harassed by Harris County sheriff deputies in November after calling 911 to report a burglary at their home. An investigation by the sheriff's Internal Affairs Division is ongoing.
"Our government is tasked with securing our religious liberties, but in Ms. Tagore's case, both the federal government and the local government not only failed to secure her rights, but trampled on them," said Harsimran Kaur, legal director of the New York-based Sikh Coalition. "Both incidents underscore the governments' ignorance about Sikhism and about the kirpan in particular."
The coalition, along with the D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Houston civil rights attorney Scott Newar, filed the suit against the IRS on Tagore's behalf.
The IRS banned the kirpan as a so-called dangerous weapon, even though the government allows hundreds of sharp scissors, letter openers, knives and box cutters in the Mickey Leland Federal Building in downtown Houston, where Tagore worked, Newar said.
"There's never been any allegation that she had somehow taken the kirpan and used it as a weapon — that's not what its purpose is," Newar said. "It's a symbolic religious article that Sikhs have carried for centuries. It's like a Cross, it's like a Star of David, it's like any other religious ornament. It just happens to have a blade."
IRS spokeswoman Lea Crusberg declined to comment on pending litigation.
According to the suit, Tagore began working for the IRS in July 2004. On April 14, 2005, she was formally initiated into the Sikh faith.
After the initiation, a Sikh is obligated to wear five Sikh articles of faith, including the kirpan. The articles serve as a public expression of the Sikh faith.
"It's a religious uniform just like a Jew wears a yarmulke or a Priest wears a white collar," said Kaur, of the Sikh Coalition.
The articles must be worn at all times, even if a Sikh is threatened with the loss of property, freedom or life, she said.
A few days after her initiation Tagore began wearing a 9-inch kirpan sheathed under her shirt to work. She informed her IRS supervisor, who "expressed concern about her ability to carry her kirpan in her workplace," the lawsuit states.
Tagore agreed to carry a shorter kirpan to work. This one was 6 inches long with a 3-inch blade. It was not sharp or capable of inflicting bodily harm, and never triggered the Leland building's metal detector, the lawsuit states.
On April 20, Tagore provided the IRS with information about the kirpan and requested, through counsel, that she be allowed to carry it in the workplace. Her supervisor told her to leave. He said the kirpan violated agency rules of conduct and federal law prohibiting people from possessing knives with blades of 2.5 inches or longer in federal facilities.
Kaur, of the Sikh Coalition, said there's no prescribed length for a kirpan.
"It's really up to an individual and their understanding of the faith," she said. "For Ms. Tagore, she felt that she began carrying a smaller kirpan that was as small as her religious conscience would allow."
The IRS allowed Tagore to work from home for nine months, but in January 2006, the IRS director of field operations ordered Tagore to modify her kirpan and report to the Leland Building by the end of the month.
When Tagore showed up with the same kirpan, officers with the Federal Protective Service barred her from the building. She was fired in July 2006.
Tagore's lawsuit seeks lost pay and reinstatement with restoration of benefits and seniority, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
In the last few years, employers like AT&T and organizations like the International Monetary Fund have reversed bans against Sikh kirpans across the country, Kaur said.
Tagore, who later found a job as a tax consultant with a Houston firm, has no problem carrying a kirpan in her new office, she said.
Tagore did not return phone calls for comment. Kaur said she has been advised by her attorneys not to speak to the media.
Harris County sheriff's spokesman Paul Mabry said news of Tagore's lawsuit will not affect the ongoing internal affairs investigation into her family's alleged harassment by deputies, an incident sparked in part by the same kirpan.
Family members have said they called 911 on Nov. 26 when their home in the10800 block of Oak Bayou Lane was burglarized. But instead of investigating the break-in, they said, the responding deputy became alarmed when he noticed Tagore wore a kirpan on her hip. The deputy aimed his Taser at her and called for backup, Tagore has said.
Other deputies arrived and began cursing and handcuffing family members, including Tagore and her 60-year-old mother, relatives have said.
An insolvency adviser tells our correspondent about repossession, stupidity, sadness, and why he can’t see himself going into the red
Sathnam Sanghera
Gurinder Dulai couldn’t be better qualified for his job as an adviser on the National Debtline. He used to work as an independent financial adviser, so has excellent background knowledge. His composed demeanour, which would make even His Holiness the Dalai Llama seem highly strung, gives him the perfect telephone manner. And he comes from a Punjabi Sikh background, a religious grouping that, according to the Financial Services Authority, is among the best in Britain at making ends meet.
“Come to think of it, I’ve been here two years now and not taken a single call from a Punjabi,” he remarks as he puts on a Britney Spears-style telephone headset at the start of a day’s work. “Only a matter of time though.”
With the press of a button he is plugged into the National Debtline, which is run by the Money Advice Trust charity, and based on the eighth floor of a tower block overlooking Birmingham city centre. This time of year is always the busiest; and the economic downturn has resulted in a surge of queries. So much so that the Treasury recently announced an additional £5.85 million funding over two years, which means the National Debtline will be able to recruit 45-50 debt advisers during 2009, and be able to help about 175,000 people, compared with 115,000 in 2008.
The first call is from a fiftysomething unemployed man from Dorset, who has no assets to his name, receives no benefits and is in debt to the tune of £20,000. “My credit rating is shot to pieces,” he complains, sadly.
The next is from an unemployed and, frankly, stoned 19-year-old who claims he is being pursued by a debt collection agency for a mobile phone debt of £1,103. “It’s not my bill. My ex-girlfriend stitched me right up.”
There follow inquiries from a man in his twenties about how to claim back bank charges, and a call from a man in his forties who is being harassed by creditors for a debt of £12,000.
In each case Mr Dulai begins by establishing the caller’s circumstances, before running through various options, which could range from informally negotiating with creditors to bankruptcy.
It may sound like classic call centre work — but it isn’t. There is no fixed script, the advice ranges from the basic to the intricate, advisers spend no more than five hours a day on the phone (the rest of the time is spent handling e-mails and letters), and there are no rigid guidelines on how long conversations should last. Today one of Mr Dulai’s queries goes on for half an hour, while another, around midday, lasts barely a tenth of that time. It is from a 39-year-old single mother who works full-time but has sunk into £15,000 debt, having purchased a brand-new BMW last year.
“I think I need help,” she says. “I’ve missed a council tax payment and my creditors are on to me constantly.” Mr Dulai runs through the options open to her, but she loses patience at the mention of a personal budget. “Look, I just need a company which will manage my outgoings for me. One that doesn’t charge a fee.”
Mr Dulai informs her that he can recommend a company, but she still needs to do a tally of her income and outgoings before he can do so. “It’s all a bit time-consuming before Christmas, innit?”
The call ends abruptly, leaving a host of unanswered questions hanging in the air. “She wanted a magic answer on the phone,” said Mr Dulai. “Hopefully she’ll call back.”
At the end of his shift, a computerised summary tells him that he has taken 12 calls, spent an average of 18 minutes on each, and an average of seven minutes writing up notes on every case, in case the caller rings back. He has also replied to a letter, and sent an e-mail to a woman who earns £51,000 a year, but has been left heavily indebted after a divorce and her failure to sell a house (“It’s been on the market for nine months and I’ve sold my belongings on eBay. No one will help because I earn too much”).
Perhaps there is something liberating about hitting crisis point? “Maybe. Sometimes you catch up with people who have been in financial difficulties with massive mortgages, and they are now living in rented accommodation, and are much, much happier.”
And what about his own finances? Are they chaotic like so many financial professionals’ finances tend to be? Bet he has an impossible mortgage. “I live with my parents, actually.” Car? “I cycle to work.” Indulgences? “Food . . .” Aha! Eating out can be expensive. “To be honest, it’s more a case of finding the right ingredients for cooking.” Credit cards? “Only for emergencies, and internet shopping. I pay it off straight away at the end of each month, though. Punjabi thing, I suppose.”
Job description
Name Gurinder Dulai
Job Adviser, National Debtline
Age 28
Time in job Two years
Hours 35, 9am to 5pm
Holidays 28 days
Salary £30,500
Best thing about the job Showing a light at the end of the tunnel
Worst thing When clients cannot understand the advice
Easier clients? Younger, northern men
Tougher clients? Older, southern, wealthier. “The better off people are, the harder you have to work to get information out of them. It might be pride”
Author: Tejinder Singh at the EU-India Summit in Marseille, France 30 September 2008 - Issue : 802
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, at the concluding press conference of the European Union/India Summit in Marseille, France, stood next to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh wearing a light blue turban, as he answered this reporter's (Tejinder Singh) question about the wearing of turbans by Sikhs in France. Regarding the required Sikh head covering, an integral part of their religious identity, Sarkozy, replied curtly, "Sir, we respect Sikhs. We respect their customs, their traditions. They are most welcome to France."
Visibly irritated, Sarkozy continued, "But sir, we have rules, rules concerning the neutrality of civil servants, rules concerning secularism, and these rules don't apply only to Sikhs, they apply to Muslims or others. They apply to all on the territory of the French Republic." The practice by Sikhs of allowing one's hair to grow naturally is a symbol of respect, the most important of the five outward symbols required of all Sikhs, and the turban is worn to cover the uncut hair. Sarkozy explained that the banning of turbans is not discrimination, that, "These rules apply to everybody, to everybody with no exception. There is no discrimination whatsoever."
Making it clear to the Sikh community in France that they have no option other than to conform to the rules, Sarkozy made the paradoxical statement, "We respect their traditions and their customs and we are convinced that they too respect the laws, traditions and customs of the French Republic."
Discrimination begins early in France In 2004, three Sikh boys, Jasvir Singh, Bikramjit Singh and Ranjit Singh, were expelled from French schools for wearing turbans. These students were the first victims of the ban instituted which prohibits Sikh students from covering their hair at school, a decision that has prompted world-wide protest from the Sikh community. Commenting on the discrimination and its impact on children, Mejindarpal Kaur, the Director of United Sikhs, a worldwide Sikh organisation, stated in a press release that a preliminary survey of Sikh children affected by the French law found that 84 percent of the students interviewed were prevented from wearing head coverings to school. The survey also revealed that students had been expelled from French schools for refusing to remove their turbans, and many more suffered from alienation by their peers.
Also in 2004, Shingara Singh Mann, a French Sikh, reported he was prohibited from renewing his driver's license after it was lost in a theft because he was wearing a turban to cover his uncut hair.
On December 5, 2005 the French High Court ruled in favour of Shingara Singh Mann, giving him the right to wear his turban for his driving license identity photo, overturning an earlier decision by the French Ministry of Transport. But within 24 hours of the court decision, the Ministry issued a circular expressly forbidding turbans to be worn in driver's license photographs.
Kudrat Singh, Director of United Sikhs in France, said, "This is an example of oppression and discrimination which has not been seen in France for decades, and calls into question whether one can be both Sikh and French." According to legal opinions, the ban is a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which provides for right to freedom of religion.
MEP Gill urges EU action
Asked to comment, Neena Gill, a member of the European Parliament had said, "I am astounded by the level of discrimination that is in fact growing … it is not confined to France … it is in Belgium, in Germany and it really smacks against all these initiatives that the European Commission is constantly launching."
However, solutions aimed at nurturing "unity in diversity," the European Union's frequently appearing slogan, are already working in the United Kingdom, one of the member states of the European Union, and across the Atlantic in the United States.
Highlighting the integration and diversity that prevails across the English Channel, Gill, who was born in Punjab, India, said, "If you look at the United Kingdom, you can wear a turban not only in mainstream jobs but also in the police, the army, the air force or the navy. There is no restriction. In fact, the army has special days when they try and recruit people from the Sikh community and the Dastar (turban) is not a problem for them, so I really think we do need to raise awareness, especially from the European Commission in these particular years of Equality and Intercultural Dialogue. We have to target the resources at these issues to ensure that there is greater awareness across the EU in accepting people of different appearances."
US efforts to embrace Sikhs
Discriminatory incidents involving Sikhs increased dramatically as a consequence of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. There were numerous cases of discriminatory attacks on Sikhs as they were misunderstood as allies of Osama bin Laden due to their appearance.
While the US is making the effort to remove misunderstanding and give Sikhs their legitimate place in society, in some member states of the European Union, comparable progress and acceptance has flowed in reverse.
US lawmaker speaks out
US Congressman Mike Honda (Democrat-California), who represents Silicon Valley and who is involved in this issue in his capacity as Chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, told this correspondent, "I don't believe in sacrificing freedom in order to protect freedom. Turbans are part of the religious identity of Sikhs and we must strive to respect their freedom of religious expression. A balance can be struck between national security and religious liberties, but that balance can only be reached by consulting all the parties involved, in this case the Sikh community."
"It would be ironic that many Sikhs, who fled their homeland seeking religious freedom, would find that America curtailed their religious freedoms when they arrived upon our shores," Honda had added.
The root cause of the discrimination and a pragmatic solution to root it out was aptly summed up by Jennifer Handshew, a seasoned public relations professional in New York who had told this journalist, "I feel that ignorance and fear are the primary factors that fuel this discrimination and believe that education and awareness will help people better understand what the turban means to the Sikhs."
What Handshew and others suggest provide a succinct analysis and a solution, but for now, the door to a respectable life in France for Sikhs has been slammed shut by the French President Sarkozy, in the presence of Indian Premier Manmohan Singh, himself a member of the Sikh community.
International solidarity needed to help secure the release of Hebei spirit officers
Captain Jasprit Chawla (left) and Chief Officer Syam Chetan
The ITF is calling on affiliated unions to highlight the plight of two innocent officers, members of ITF Indian seafaring affiliate, who are detained in South Korea following an oil spill from their ship last year.
How you can help
We are calling on ITF unions to draw the Korean authorities’ attention to the men’s case as soon as possible and before 9 December, the day before the judgement is handed down:
Making appointments with Korean embassies and diplomatic representatives to meet, express concerns and present the model letter.
Speaking informally to any Korean shipping or industrial contacts the union has, at the highest possible level, to express concern at these events.
Background information
Despite their exoneration, the Hebei Spirit's Captain Jasprit Chawla and its Chief Officer Syam Chetan continue to be detained in Korea. They are currently awaiting decision of the appeal court because the Korean prosecution appealed the case.The appeal decision will be handed down on 10th December.
At the time of the accident the Hebei Spirit was at anchor; a Samsung barge, which had torn loose from its tug, struck the tanker causing the spill.
The ITF strongly believes that the two seafarers have been unfairly caught up in efforts to address the crisis caused by the incident, which has affected thousands of people living and working in the area.
Family and anti-racist groups call on the Irish FA to investigate schoolboy football match incident
Football authorities in Dublin are investigating allegations that a referee tried to force a Sikh boy to take off his turban during a schoolboy match.
The family of Karpreet Singh and anti-racist campaigners have contacted the Football Association of Ireland over the alleged incident at Ashbourne in Co Meath a fortnight ago, which ended with the 12-year-old refusing to play in the second half.
The FAI has told Sport Against Racism Ireland and the Singh family they will meet them in the new year to discuss claims that the referee ordered the boy to remove his turban, then refused to talk to Karpreet's father after the game about his alleged remarks. Surinder Singh said that his anger over the alleged incident was compounded by what he claims was the referee's insensitivity when the game was over.
'Before the match the referee checked the two teams' boots and strips and the game began. He said nothing about anyone wearing anything on their heads,' he said. 'Then, 10 minutes into the match, he went over to my son and told him to remove the "headgear". Karpreet told the referee he couldn't take his turban off, and again the ref said to him to take the "headgear" off.
'The match went on and I could see that Karpreet was upset by the incident. When the team went in for half-time, Karpreet told his coach he didn't want to play in the second half. I knew he wasn't up for it. The whole thing had disturbed him and this is a boy who loves football.'
According to Surinder Singh, a previous coach of Hillcrest Soccer club, his son's team, tried to speak to the referee about his remarks.
'Instead of listening, the ref told the ex-coach to get off the pitch,' he claimed. 'I waited until the match was over and went over to the referee to talk about what he had said to my son. This man turned around and said "I don't have to talk to you!", and walked off without speaking to me. When I followed him he said: "Get away from me!" I couldn't believe how rude he was.'
Surinder Singh said the alleged incident was all the more shocking because, having been in Ireland for 24 years, he has never encountered any hostility. 'I try to make my kids integrate into Irish society. My eight-year-old daughter Japleen Kaur plays camogie for our local GAA club Sarsfields. Karpreet is dedicated to his soccer team and loves playing football. We never expected an attitude like that on the pitch, especially not from the referee.'
His son is a Manchester United fan who dreams of playing at Old Trafford. The schoolboy said he was 'very upset' by the alleged attitude of the referee but vowed to play on for his club. 'I love playing for the team and after the match my mates were brilliant. They all said they supported my decision not to take off my turban, which is so important to our religion.'
Karpreet said he would 'feel very nervous' now when playing matches while wearing his turban. 'I hope nobody else has an attitude like that again,' he said.
Sport Against Racism Ireland said it requested a meeting with the FAI over the alleged incident last week, but was told that it would have to wait until January.
'We would hope that referees who behave like that should be given the red card,' said Frank Buckley, SARI's co-founder. 'The FAI have signed up to 10 Uefa principles in encouraging social and religious integration in football. One of those principles concerns making referees and officials aware of players and supporters from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
'Have referees officiating at games in all levels, including schoolboy soccer, been made aware of this? Not only does the FAI needs to get to the bottom of this incident, they also have to train up all our referees and officials in anti-racist, anti-sectarian policies.'
The FAI will not make any comment about the Singh family's allegations until they have held a meeting with them, the club and the schoolboy soccer league.
To combat racism and xenophobia as well as encourage immigrants to integrate better, SARI runs leagues involving teams from a variety of ethnic communities who have settled in the republic.
What lessons can British/European Sikhs learn from the hate violence documented in the film which highlights the backlash on American Sikhs, Arabs and others post 9/11?
Saturday the 29th of Nov 08 saw the first public screening, of Divided We Fall – Americans in the Aftermath in London, an award winning documentary made by Valarie Kaur and Sharut Raju. This was organised by the Network of Sikh organisations Media Monitoring Group and in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Sikh Association, Panjab Radio as well as the Committee at Central Gurdwara Shepards Bush, London. The screening was followed by a debate with some well known panellists in the community, including Palbinder Singh, General Secretary of the MPSA , Kanwaljit Kaur from the NSO and Jasvir Singh Khalsa a popular presenter from Panjab Radio.
The event was unprecedented in that it also coincided with the tercentenary celebrations of the inauguration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib as Guru as well as the centenary celebrations of the founding of Shepards Bush Gurdwara, the first Gurdwara built in Europe and that which featured in the hit movie ‘Bend it like Beckham’.
The hate crimes documented by the filmmakers ranged from verbal assault, beatings, stabbings, right through to cold blooded murder as seen with the tragic deathof Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Mesa, Arizona Gas station owner, murdered by someone calling himself a patriot. Sodhi was killed because his murderer thought he was an Arab due to his turban and beard, ironically symbols of his Sikh identity.
Was this extreme backlash and mistaken identity exclusively an American Phenomenon? Have British Sikhs also felt the unrelenting backlash of arguably the two biggest terrorist atrocities in Western civilisation has faced in modern times, namely 9/11 and 7/7? The panellists provided their view on global events which have propelled us into what was forecast many years ago by Samuel Huntington, the Geo-politician and author of ‘Clash of Civilizations and the remaking of world order’.
“This is mainly a Western Hemisphere problem the repercussion against Sikhs is born in the west. The Sikh crown or turban is being confused as a feature of the Mohamedens or Islamists, This is the first times Sikhs have been suffering from Islamophobia, when a bigot wants a revenge attack he does not go to an encyclopaedia to identify a Muslim or a non Muslim. We do not want Sikhs or Muslims to be attacked. These bigots, who attack innocent people need to enrol into the army, fly out to Afghanistan where they can engage with the real enemy.” Said Palbinder Singh, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Sikh Association.
“Problems facing British Sikhs are not as severe, there are historical reasons for that as well as, British citizens are more educated than their American counterparts.” He added.
The post film discussion led us down the arena of a mantra which helped support a victory in a general election many years ago for the labour party, ‘Education, education, education’. Have Sikhs in Britain educated others about their faith enough? the jury is still out on this, surely some of the responsibility of the ‘Bin Laden’abuse thrown at Sikhs in the Al-Qaeda age lies with the Sikh community. Certainly one thing is for sure that bigots who have the grey matter akin to the contents of a compost heap, would not benefit from reading about Sikhism and it’s differences from Islam, Christianity and Hinduism, assuming they can read in the first place.
“Identity is one thing you cannot hide, ours is the turban and beard. Smoking is banned by Sikhs for example, 90% of the world cut their hair, but Sikhs don’t cut their hair.” Said Jasvir Singh a presenter from Panjab Radio
“I remember as a child there was a book about fill in the gaps and the gap was that Sikhs don’t cut their Hair. The child has to fill cut & the other gap the Sikhs do not smoke. As a Sikh it is a moral duty to let people know that the turban is a crown to the Sikhs. If we do not understand and respect this then nobody is going to accept us.” He added
One of the other important themes raised by the audience was the importance of the media in facilitating the gap in understanding, clearly present in Britain and in particular the US about the Sikh Faith. The power of television, the internet, radio, broadsheets and magazines should not be underestimated. Observations were made about the lack of dedicated Sikh media resources available globally, not through lack of funding however through the will to commit to providing a dedicated equivalent to lets say Al-Jazeera. There has been in recent years a mushrooming of Panjabi Radio stations along with a few satellite television channels, some of whom dedicate some time to the religion and prayer, however as commented on by one of the audience members, ‘We do not need to preach to the converted’.
The audience was invariably captivated by Valarie’s documentary and the feedback afterwards was overwhelmingly positive. There was a sense that the community should have really had the opportunity to see this film sooner and that it should in essence be shown as far and wide to the UK public as possible.
“Valarie Kaur's documentary is a triumph of the human thirst for knowledge and understanding. Unlike most of us she did not sit idly by and watch the events of her time unfold on television but became part of them. I applaud her sentiments and her courage in making this historic film. She has recorded the otherwise untold stories of woe suffered by innocent, law-abiding American Sikhs in the wake of the terrible events of 9/11. Sikhs are frontrunners when it comes to making history but not so when recording it. The future is bright in this regard with innovative and inspirational youngsters such as Valarie, whose insight is highly impressive for one so young. Congratulations!”said Tejinder Singh a property consultant from London
“I must congratulate the Network of Sikh Organisations for organising this event. Not only did they bring this excellent documentary to an audience who otherwise might never have seen it but they also began a discussion that is very necessary for Sikhs in the UK and globally at this time in history. Never in the modern age has religion, and the difference between faiths, been so apparent and so present in the minds of the general population. We are fortunate in this country that the average person is much more aware of the difference between Sikhs and Muslims than they are in the USA so we have not seen the same suffering as experienced there. However, it is imperative that Sikhs use the media to show this country and the world who they are and all the excellent contributions they have made and are making in all areas of life. This event is an excellent first step towards making that happen. Keep up the good work!” He added
The event was the start of a much needed dialogue in light of the fissures created in multicultural Britain by Global Terror; this has caused much division and fragmentation of society, propagating mistrust of anyone who looks remotely different. This divisive nature of terror has been more recently exacerbated here in Britain, by the failed liquid bomb plot and the Glasgow airport terrorist outrage, resulting in high profile trials in the Old Bailey. The realisation however is that much more dialogue and education is required by all faith groups, as on the same week we celebrated the first public screening of Divided We Fall – Americans in the Aftermath in London, an airline pilot in SacramentoCalifornia, from US airways refused to fly a plane unless three turbaned Sikhs left the flight, they were literally kicked off the flight. The reality is that the battle for the Sikh identity is here and now, it is forever etched in the annals of history, soaked with the lifeblood of many martyrs throughout; an unparallel history which Sikhs have in many instances, yet failed to inspire the western world with.
Hardeep Singh
Secretary, Media monitoring Group,
The Network of Sikh Organisations UK
Please see video feedback from the audience.................
[Desiclub.com] South Asian Voices UK - Divided We Fall
THE COUNTRY’s newest Sikh school has received a 'good’ Ofsted Inspection within 14 months of opening.
The Khalsa Primary School in Wexham Road was praised for showing rapid progress and for encouraging good behaviour.
Chair of governors, Nick Kandola, thanked headteacher Harshindar Kaur as well as her stand-in Jane Morgan for their hard work in getting the school up-and running.
He said: “We are delighted with the Ofsted report and wish to thank all the staff, parents, children, the local education teams at Slough Borough Council and governors for their support in getting this fantastic result which we can all be proud of.”
“Harshindar Kaur has done an excellent job in getting this school established quickly. She has a great team behind her and I have every faith that the staff will work towards further improvements over the coming months.”
The school has grown from 170 pupils to 283 since it opened in September 2007.
Victory Medal found in England leads to Kitchener tombstone of World War I 'hero'
The mystery is slowly unravelling.
Until some months ago, nothing much was known about the nine Sikh-Canadians who joined the Canadian army and fought in World War I – at a time when Sikhs weren't even allowed to immigrate to Canada.
Then an amateur historian bought a Victory Medal that led him to a Kitchener graveyard and he found the tombstone of Pte. Buckam Singh.
"That man was a real hero," said Sandeep Singh Brar of Brampton, who found the grave.
"He fought for Canada, came back and died alone in a hospital."
The Sikh-Canadian, whose grave drew little attention for 90 years, recently attracted about 50 people for Remembrance Day Sikh prayers at the Kitchener cemetery.
T. Sher Singh, a Guelph lawyer who attended the ceremony, said the discovery of the grave is significant for the community. "It means that we have a history in the building of this nation," said Singh. "Not only have we built the railroads and cleared the forests and slaved in the lumber mills, but we have given our lives when it was necessary."
But the story of the Sikh-Canadian, who fought at Flanders Fields, was wounded twice in battle and died in 1919 at age 25 after returning to Canada, likely wouldn't have been told if it hadn't been for the medal. Brar bought it from a dealer in England about a year ago believing it had been bestowed upon a British-Indian soldier.
He got a shock when he carefully read the inscription on its rim: Singh had been a member of the 20th Canadian Infantry and the medal listed his name, rank and registration number.
Over the next few months, Brar went to Ottawa many times to track down military records. He discovered Singh had fought in Flanders Fields and was injured by shrapnel in the head, and again by a bullet in the leg. The Toronto Star, then called the Toronto Daily Star, reported his injuries on Aug. 9, 1916, in a list of Canadian soldiers wounded in battle.
Singh was treated at a hospital in Boulogne, France run by Guelph's Lt. Col. John McCrae. He was shipped to England in 1917 where, while recovering, he contracted tuberculosis and was sent to the Freeport Hospital in Kitchener, then run by the Canadian army. He died two years later and was buried in Kitchener's Mount Hope Cemetery.
Brar believes Singh's grave may be the only one in Canada belonging to a Sikh-Canadian who fought in World War I. The Victory Medal may also be the only existing medal for a Sikh soldier.
This story has become an obsession for Brar, who has created a website, sikhmuseum.com, to showcase his findings. He said Singh's family, who lived in a village in Punjab, India, knew nothing about his time at war. "They just received a notice when he died.
"There are still many blanks in his story," said Brar, who is trying to track down Singh's family in India. That, he said, will be the next chapter in Buckam Singh's story.
Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India's ruling dynasty, is involved in a last-ditch effort to save his political future with a series of interviews, where he has repudiated his father's justification over anti-Sikh riots two decades ago and said the practice of families in parliament should end.
The controversial comments are seen as an attempt by the 38-year-old to breath life into the ruling Congress party that faces electoral oblivion in a series of major state polls, with an electorate of 92 million, for new regional governments over the next six weeks.
The Congress party has lost eight state elections in a row. Another battering would spell the end for the government of his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who won an unexpected victory in the 2004 general election.
His political opponents have derided Gandhi's attempt to rebrand the past, saying he was just a "child" but analysts say that behind the statements lies a series of cold "political calculations". A member of the Gandhi family has been in charge of India for 40 of the 60 years since independence.
"Rahul Gandhi is no dunce. He has seen the writing on the wall. All bets are that the Congress party are going to lose the next general election [next year] and it looks like he is looking to rebuild the party when it is out of power," said Mahesh Rangarajan, a political analyst.
Gandhi's most eye-catching political act has been to heal a rift with the Sikh community over the bloody events surrounding the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi, his grandmother, who had ordered an army assault on Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, where "terrorists" had been holed up.
Indira Gandhi was then shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards triggering anti-Sikh riots that claimed thousands of lives. The riots "were absolutely wrong," Rahul Gandhi said in Punjab, adding that the perpetrators "should be brought to justice".
Human rights activists have welcomed his comments, saying it was a long overdue statement by the Gandhi family. "We welcome these comments but Sikhs want that actions follow words. What we saw was conspiracy by the majority to systematically target a minority in India. Justice is required," said Rajinder Bains, a leading human rights lawyer in Punjab.
Earlier he had snubbed a senior party apparatchik who publicly decried the fact her son had not got a party seat. Gandhi told a group of young girls that he wanted to end dynastic politics, especially in the Congress party.
Rahul Gandhi's great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister. His grandmother, Indira, and father, Rajiv, also led the country. "I would not have been here, if I was not from a political family. If you do not have money, a family or friends, you cannot enter politics," he said.
Educated at Harvard and with a background running internet companies, Mr Gandhi appeared to take more eagerly to business than to politics. In 2006, he bought two shops in a new mall in Delhi. The present tenants of the two shops are clothing company, Les Femme, Koutons and Nike Sports.
"One of the biggest mysteries about Rahul is what he is thinking. Even in the middle of the world's biggest economic crash he has not said a word, although he has some skill in these matters. Whenever he says something he gets heard," said Rangarajan.
It's been a busy week for some Sikh organisations of recent with the discovery of a really filthy blog encouraging .......
"[Muslim] soldiers go hunting for Sikh slappers"
The Network of Sikh Organisations Media Monitoring group has taken action along with a number of other Sikh organisations including the Sikh Community Action Network, to tackle what could be deemed to be a form of 'Cyber-Terror'. There have always been stories and fears within both the Hindu and Sikh community about girls being drawn into relationships by predatory men under the guise of building what they deem to be legitamate relationships. On occassion it has even been rumoured that Muslim men will wear the Sikh Bangle (Kara) & provide a Sikh name to befriend the unsuspecting girls. By the time the bubble of perfection bursts and the girls realise (according to these stories) that the relationship was a ploy to induce or coerce to convert to Islam (apart from the whole sexual denigration of it all), it's all too late. Many of us have had experience or know of girls who fell in this trap during our University years, however this 'Seduction' blogsite is just a symptom of a bigger disease that lurks beneath the veneer of everyday University life. I wonder what Whitehall make of it all? Certainly the immediate concern is that this type of filth on the internet targeting a specific community and being derogatory to a faith group & it's women could ignite further tensions between Sikhs & Muslims. These were last seen in the late 1990's and resurfaced post 9/11. Oh dear, just when Sikhs thought they had been relegated to the 'vauxhall conference' of enemies by extremist groups. Its not only western Governments that extremists want to annihilate, it's all which is deemed as other. I wonder who they will have a pop at next? perhaps homosexuals.
There is one thing for certain though, If I were one of the 25 girls on this site I would see a good Liable lawyer and cash in, I am sure the damages could encourage a nice early retirement & defeat the challenges of the credit crunch we all face.
Ashish Joshi chairman of the Network of Sikh Organisations' media monitoring group, said he had been inundated with angry responses from Sikhs in the past 24 hours.
"I have never seen anything like this," he said. "There have always been concerns about grooming but to advertise such behaviour and encourage others to do so is absolutely shocking."
Mr Joshi denied suggestions that Sikh the anger may have stemmed from Sikh men being uncomfortable about Sikh women having sexual relationships with Muslim men.
"This is not about love, no-one can help who they fall in love with," he said. "This website is all about the deliberate and targeted sexual degradation of Sikh women purely because of their religion. It is about young Muslim men boasting about seducing kaffirs [unbelievers] while keeping their Muslim sisters chaste."
Until the identity (if ever) of the 'seduction blogsite' mastermind is known, people can only speculate on the reasons why the site was put together. Some will argue that it has been created just to foment tension between Sikhs and Muslims & others argue it may have even been a non-Muslim who created it. This blogsite certainly does not provide evidence of 'grooming' and Sikh groups should be cautious in their statements in light of this. It does however give a snapshot of the mindset of it's author, a dark insidous place with sexual exploitation on the mind 24/7.
The Maidenhead advertiser called this a "Victory for Sikhs as ''hate blog' is shut down", on the back of a campaign by the co-founders of SCAN, the high profile Jagdeesh Singh. As with the premier league, it's always a long season and I guess the Sikhs have started their season well, but should take caution to rest on their laurels, cyberspace is a huge place & like Freddy Krueger more websites may pop up when you least expect them!
For those who are following this story please see links below, this story is bound to get further coverage.
The Sikh Film Festival on Saturday will feature “Ocean of Pearls,” about a young Sikh doctor struggling with the inequities of the American health system and ultimately his own identity. (Photo: Sikh Arts and Film Foundation)
Governors love proclamations. Months, weeks and days are endlessly designated to draw attention to a wide buffet of causes and celebrations. They come with nice, official-looking documents with fancy scripts and seals. Constituents are happy. Everyone wins.
Among the highlights of the heritage week is the Sikh Film Festival, which runs all day Saturday, starting at 10 a.m., at the Asia Society on Park Avenue. One short documentary, “Warrior Saints,” by Kevin Lee, profiles the Sikh community in New York City, centers on Richmond Hill, Queens.
The 9/11 attack spurred the community to organize after an elderly Sikh and two teenagers were violently attacked in Richmond Hill in “reprisal” attacks by fellow Americans. The documentary interviews a number of younger professional Sikh New Yorkers who formed the Sikh Coalition from the volunteer group, who explain how they came to realize the value of protest in drawing media and political attention to their problems. Most recently, for example, they organized protests around attacks on Sikh schoolchildren.
The group galvanized after a 2004 attack when five men beat Rajinder Singh Khalsa Ji, telling him to remove the “dirty curtain” from his head. The documentary also recounts an episode in 2004 when an Irish-American M.T.A. employee who converted to Sikhism had been exiled because he would not wear a regulation transit cap.
As a result, among the coalition’s legislative lobbying pushes: a bill that would get the city to form a contingency plan to mitigate backlash violence against Sikhs, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians in the aftermath of events; and another bill that would ban discrimination on the basis of religious garb in New York City uniformed agencies. They also have made a push to educate law enforcement about Sikhism. A 2005 episode saw the police mistakenly handcuff a group of Sikh British tourists in Midtown.
Among other movies at the festival is the feature film called “Ocean of Pearls,” directed by Dr. Sarab Singh Neelam, about the story of a young Sikh doctor struggling with the inequities of the American health system and ultimately his own identity. There are four documentaries: “A Dream in Doubt,” directed by Tami Yeager, which profiles the violent aftermath of 9/11 in which Sikhs were singled out because of their turbans and beards; “The Sky Below,” by Sarah Singh, which takes a contemporary look at the 1947 partition of the Indian Sub-Continent; “Sikhs in America,” which won an Emmy, shows how Sikhs maintain their traditions while also participating in the American dream; and “Pahelwani,” by Navdeep Singh Kandola, which traces the history and traditions of the dying art of Punjabi wrestling.
France is not discriminating against Sikhs by banning the wearing of turbans in publicly-funded schools, said the President, Nicholas Sarkozy this week. He said that no religious symbols were permitted, and therefore no discrimination against any minority was being practised.
Sarkozy said that he expects Sikhs to respect the customs and traditions of the French people. “We respect their traditions and customs and I hope they also respect France's rules,” Sarkozy said in a joint interaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also belongs to the Sikh community, after the India-EU summit last week.
“We respect Sikhs, their customs, their traditions. They are most welcome to France. But we have rules concerning the neutrality of the civil servants, rules concerning secularism and these rules don’t apply to just Sikhs, they apply to the Muslims, they apply to all on the territory of the French Republic,” Sarkozy said.
In 2004, France imposed a ban on the wearing of religious symbols in schools, which included Muslim veils and Sikh turbans as well as overt Christian symbolism. Sikhs have been trying to get themselves exempted from this ever since.
CULTURE Minister Linda Fabiani has launched the Scottish Sikh Heritage Trail at Edinburgh Castle's Great Hall.
She was joined by Harbinder Singh, the honorary director of the Scottish Sikh Heritage Trail and around 200 guests.
Sikh drummers and traditional Scottish pipers performed together at the launch.
The Trail involves research projects focusing on historic sites and a series of lectures, exhibitions and workshops to highlight the varied connections Scotland has with the Sikh community.
Both nations have been historically intertwined by way of colonial administrators, statesmen and military figures from the late-1700s to the present.
The full article contains 102 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
The Evening Standard today reveals the man behind the £200 million Oriental City redevelopment.
He is property magnate Peter Virdee, managing director of Mayfair-based B&S Property, which bought the site in Colindale after the original owners ran into financial difficulties.
The Sikh businessman, who started his career working in his family's retail firm, built residential care homes before moving into property. He has extensive interests abroad, which he manages with the help of his father, and has been nominated for a Lloyds TSB Asian Jewel commerce award.
Mr Virdee said today he was "absolutely confident" the Oriental City scheme would go ahead despite the economic downturn and property slump, adding: "It would be foolish to say that recent events have had no impact. We are looking at a phased development. The market will be the first part to be constructed so the traders will be the first to return to the site.
"But we will take a wait-and-see approach with the residential component. In the current climate it would be wiser to wait until the housing market recovers before starting construction," he said.
The site, dubbed the "real Chinatown", was a shrine for lovers of Oriental food and was home to traders from the Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Thai and Filipino communities.
Plans to redevelop the dilapidated food hall caused uproar, because it would mean the traders moving out while the work was carried out. The traders' case was backed by both the Commission for Racial Equality and the Chinese government, but the redevelopment proposal was eventually pushed through last March after former mayor Ken Livingstonepledged a £2 million compensation-package for the displaced traders. The original owner, Development Securities, was granted planning permission to build a larger market, two major stores, 520 one- and two-bedroom flats and a primary school.
It then sold the site to Mr Virdee's Mayfair-based B&S in a £68 million deal. The lack of construction activity since last year's sale had raised fears the project had fallen victim to the credit crunch. However, Mr Virdee told the Standard the scheme is on course and demolition work is due to start imminently.
He said: "We are in ownership of the site and there are no issues regarding financing. Everything is proceeding normally. We've signed deals with the contractors and all we're waiting on is for the final clearance from the council (Barnet). The demolition could start at any time within the next few weeks."
Senior Priests in the Catholic Church have challenged the coverage given to Christianity & a pro-Muslim Bias on C4 which have set off alarm bells. This was just days after the Media Monitoring Group of the Network of Sikh organisations raised concerns of disproportionate coverage by the BBC on Islam, highlighing a bias against Sikhs & Hindu's in TV programming since 2000.
There were 41 programmes on Islam, just 5 on Hinduism and just one on Sikhism which was called 'Sikhs in the city' arguable a pun for 'Sex in the city' - the content of this one programme was also eyebrow raising & It could be argued that a laymen would not have learnt much about Sikhisms's doctrines & teachings around, tolerance, equality and free Kitchen.
the debate will continue as to the reasons why the BBC & now C4 are heading in the direction of travel. are we living in an age where interest in Islam post 9/11 has marginalised all other faiths? Serious questions need to be tackled by heads of religion and ethics in corporations, on one hand they have every right to educate people about the other aspects of Islam however this should not be to the detriment of Sikhs, Hindu's, Jews, Christians and others. Secondly demographics should be taken into consideration, if they are or not should be raised. Surely therefore based on population demographics and proportion of faith groups in the UK we should see proportionate coverage. I anticipate that the lionshare of programming on faiths in a Christian country should be about Christianity? It is a time for reflection, debate & discussion about the future of religious television programming.
Channel 4 has been accused of being biased towards Islam and not showing enough respect to Christianity.
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 5:14PM BST 12 Sep 2008
The television channel, whose head of religious broadcasting is a Muslim, is said by several Roman Catholic priests to be unfair in its treatment of different faiths.
They claim it recently showed a whole season of broadly positive programmes on Islam while a "Da Vinci Code-style" documentary on Christianity cast doubt on the validity of the Pope.
In addition, they say the Channel 4 website treats the history and beliefs of Islam more reverently than it does Christianity.
It comes just days after the BBC was accused of pandering to Muslims by Hindu and Sikh leaders, who claimed the corporation makes a disproportionately large number of programmes about Islam.
Fr Ray Blake, a leading Catholic blogger who is a parish priest in Brighton, said: "I don't think it's fair towards Christianity. There seems to be a rather supine attitude to Islam and a trivialising attitude to Catholicism. I find it worrying.
"Channel 4 has shown quite serious discussions about Islam but nothing that treats Christianity in the same way."
Over the summer, Channel 4 broadcast a week of special programmes on Islam including a feature-length documentary on its holy book, the Qu'ran, and a series of interviews with Muslims around the world talking about their beliefs.
However last week it repeated a controversial documentary first shown at Easter, called The Secrets of the 12 Disciples, which claimed St Peter died in Palestine, not in Rome as the church has always taught.
Academics quoted in the documentary say this means that he was not the first Pope and so other pontiffs have not been his true successors, with the Vatican accused of "fabricating" a connection with the apostle to justify its power.
The Catholic blog Clerical Whispers quoted one commentator as calling the arguments in the programme "intellectually-challenged" and added: "They are on a par with Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and are unsubstantiated. It shows undisguised disdain for the Catholic Church."
Another blogging priest, Fr Tim Finigan, said the Channel 4 website highlights the torture and persecution carried out by the Roman Catholic church during the Inquisition, which he said is in contrast to its positive description of Muslims.
He wrote: "My point in posting all this is not to denigrate Islam but rather to draw attention to the kind of treatment that can be given to religion, and how far it is from the customary treatment given to beliefs and practices that are sacred to Christians."
One commenter on Fr Blake's blog wrote: "The Commissioning Editor for religious broadcasting at Channel 4 is Aaqil Ahmed, a Muslim. I have long noticed that the only coverage Christianity gets on Channel 4 is in the form of programmes that seeks to undermine the authority of the Church, our traditions and our scripture."
A spokesman for Channel 4 denied it favoured Islam over other religions, however.
He said: "Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for Religion, Aaqil Ahmed, commissions programmes on the basis of their merit, and our output reflect a wide range of beliefs and faiths."
The BBC has been accused of pandering to Britain's Muslims in its religious programming and ignoring other faiths.
By Ben Farmer Last Updated: 11:11AM BST 08 Sep 2008
Sikh and Hindu leaders complained the BBC made a disproportionate number of programmes about Islam at the expense of other faithsPhoto: John Taylor
Sikh and Hindu leaders have complained that a disproportionate number of programmes have been made about Islam, at the expense of programmes on their own faiths.
An analysis of programmes from the BBC's Religion and Ethics department claims that since 2001, the BBC has made 41 programmes on Islam, five on Hinduism and one on Sikhism.
The Network of Sikh Organisations media monitoring group, which obtained the numbers, said Sikhs were shocked by the perceived bias.
Ashish Joshi, chairman, told The Independent newspaper: "We are licence fee payers and we want to know why this has happened.
"The bias towards Islam at the expense of Hindus and particularly Sikhs is overwhelming and appears to be a part of BBC policy."
Indarjit Singh, editor of the Sikh Messenger and a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on Radio 4's Today programme, said Sikhs felt "brushed aside".
He said: "I think it's probably unthinking, or inadvertent, but the bias is there.
"I do know that within the Sikh community especially there is a feeling of concern over the lack of portrayal of their religion on television."
He added: "Of course it is important to educate non-Muslims about Islam, but it is also important to provide informative, open and respectful programming on all religions."
A spokesman for the BBC said the broadcaster was committed to representing all of Britain's faiths and rejected any claim of bias.
He said: "In the autumn we will be covering Diwali from a Sikh perspective and we have a major new series for BBC Two in early 2009, including features on Hinduism and Sikhism."
Hindu and Sikh leaders have accused the BBC of pandering to Britain's Muslim community by making a disproportionate number of programmes on Islam at the expense of covering other Asian religions.
A breakdown of programming from the BBC's Religion and Ethics department, seen by The Independent, reveals that since 2001, the BBC made 41 faith programmes on Islam, compared with just five on Hinduism and one on Sikhism.
Critics say the disproportionate amount of programming is part of an apparent bias within the BBC towards Islam since the attacks of 11 September 2001, which has placed an often uncomfortable media spotlight on Britain's Muslims.
Ashish Joshi, the chairman of the Network of Sikh Organisation's (NSO) media monitoring group, which obtained the numbers, said many Hindu and Sikh licence-fee payers felt cheated. "People in our communities are shocked," he said. "We are licence-fee payers and we want to know why this has happened. The bias towards Islam at the expense of Hindus and particularly Sikhs is overwhelming and appears to be a part of BBC policy."
Indarjit Singh, the editor of the Sikh Messenger and a regular contributor to BBC Radio4's Thought for the Day, said that the public broadcaster was focusing too much attention on Islam at the expense of other religious communities.
"I think it's probably unthinking, or inadvertent, but the bias is there," he said. "I do know that within the Sikh community especially there is a feeling of concern over the lack of portrayal of their religion on television. There is a feeling of being brushed aside."
He added: "The wider community is missing out on what the different religions have to offer society. Of course it is important to educate non-Muslims about Islam but it is also important to provide informative, open and respectful programming on all religions."
In a letter sent in July to the NSO, the head of the BBC's Religion and Ethics, Michael Wakelin, denied that there was any bias. He said the demographic makeup of Britain meant that Britain's 1.6 million Muslims outnumber Hindus and Sikhs by two to one. "Therefore," he wrote, "if Muslims get 60 minutes a year, the Sikhs and Hindus should share 30 minutes each." Further content on Islam, he added, was "no doubt sparked by the interest in the faith following 9/11".
The latest row over the BBC's cultural output follows a dispute raging at the BBC's Asian Network radio service, where more than 20 former and current employees have written a letter of complaint alleging that the station ignores Muslim listeners and plays less Pakistani and Bangladeshi music than it should.
A spokesman for the BBC said the broadcaster was committed to representing all of Britain's faiths and communities. "We reject any claims of bias," he said. "In our religion and ethics content alone, we have covered Hindu and Sikh issues this year on The Big Questions, Sunday Life and Extreme Pilgrim. In the autumn we will be covering Diwali from a Sikh perspective and we have a major new series for BBC Two in early 2009, including features on Hinduism and Sikhism."
But a number of MPs, including Rob Marris and Keith Vaz, called on the BBC to do more to represent Britain's minority faiths. "I am disappointed," said Mr Vaz. "It is only right that as licence fee payers all faiths are represented in a way that mirrors their make-up in society. I hope that the BBC ... addresses the problem in its next year of programming."
The BBC has been accused of being biased against religious groups like Sikhs and Hindus, according to the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO).
Information made available to BizAsia.co.uk refers to a list that the organisation obtained from the BBC' Religions and Ethics Department.
The data consists of a list of TV programmes commissioned by the department from the year 2000 to present and the breakdown of programmes dedicated to each of the UK's three main Asian religious faiths since the year 2000 was found to be as follows:
Naturally, this has caused grave concerns within the Sikh and Hindu communities in the UK and led to accusations of bias and seems to be part of BBC policy.
The Network of Sikh Organisations attempted to obtain an explanation from the head of the BBC's Religions and Ethics Department - Michael Wakelin - but met with "inadequate and misleading responses to date".
Mr Wakelin justifies this imbalance in his departments programming by quoting demographic figures from the 2001 census and also suggests a general interest towards Islam following 9/11.
The Organisation said, "if Mr Wakelin’s argument on statistics is to be taken at face value then the expectation would be that the BBC have produced at least 20 programmes since 2000 on Sikhism and Hinduism – as opposed to just a total of 6."
"While, as Mr Wakelin suggests, there may have been a marginal increase in interest in Islam, the greater concern is about extremism and fundamentalism. It is here that Sikhism born at a time of extremist behaviour by India’s minority Mughal rulers has much to offer. The Sikh Gurus courageously opposed religious extremism while at the same time showing respect for Islamic teachings and winning the support of most Muslims. It is both sad and irresponsible for the BBC to confine such important teachings to the margins of religious broadcasting." said Mr. Joshi. Chair of the NSO's media monitoring arm, the media monitoring group.
"In a modern multicultural nation such as the UK - such an obvious bias from an established and internationally renowned public servant such as the BBC should not be both tolerated or go unchallenged." He added.
It is hoped that in raising awareness of this injustice and the BBC’s casual attitude to this state of affairs, that they may be taken to account for their apparent biased policy in their religious television programming.
What can an American Sikh learn from the Jewish people's Zionist state for his own people's aspirations to set up an independent homeland in Punjab? What do Seventh-Day Adventists think of a renewed Jewish state in the Holy Land?
These were some of the questions batted around by members of an eight-member multi-faith contingent of US policy makers active on Capitol Hill that included, in addition to a Sikh and an Adventist, a Hindu, an Evangelical Christian and a Chinese-American.
The tour, which passed through Sderot as well as Arab villages, was organized by Project Interchange, an institute of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) aimed at giving influential Americans a better understanding of Israel.
James Standish, who represents the world-wide Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the US Congress, the White House and the US's executive agencies, said that unlike most Evangelical Christians, members of his faith do not see the establishment of the State of Israel in theological or prophetic terms.
"For us it is more of a humanitarian event," said Standish.
"After centuries during which the Jewish people were stateless, after the Holocaust there were obvious historical and religious reasons for establishing a Jewish state.
"Obviously, we also hope that there will be a final settlement so that both the Jews and the Palestinian people will have a state."
Standish added that Seventh-Day Adventists felt some affinity for the Jewish people since they both shared the same day of rest.
"Just like Jews, Adventists don't work on the Sabbath. We also don't eat pork or shellfish."
Rajbir Singh Datta, national director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), said that while Sikhs did not have an official stance on Zionism, "we do have something to learn from the Jewish people's challenges in reconciling religion with democracy," said Datta.
"People are not sure what a future Sikh state would look like and how religion would be a part of the governance of the state. Jews have already had experience with these issues."
Sikhs harbor an aspiration to build their own state in Punjab, a territory between India and Pakistan, that would have a Sikh majority and be run in accordance with the religion's principles.
Datta said that the Sikhs also shared the modern Jewish state's strong military ethos.
"Sikhs can definitely be considered a martial race. Although we make up about one percent of the population in India, we constitute between 10% and 15% of the standing army. During British rule the numbers were even higher at between 27% and 30%.
"Like the Jewish people we have had to fight to defend ourselves against our Hindu and Muslim neighbors."
Reverend Richard Cizik, the most senior staff member of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 43,000 churches with 27 million adherents, said that as an Evangelical Christian he felt a "familial" connection with the Jewish people.
"Besides the fact that my paternal grandmother was Jewish, I feel a special love and connection with the Jewish people as a Christian," said Cizik.
"I am neither pre-millennial nor dispensationalist like some of my fellow Evangelicals. Nevertheless, I feel an intrinsic identification with the Jewish people because of my commitment to biblical truth, that people of other faiths might not have. After all, Christianity is an outcome of Judaism.
"At a personal level you can't love Jesus and not love the Jewish people, otherwise it is a violation of your Christianity. All the Christian bigotry and hatred directed against the Jewish people throughout the ages is a sad aberration."
Richard Foltin, director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the AJC, who headed the multi-faith mission, said that Project Interchange worked very hard to give as many different perspectives as possible on the ongoing conflict between Israelis and their neighbors.
"We try to expose people on our missions to the 'big picture,'" said Foltin.
Some of the points on the mission's itinerary include briefings on the legal rights of ethics minorities, the Arab Israeli community, the impact of immigration on Israel's political system, the future of settlements, a tour of the security fence and a tour of Sderot.
"In addition to presenting the mission with a sophisticated and complex picture of Israeli society, we also try to put together a mission with a diverse mix of outlooks and perspectives.
"If the mission members don't leave here with more questions than when they came we have not done our job."
A provocative film based on the real-life tale of two Sikh mill workers tried for sodomy in the early 1900s is making its world premiere at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
Three directors — Ali Kazimi, Richard Fung and John Greyson — worked on the short Rex versus Singh, which makes its debut on Aug. 20 at the film festival. It comprises four versions of the story told from different points of view. The versions range from a sobering documentary to a whimsical musical.
Dalip Singh and Naina Singh were arrested in Vancouver in 1915 as part of an undercover sting operation. In the film, based on court records, they are accused of offering 75 cents for sex to a police detective and a chauffeur at a muddy rail yard.
At the time, more than 6,000 South Asians, mostly men, had settled in Vancouver. Many lived in close quarters in predominantly bachelor societies and worked as labourers in forestry mills along the Fraser River, or did piecework on the railway.
Kazimi said Rex versus Singh shows how police in Vancouver used laws against homosexuality to jail some South Asian men and to discourage others in their communities from making Vancouver home.
The film was commissioned as part of Vancouver Out On Screen's Queer History Project, after several court cases involving Sikhs during the period from 1909 to 1929 were discovered.
"We know that there were more than two dozen cases. We don't know if that represents the totality of the targeting. There is a lot that is unknown," said Kazimi.
"I think for most people in the [South Asian] community, this would come as a huge shock and a surprise, as well."
Kazimi also directed the documentary Continuous Journey about the Komagata Maru incident, which took place only a year before Dalip Singh and Naina Singh were arrested. In 1914, Canadian authorities turned away the ship, the Komagata Maru, from Vancouver's Burrard Inlet. Officials refused to let 376 immigrants from India disembark, citing immigration policies aimed at keeping Canada white.
Kazimi said the Canadian government allowed few South Asian women into the country in those days in the hopes that the men would return to their homeland.
"The women were not allowed to come and they were not allowed to come because Canada did not want any permanent settlement of South Asians, so there were about only about five women who came," said Kazimi.
Rex versus Singh is based on existing court transcripts that are rife with obscene language.
During one courtroom scene, a chauffeur accuses Dalip Singh of boldly propositioning him in English, although the mill worker could speak only Punjabi.
The other accused, Naina Singh, testifies the sodomy charges came after he acted as a witness in a case against a Sikh man that police had used as an informant during the Komagata Maru incident.
Gordon Brent Ingram, who researches gay culture in Vancouver, makes an appearance in the film.
"What's so funny about this 1915 trial … is that you can see how hard the nascent municipal government was trying to associate these Sikh males with homosexuality, to the point where they were involved in very aggressive hands-on entrapment," Ingram said.
"Whether the acts they are accused of engaging in actually happened or not, or were they fantasies of the police officers, or whether there was an issue of the arrested individuals not being able to bribe police out of being arrested, those are the great historical questions that we may never be able to answer."
Because of spotty court records, the fate of the two men is not known, but similar cases involving Sikh men in California resulted in sentences ranging from five to seven years.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, a boy with a black beard and a turban cupped his hands to his mouth and led a celebratory call-and-response.
"Bole so nihaal," shouted 16-year-old Harmanas Singh in Punjabi, an Indian dialect spoken by members of the Sikh faith. In English, the statement roughly means, "All those who repeat after me will be blessed."
Most everyone else packed tight in the Gurdwara, or temple, at the Sikh Center of Orange County on Saturday responded to Singh's traditional greeting in a louder, unified voice.
"Sat sri akaal," they said, or roughly, "God is timeless..."
Moments earlier, several great uncles of Arjun Singh Ahuja gathered around their nephew at the front of the Santa Ana temple. With slow precision, the men streamed a maroon cloth around the boy's unshorn hair, a requirement of the Indian-born monotheistic faith.
The final wrap left a snug-fitting turban atop 14-year-old Arjun, whose full beard belied his young age.
The precocious boy told relatives and friends who attended the rite of passage ceremony not to lavish monetary gifts on him. Instead, the contributions they left behind would go to benefit starving children in Sudan, Burma and other countries in the United Nations World Food Program.
By the end of the two-hour ceremony, the altar at the front of the temple overflowed with cash.
A family friend, Kanwar Anand, joked that his own kids would have been more inclined to ask for Xbox 360s.
"I don't have money, but I have everything I need," said Arjun, an only child who will be starting his freshman year at Northwood High School in a few weeks.
Arjun's father, Gurpreet Singh Ahuja, a head and neck surgeon at Children's Hospital of Orange County, said that Sikhs are compelled to give unselfishly of themselves. Helping others is not charity, he said, but an act that demonstrates all human beings are equals.
Such a ceremony, though, is not required for Sikhs, who number about 150,000 in the U.S.
In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, Sikhs have been the target of several violent attacks by those who mistake their turbans for Islamic clothing.
Jasjit Singh Ahuja, Arjun's mother, said she once chased down a group of men who walked by her family outside a fast food restaurant and whispered, "Osamas." She said her only son was "shell-shocked" by the men's action.
Still, the boy elected to undergo the rite of passage and don his turban until death to demonstrate his commitment to the faith, he said.
Anand, the family friend, explained the importance of upholding Sikh tenets in the U.S., where practitioners of the faith are a visible minority.
"When you're growing up in India, you're surrounded by it. You don't have to make as much of a conscious effort... but if you don't know your culture, you're not going to have pride in it."
DONCASTER'S first Sikh temple is to be demolished and replaced with a new building as part of the town centre's regeneration.
Building work to bulldoze the temple is set to start next week after members of the Sikh community raised some of the £450,000 required to fund the project.
The temple's 240-strong committee unanimously voted to replace the ageing building, to coincide with the £300 million redevelopment of the nearby Waterdale area.
Doncaster's Sikhs have used the building as a temple since around 1970 after previously worshipping at a house in Cemetery Road, Hyde Park.
The temple has been fenced off to allow for the works to start. Once it is demolished, a new two storey building should be completed in six months.
Darshan Singh, treasurer of the committee, said: "The building has fallen into a bit of a neglected state. No matter what you did it was still going to be an old building.
"Another reason for the rebuild was to reflect what is happening in the town centre with the Waterdale development.
"There is another temple in Balby Road but College Road was the first Sikh temple in Doncaster.
"It was a flagship temple in its day and the new building is going to be a premier temple attracting people from all across Yorkshire and will be used for the next 50 years."
The committee voted to replace the temple rather than repair the existing building or sell the site and build a new place of worship elsewhere.
On Sunday the Nishan Sahib - the Sikh holy flag - will be removed from the top of the temple in readiness for the building work which will be carried out by Julian Cox builders.
The 500 people who attend the temple will worship in the site's community centre while the work is completed.
The full article contains 311 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Sukhbir Channa loves to make music and he also loves his Sikh religion -- and he believes his practice of that faith has led Walt Disney World to refuse him a job.
Wearing a black turban with his suit and tie, the 24-year-old trumpet player appeared at a Miami press conference Monday with other members of Florida's Sikh community to accuse Disney of discriminating against Sikhs, while expressing hope that his lawsuit against Disney might force the company to change its long-standing employee policies limiting beards and long hair.
Channa and the others also said they want the suit to contribute to the American public's understanding of the nation's estimated 500,000 Sikhs and to help end discrimination against them and other distinctive religious followers.
He sued Disney last week in state circuit court in Tampa, where he said a Disney official refused to rehire him for a seasonal job as a trumpeter at Disney World, because he did not have "the Disney look."
He is seeking $1 million in damages, class-action status for the lawsuit, and a court order to prevent "further discrimination against Sikh employees and prospective employees."
"It was very insulting to be told I was a great trumpet player, I was qualified for the gig and a strong asset, but my looks still prohibited me from anything that involved me being seen by the public," Channa said.
"This is my career. This is what I do for a living. This is what my passion is," he said.
A central allegation in his civil case is in dispute.
Both Disney and Channa state that, when he was a music student at the University of South Florida in Tampa, he was hired as a musician for the 2005 holiday season. He played trumpet as a toy soldier character -- wearing a costume that hid his turban, hair and beard -- in Magic Kingdom parades.
He contends that, when Disney recruiters returned to his campus the next fall, he reapplied but was turned down because of his looks. He and a witness, another musician, filed affidavits supporting that charge.
Disney World contends he never reapplied and therefore could not be rehired. Spokeswoman Jacquee Polak insisted Monday that the company does not discriminate against Sikhs or anyone else, and did not discriminate against Channa.
"He never sought re-employment for the 2006 season," Polak said.
Having earned a USF bachelor's degree in music, Channa just completed a nine-month U.S. tour with the Broadway show Annie. For now, he is living with his parents in Davie.
Sihkism, the fifth-largest religion in the world, was founded in India in the 15th century and has about 25 million followers. An estimated half-million live in the United States. They believe in one God, earning an honest living, and being charitable to others. Contrary to a common Western misconception, their faith is not a form of Islam.
Sikhs follow Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religious tradition, and nine prophet-teachers, called gurus, who followed him. They do not cut their hair, and men cover their heads with a turban, or dastar, which is integral to their religious identity.
Monday's press conference was organized by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Rajdeep Singh, an attorney for the fund, charged Disney with hypocrisy. "Disney makes millions of dollars promoting cartoon characters who wear turbans but, ironically, cannot respect the right of an American to wear a turban for religious reasons."
Disney spokeswoman Polak insisted that Disney does not discriminate, and that the company makes accommodations that allow Sikhs and others with unusual needs to work at the giant resort.
"We value and respect diversity in our cast members and treat each request [for an accommodation] individually," Polak said. "The type of accommodation varies with the type of request, job and location."
Sports columnist Rohit Brijnath talks to the 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh, the finest athlete India has ever produced, ahead of the Beijing Olympics
Now in his 70s, voice still strong, Milkha Singh knows it's Olympic year, he knows journalists (like me) will call and ask him about that day 48 years ago and dredge up a memory so piercingly painful. He has won four Asian Games gold medals, and one Commonwealth Games gold, yet it is not his many victories but one failure that people ask about. He sighs. He speaks.
India has won a fistful of individual Olympic medals, bronzes by KD Jadhav (wrestling, 1952), Leander Paes (tennis, 1996), Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting, 2000) and a silver from Rajyavendra Singh Rathore (shooting, 2004). Yet Milkha's story of a bronze missed in Rome 1960, is the most irresistible, the one we return to constantly.
Perhaps because heartbreak, as a story, is often more powerful, and poignant, than triumph. Perhaps because in 2008 India expects medals, but then in 1960, in a country that had savoured independence for just 13 years, where facilities were few, contending for medals was a more romantic pursuit.
Different world
India's progress in sport has not yet manifested itself in medals, but its strides are quiet and surer. Last year swimmer Virdhawal Khade's parents, from Kolhapur in Maharashtra state, agreed to the once unthinkable: letting him delay his class 10 examinations to qualify for Beijing. He did Technology is no longer foreign to Indian athletes. Khade has been priviliged to use Speedo's breakthrough LZR Racer suit. World champion shooter Abhinav Bindra has been hooking himself up to a machine that identifies what activity is going on in his brain when he is shooting well. As he told me: "The key is how to train that area of the mind so it is routine to get into that state."
Milkha's world bore no resemblance to this. With a straightforwardness that is immediately disarming, he says that when he joined the army, "I came from a remote village, I didn't know what running was, or the Olympics".
Context gives Milkha's story its searing beauty, the environment in which he ran gives his tale uniqueness. PT Usha would lose Olympic bronze in 1984 by an even crueller margin, yet in a comparison of tragedies he wins because of where he came from, what he endured. Usha did not work less hard, but it's impossible to compete with a man whose parents were killed, some reports say in front of him, in the carnage of India's partition. Whose temporary home for a month was a platform on Delhi's railway station.
A Sikh teenager who was barred from school for wearing a religious bangle regarded as a ‘handcuff to God’ was discriminated against and should be allowed to return to classes, a judge has ruled.
Sarika Watkins-Singh was excluded after insisting she be allowed to wear the Kara – a bracelet worn by many Sikhs as a symbol of faith – despite her school’s ban on jewellery other than wristwatches and ear studs.
The 14-year-old, who had been a prefect at her school in South Wales, said tearfully that she was ‘overwhelmed’ by her High Court victory and described herself as a ‘proud Welsh Punjabi Sikh girl’.
The ruling means no school can stop a Sikh pupil from wearing the Kara to classes.
The High Court has previously refused to uphold a teenager’s right to wear a chastity ring at school as an expression of her Christian faith and a 13-year- old Roman Catholic girl’s right to wear a crucifix on a chain.
But Mr Justice Silber said today that the Kara fell into a ‘very exceptional’ category of religious jewellery and that Aberdare Girls’ School had discriminated against Sarika on the grounds of race and religion over her half-inch wide, plain steel bangle.
While not a requirement of her religion, he accepted the Kara was of ‘exceptional importance’ to Sarika’s racial identity or religious belief.
The judge said there was ‘no evidence’ that the wearing of a crucifix was regarded in the same way as the wearing of the Kara.
‘In other words the school is not justified in having any fear that granting an exemption to the claimant to allow her to wear the Kara would create any further exemptions,’ he said.
However, it has been claimed that the judgment could lead to legal challenges, particularly relating to ‘unobtrusive’ items of religious significance.
Julia Thomas, head of legal services at the Children’s Legal Centre which supported Muslim schoolgirl Shabina Begum in her unsuccessful attempt to be allowed to wear the jilbab – head to toe religious dress – at school, said she thought it would anger those who had fought to wear religious items and failed.
‘There are devoted Catholics who would regard wearing a crucifix as just as important, and there was the recent case of the young lady wanting to wear a chastity ring.
‘I think there could be a little bit of a problem there with the judge interpreting religion and making an assumption which is possibly not justified.’
Sarika, her 38-year-old mother Sinita and stepfather Satnam Singh, welcomed the ruling.
‘I am overwhelmed by the outcome and it’s marvellous to know that the long journey I’ve been on has finally come to an end,’ said Sarika outside the court in London.
‘I’m so happy to know that no one else will go through what me and my family have gone through.’
Sarika, whose Welsh father, a Christian, died when she was a baby, was the only Sikh pupil at her 600-pupil school.
She was 13 and had worn the Kara for two years when a teacher asked her to remove it in April last year because it contravened uniform policy.
She requested an exemption but was told she could not attend classes wearing the bangle and was taught in seclusion then excluded. In February she joined Mountain Ash Comprehensive, which allows her to wear the Kara.
Her mother said that although it was a good school, the education of her daughter, an A and B-grade student, suffered as a result of the move.
She added it had been Sarika’s decision to fight the case.
Aberdare Girls’ School has agreed to take Sarika back in September, but her mother said her daughter needed time to think about that.
‘The hardest thing for me is she is going to look back at her schooldays and remember this, it will never go away,’ she said.
Mr Justice Silber said the Kara – narrower than many watch straps – was regarded universally by practising Sikhs as an important part of their religious observance.
An Aberdare school governor’s attitude that wearing it was roughly similar to displaying the Welsh flag in that it engendered emotion was ‘seriously erroneous’, the judge said.
But he stressed that the judgment was ‘fact-sensitive’ and that there was an ‘enormous difference’ between the ‘unostentatious’ Kara and a very noticeable garment such as the Muslim niqab or jilbab.
However, Anna Fairclough, legal officer for the human rights group Liberty who was representing Sarika, said the judgment could have an impact in potential future cases.
The governors and head of Aberdare Girls’ School said: ‘The decision to defend this action was taken after careful consideration by all concerned, and in good faith.
‘Should Sarika wish to return to school in September, in accordance with the judgment, she will be offered help and support to reintegrate her into the normal day-today life of the school.’
Sarika Watkins-Singh, 14, suffered indirect discrimination from Aberdare Girls’ School in south Wales last year after insisting on wearing the bracelet for religious reasons, a judge ruled.
Legal experts warned that Mr Justice Silber’s ruling that the slim steel bangle was a symbol of faith and not a piece of jewellery could pave the way for similar cases involving religious apparel.
Clarissa Williams, president of the NAHT teaching union, said: “We’re expected to have school uniform policies, this puts schools in an invidious position.
“The main issue with jewellery is the health and safety aspect - it’s not about discrimination.”
Mr Justice Silber ruled that 14-year-old Sarika Watkins-Singh had suffered indirect discrimination from Aberdare Girls' School in south Wales last year.
She was isolated from her classmates for two months and even accompanied to the toilet by a member of staff, before finally being excluded for persistently breaking the "no jewellery" rule.
In court, Sarika said wearing the bangle - known as the Kara - was as important to her as it was to the England cricketer Monty Panesar.
Finding the school guilty of discrimination under race relations and equality laws, the judge said Sarika, from Cwmbach, near Aberdare, could go back in September wearing the bangle.
Outside court, the teenager said: "I am overwhelmed by the outcome and it's marvellous to know that the long journey I've been on has finally come to an end.
"I'm so happy to know that no-one else will go through what me and my family have gone through. I just want to say that I am a proud Welsh and Punjabi Sikh girl."
Her mother Sinita, 38, added: "We are over the moon. It is just such a relief. Sarika has been through so much. When she was isolated at school it was very upsetting for the whole family.
"She was not allowed out of the classroom if the other children were in the corridor, she wasn't allowed out in the yard for fresh air, she wasn't allowed to get food.
"I don't think we will ever get the answer to why the school felt they had to take that action."
The family - who received legal aid to fight their court battle - made no claim for compensation, but their legal costs will now be paid by the school.
Sarika was the only Sikh among 600 girls at Aberdare, which does not permit any jewellery other than wristwatches and ear studs.
After being excluded, she enrolled in another school which allowed her to wear the Kara, but her mother said her schooling had been disrupted.
"Her education has gone downhill. She has always had top marks, she was always the top in her favourite subjects.
"She came home with 90 plus from a young age. Now she's finding it hard and she got a score in the 40s."
In his judgement, Mr Justice Silber said the school was wrong when it said wearing the Kara was similar to displaying the Welsh flag because it engendered emotion.
"That was a seriously erroneous attitude because it totally ignored the religious importance of the Kara which is not shared by the Welsh flag," he said.
The Kara is one of the five Ks of Sikhism, the others being the Kesh (uncut hair), the Kanga (wooden comb), the Kaccha (specially designed shorts) and the Kirpan (sword).
Mr Justice Silber said the Kara could not be seen under long sleeves, and Sarika was willing to remove it for safety reasons during games.
He also rejected argument that it might be seen as a symbol of affluence and allowing Sarika to wear it would be widely misinterpreted by other pupils.
The judge refused the school permission to appeal, although it can still seek permission from the Court of Appeal.
Barrister Jeffrey Bacon, who specialises in employment and discrimination, described the judgement as "brave".
"The judge could have stopped at indirect discrimination, he didn't need to go as far as saying the bangle was not a piece of jewellery. I do think that was a brave finding.
"This ruling is likely to be looked at with care by others with cases which involve religious dress and the like. I am not saying that this is opening the door, but it must at least be a chink of light."
Mr Justice Silber said the school's governing body had accepted that the way it conducted the appeal was unfair.
A statement from the school said: "The decision to defend this action was taken after careful consideration by all concerned, and in good faith.
"It was not taken lightly. We regret that this action became at all necessary.
"Should Sarika wish to return to school in September, in accordance with the judgment, she will be offered help and support to re-integrate her into the normal day-to-day life of the school."
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Sikh group in Muslim-majority Malaysia is demanding the right to use the world "Allah" as a synonym for God and has joined a legal battle by Christians against a government order banning non-Muslims from using it, an official said Friday.
The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Tuesday seeking to join a suit by The Herald, a Roman Catholic newspaper, against the government over use of the word "Allah," said council President Sardar Jagir Singh.
The Home Ministry previously ordered the newspaper not to use the word "Allah" in its Malay-language publication as a translation for God, saying using the word would confuse Muslims. The Herald then filed suit, claiming it had a right to use the word.
Jagir said his council, representing more than 100,000 Sikhs, wanted to join the suit because the ruling would affect them.
The word Allah appears on "numerous occasions" in the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, he told The Associated Press. "Not a word can be altered. It's our holiest book ... it will mean we can't practice our own religion."
Jagir said so far he has not received a court date. The High Court is scheduled next Wednesday to hear the applications of several Islamic institutions that have applied to intervene in the suit to defend the ban.
The Herald — which publishes in English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — says "Allah" is an Arabic word that predates Islam and has been used for centuries to mean "God" in Malay.
The government has not explained how the use of "Allah" by other religions would confuse Muslims, but apparently wants to draw a sharp distinction between the Islamic God and all other deities.
The case is an example of increasing complaints by religious minorities in Malaysia that their rights have been undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, the country's official religion.
Ethnic Malays, virtually all of whom are Muslim, make up nearly 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. The main minorities are ethnic Chinese and Indians, most of whom are Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.
Dissatisfaction with court rulings over Muslims' inability to legally leave Islam along with other religious issues such as the demolition of Hindu temples by state authorities contributed to the ruling coalition's poor performance in March elections, when it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
In a separate case, the Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo has filed a lawsuit in an effort to be allowed to use "Allah" after officials last year banned the import of books containing the word. Hearings in that case are still in the preliminary stages.
A police force's failed attempt to find protective headgear that fits over Sikh officers' turbans has left taxpayers with a £100,000 bill, it has been revealed.
The money was spent by West Midlands Police after the dilemma posed by a constable who wanted to become a member of its counter-terrorist Operational Support Unit (OSU).
The man, thought to be in his mid-20s, was refused a place because he was unable to fit the necessary helmet and respirator over his turban and beard, both of which are requirements for strict adherents to his faith.
According to a police source, the unnamed officer claimed he was being discriminated against and was then assigned the task - while on full pay - of sourcing new equipment suitable for Sikhs.
He contacted manufacturers across the world to see if they could adapt their gear but after 18 months his search ended in vain and he was restored to regular duties. A few weeks later he is said to have gone on long-term sick leave suffering from stress.
The source - who estimated the total cost of the failed project, including the officer's wages, at £100,000 - said: 'This was a shocking waste of taxpayers' cash.'
Turbans are made of around 15ft of cloth wound around the head. Sikh men wear them to cover their hair, which they leave uncut in accordance with their religion. Most Sikh men wear their long beards rolled up.
As well as being a sign of spirituality, the turban is also a symbol of Sikh identity - showing they are proud to demonstrate their faith - and of courage.
Turbans offer a degree of protection to the head in terms of padding, but would not stop a bullet or a deflect a sharp blow to the head nor, obviously, protect against a chemical or biological attack like a respirator does.
Dr Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, said: 'It is mandatory for adult Sikh men to wear the turban, but there is a dilemma in some areas such as this where the police say wearing the helmet and respirator is absolutely necessary.
'The officer in question has approached me for advice. He wants to be a good Sikh role model and is very sincere in feeling that he should be allowed to wear the turban at all times. Taking off the turban would be like removing part of the Sikh identity.'
Sikh soldiers serving in the British Army refused to wear helmets during World War I and World War II. They fought with their turbans on, several receiving the Victoria Cross for their acts of gallantry.
Former West Midlands Police Chief Superintendent John Mellor branded the costly West Midlands scheme as a case of 'health and safety gone mad.'
He said: 'If this officer wishes to be in the OSU at his own risk, he should be able to carry out his training and his duties without the protective equipment.
'If they are going to insist on these precautions, then spending taxpayers' money looking for a way to get around their own rules is totally ridiculous.
'Taking 18 months out of an officer's duties and the colossal cost of this project is quite indefensible. It makes one wonder if people in charge of public funds understand what they are doing.'
A force spokesman said: 'West Midlands Police is a diverse organisation, which both serves, and recruits from, a diverse community.
'No Sikh officer has applied and been 'turned down' from joining the Operational Support Unit because of faith issues.
'However, it has been identified that for some members of the Sikh faith, the removal of the turban to wear a helmet and the wearing of a respirator could be problematic. 'As an employer committed to equality and diversity, we are working to try and find a solution to what is a national issue.'
Members of the National Sikh society have met this morning with Otahuhu police to discuss the fatal shooting of liquor store owner, Navtej Singh.
And Manurewa MP George Hawkins is to meet police Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope this afternoon to raise community concerns around the killing.
Mr Singh, 30, died in Auckland's Middlemore Hospital 24 hours after being shot in cold blood by an armed gang robbing his Manurewa liquor store of alcohol and cash on Saturday night.
Police are reviewing how long it took them to respond to the robbery after they held back an ambulance from reaching the store.
A friend of Mr Singh's said the delay was inhumane.
Police received the first 111 emergency call at 9.05pm but did not enter the store until 9.31pm and paramedics entered at 9.38pm - 20 minutes after they arrived at a "safe point" at the scene.
Police later said they had to establish where the gunman was before they entered so no one else's life was put in anger.
As they waited members of Mr Singh's family told 111 operators the gunman and the rest of his colleagues had long since departed.
Local community leaders have raised concerns about the level of policing in the area.
Mr Hawkins would meet Mr Pope as Commissioner Howard Broad was overseas.
"The Sikh community are really concerned at the delay in getting the ambulance there and why police took so long to let the ambulance in.''
Mr Hawkins said he would also talk about crime generally in the Counties-Manukau area.
He said it was up to police where it distributed officers.
"What I'll be telling them is the reaction of the community."
Mr Hawkins said he would give examples of problems with police responses, and ask questions from the community.
Mr Hawkins has been an effective local MP - it was his efforts that recently saw the Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill pass despite a select committee recommending it should not be enacted, and the Government introducing its own bill to deal with the problem.
A Sikh student in Scotland was punched and kicked by a group of thugs who accused him of having a bomb in his turban.
The group battered Lakhivar Singh, 22, a student of Paisley University, as he was waiting for a bus after finishing work as a part-time supermarket shelf stacker.
The thugs ripped off Singh's turban, punched him in the face and kicked him as he lay on the ground at one of Paisley's shopping centres last week till security guards chased them away, according to the Daily Record newspaper.
"At one point I thought I would be killed in the attack," Singh, who arrived in Scotland about six months ago to do his post-graduation in finance, said.
"All my family are in Mumbai and they just want me to come home because they think Scotland is no longer safe for me," he added.
"I was really enjoying myself here and most people are friendly, but now I am scared to go to work and I just want to go home," the Indian student said.
In the backlash that followed the London bombings, there has been a steep rise in incidents of hate crime against Hindus and Sikhs, with most of them perpetrated because of mistaken identity, the Hindu Forum of Britain said in London.
There were as many as 932 instances of such hate crimes against Indians, who are predominantly Hindus or Sikhs, as opposed to approximately 600 instances of faith-related hate crime against Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims, Ramesh Kallidai, Secretary General of the Forum said on Wednesday evening.
"As Asians we all look the same, and are equally vulnerable to any backlash," Kallidai said at the meeting of the leaders of the Forum with the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Tarique Ghaffour.
At the same time Hindu leaders noted that most of the hate crimes against the community were perpetrated through mistaken identity during the backlash after 7/7 bombings.
"However, our greatest concern is that there is no official recognition yet of the vulnerability of Hindus and Sikhs," Kallidai said.
During the special meeting organised by the Forum and the Metropolitan Police Hindu Association, he said the leaders voiced concerns over lack of community infrastructure to prevent hate crimes and help the victims.
"Even worse is the fact that there has been very low levels of Government engagement to understand what effect such high levels of hate crime is having on our confidence in the Criminal Justice System," he said adding very little effort was being made to help increase reporting of hate crime and offering voluntary support to victims.
In June there were only three instances of faith hate crime against Hindus and Sikhs but now there are more Hindu and Sikh victims of hate crime in the capital than Muslims, Kallidai said.
Arjan Vekaria, Chair of the Hindu Forum Security Committee, said "even though the level of hate crime against our community has increased so dramatically, there have been very few prosecutions."
The Forum had invited over 25 organisations to the meeting with Assistant Commissioner.
WASHINGTON: The Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), the oldest Sikh civil rights’ and advocacy organisation in the US, has asked premium golfing magazine, Golf Digest, to apologize for depicting Sikhism’s fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev, as "Golfing Guru" in its May edition.
The storm was kicked up after an American Sikh, Harjit Singh Sandhar, noted the depiction while on flight to Washington DC from Tulsa. He and his cousin, Sartaj Singh reported the matter to SALDEF.
"The image appeared along with an article — the Golf Guru — on the magazine’s 66th page. It appeared at the beginning of the article, which answers readers questions on golf," SALDEF said, adding, "The image, at first glance, appears to be a south Asian bearded, turbaned man with golfing gloves and stick. But the image is a picture of Guru Arjan Dev."
In a letter to the Golf Digest publisher, Thomas Blair, SALDEF said, "The decision to use the picture shows cultural and religious ignorance of Golf Digest staff and executives." SALDEF chairman, Manjit Singh, said they had brought the matter to the magazine’s notice, about a month back.
"Since we got no response, SALDEF decided to raise the matter within the community," he said, adding, "Since the mistake has been brought to the editor’s notice, it should be corrected."
Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE) has also condemned the depiction and described it as blasphemous.
"The way Golf Digest doctored the image is clearly blasphemous and shows they are insensitive. They should have first determined who Guru Arjan Dev is before using his image," SCORE chairman, Rajwant Singh, said.
Golf Digest is self-proclaimed number one publication in its genre. Published by Advance publications, the magazine is a generalist golf publication covering recreational and competitive golf.
A Michael Jackson tribute act featuring a Muslim and a Sikh has proved a massive hit on the TV show Britain's Got Talent. Here, Signature give their first interview with Celia Walden
When a Muslim who performs a Michael Jackson tribute act and a chunky Sikh, carrying a broom, first stepped out in front of the cameras six weeks ago, the viewers were as bemused as the judges on Britain's Got Talent.What followed could have been an excruciating mix of tastelessness and embarrassment. Instead, what we got was brilliant and hilarious, one of the most un-PC performances ever to feature on British television and a perfect riposte to those who agonise and pontificate over multiculturalism.
Since that day, Signature - the dance duo comprising Suleman Mirza, a 29- year-old trainee lawyer from Essex and 34-year-old Madhu Singh, from Hayes in Middlesex, who works at PC World in Heathrow's Terminal 5 - have become a phenomenon.
Their blend of energetic pop and banghra has prompted standing ovations. On a single day their BGT audition rerun on YouTube exceeded five million viewers. This week, they became the first act to be voted through by the public to Saturday's final, and yesterday Signature gave this paper their first ever interview.
"Our routine is about togetherness and overcoming conflict," said the rather handsome Mirza, who has been a Jackson fan since he was six years old. "I start the act with a Western dance, and then Madhu comes on stage. I look down on him because I don't understand his culture. But he surprises me, and he works really hard, symbolising immigration, and then we work together, and show that everyone can get on."Singh has an energy which belies his corpulent frame; he is the famously silent partner on stage but not in person. He says the pair are consciously using the contest to promote diversity - and entertain at the same time."Right now, you put the news on and it seems like it's just stabbings everywhere in Britain. I hope that we and all the kids and other acts on the show demonstrate that Britain does have potential, and should be great."Sikhs," he explains, "are not just taxi drivers, and I want people to understand that. Neither of us has ever dreamed of playing down our religions.""People see headlines when they hear the words 'Muslim'," sighs Mirza, "and probably rightly so. I understand that some of the minority groups in the Muslim community haven't made things easy for people like myself, who are moderate Muslims.
But back in April, at the audition, I was proud to go out in front of the audience in my Muslim headwear."
We are back stage at Fountain Studios in Wembley where the BGT semi-finals have been taking place every night this week. The corridors seem to be filled with performing dogs, chanting girl-bands, numerous over-excited children and nervous relatives.
Singh and Mirza, however, are an oasis of calm, complementing each other with their very different temperaments.
"I'm the quiet one," says Singh, "and Suleman is the one who rings excitedly to talk about new dance moves at midnight, when I'm trying to sleep. Most of the time I just hold the phone to my ear and close my eyes."
They met eight years ago at an audition for a talent show at Westminster University and have become best friends. But while Singh said he learnt to dance before he could walk, and is intent on making performing his livelihood, Mirza is adamant that he will return to work on Monday - even if Signature win the final.
"I have to go back to work next week, and I'm looking forward to it, because I want to get a bit of normality back in my life. I'm under no illusions - so you want to make sure you have a back up. My Mum's kept me grounded," he laughs. "On Wednesday she gave me a list of groceries and sent me out to the 24-hour Tesco around the corner."
"I've been back to work," says Singh, "because I had some things to finish up. But the papers ended up having a go at my boss saying he wasn't giving me time to rehearse, which wasn't true. They've all been amazing at work."
Singh's father, a priest, is coming around to the idea of his son as a dancer. "He was always a bit iffy about my dancing, because he didn't want me to get sidetracked, but this week, for the first time in my life, he sat me down and said: 'So, you're in the semi-finals, and there's one thing I want to say to you.'
Yes? I said. 'Lose some weight'." He and Mirza fall about laughing and Singh makes a pantomime lunge towards a box of chocolates. "But then he said: 'Just go out there and give it your all, and I got tears in my eyes'."
The female attention is a welcome perk. "I've never had a girlfriend," says Singh, "so I'm hoping this might change all that." Mirza, on the other hand, is openly revelling in his new-found fame. "I was on the Jubilee line on my way here tonight and this really good looking woman came up and asked to have her picture taken with me. Afterwards, the whole carriage followed suit - it was great.
"We've been dreaming about this chance for more than 20 years," he adds. "I've been pretending to be Michael Jackson since I was two, while Madhu used to creep downstairs at night, put on the Bollywood films and learn to dance to them, so I think we do deserve this."
Singh adds quietly: "Even if this doesn't work out, we will stay together, and we will never give up."
HIGHTSTOWN, New Jersey: Officials in New Jersey are banning a high school senior from campus after he was charged with setting fire to a fellow student's turban.
Authorities say Garrett Green torched a 16-year-old junior's turban with a cigarette lighter during a fire drill last week. The Sikh student had patches of his hair singed but was not seriously hurt.
Sikhism calls for men to wear their hair long. Many wear turbans. The victim's uncle says he was wearing a smaller version of a turban called a patka.
Green is due in court Wednesday on charges of arson and criminal mischief.
He's banned from Hightstown High School's campus and won't be allowed to attend prom or graduation at the school just east of Trenton. The district will give the 18-year-old home schooling instead.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Prabhjot Singh has flow out of San Francisco International Airport nine times since December. Nine times he was pulled aside for secondary screening of the turban required by his Sikh religion.
"I'm generally the only one subjected to secondary screening," said Singh, a marketing executive for a software company who travels for work. "People are staring, like asking, 'What did this guy do?'"
A civil rights group says targeting passengers like Singh continues at the San Francisco airport, which the group said was the worst in dealing with Sikh passengers. The alleged racial profiling went on despite the Sikh Coalition's work with the Transportation Security Administration and a positive change in the federal guidelines — at least on paper, said Neha Singh, the coalition's advocacy director.
"The issue now is implementation, making sure the policy we worked hard on is being implemented on the ground," said Neha Singh, who is not related to Prabhjot Singh.
Of the 113 voluntary reports by Sikh travelers sent to the advocacy organization between Dec. 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008, 80 were regarding additional screening.
Of those, 28 were at the San Francisco airport, the coalition said.
Sikh Coalition representatives believe that TSA screeners at the San Francisco airport were misinterpreting new rules giving them the discretion to check turbans as mandates to check them every time.
The TSA issued guidelines in August
subjecting flyers wearing head coverings — such as cowboy hats, berets and turbans — to secondary screenings at airport checkpoints.
Protests from the Sikh community, which felt unfairly targeted, led to a collaboration between the Sikh Coalition and the TSA and a revision of the rule in October. The new federal guidelines give screeners more discretion, allowing flyers to opt for a pat-down of their headgear and options less intrusive than the removal of a turban — something Sikhs only do in private.
TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said his agency has received less than two dozen complaints relating to secondary screening of Sikh passengers at SFO since October, adding that the standards in San Francisco are the same as in other airports. A spokesman at San Francisco International Airport spokesman referred calls to Melendez.
"A private screening is offered to passengers, but it's about providing security," Melendez said. "We see enough items coming through the checkpoint to know what's common and what's uncommon."
The Sikh Coalition also identified airports whose screeners were praised for their cultural sensitivity — in Los Angeles, Portsmouth, N.H., and St. Augustine, Fla.
Up to 10,000 people are taking to the streets of a Berkshire town to mark the founding of the Sikh religion.
A carnival procession and religious services across Slough will mark the festival of Vaisakhi. It has the one of the largest Sikh populations in the UK.
Vaisakhi, also spelled Baisakhi, is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar.
It is the Sikh New Year festival and also commemorates 1699, the year Sikhism was born as a collective faith.
Organisers of the town's procession expect up to 10,000 people to turn out.
Inderjit Singh Ghattaura said Vaisakhi was marked by religious ceremonies and a huge celebration: "Within the procession, it's like a carnival.
"We have different floats, there's speeches and things like that.
"A lot of food is served, a lot of hot drinks are served, in case people are getting tired or thirsty," he continued.
"We also try and inform people who are actually watching from their windows or from their houses exactly what the carnival procession is about.
"We have all the council people, all dignitaries, and they all actually join in."
Vaisakhi is also a long established harvest festival in the Punjab, celebrated long before it gained a religious dimension for Sikhs.
AN 11-YEAR-OLD Sikh boy had his turban ripped off and stamped upon by a group of racist thugs on a Liverpool bus.
Arjan Rhode was attacked by a gang of teenagers on Monday afternoon on the 82 service in Garston.
Moments after he got on the bus near Aigburth Road, he was tapped on the shoulder and his turban was suddenly pulled from his head.
A group of around nine yobs, aged around 18, passed the turban around while mocking the St Benedict’s RC College pupil.
They shouted a tirade of racist abuse at the terrified boy as they stamped on the turban on the floor.
The turban is one of the most important religious symbols for a Sikh and damaging one is seen as a huge insult.
The bus was packed, around school leaving time at 3.10pm, but nobody intervened.
Arjan left the bus sobbing and recounted the assault to his mother who immediately telephoned the police.
Police have arrested a boy aged 17 on suspicion of a religiously aggravated public order offence.
He was being questioned by officers and the matter could be passed to the force’s Sigma Unit, which deals with hate crime.
Police are set to examine CCTV tapes from the bus.
It is alleged that the mocking group were made up of current and former pupils from St Benedict’s, formerly St John Almond, and the school has been contacted.
His mother, who wished to be identified only as Mrs Aurkaur, said her son had been left traumatised and was off school.
She said: “The bus was busy but nobody helped him. After it happened, Arjan sat there alone and frightened until he got off.
“This was a completely offensive act, the turban is the basis of Sikh religion.”
Mrs Aurkaur said her son had suffered repeated racist attacks and insults at his school in Horrocks Avenue, Garston.
Headteacher John Finnigan said initial inquiries suggested none of the yobs was a pupil, but he would work with police to identify them.
He said: “Any racist incidents are totally against the ethos of our Catholic college.
“Such incidents are always condemned, thoroughly investigated and action taken.
“This matter occurred after school, but we have obviously made inquiries among our students and teachers.
“College staff and the police will be patrolling the area at the end of the school day.”
A Sikh policeman has been awarded almost £10,000 in damages for racial discrimination after a police force rejected a dozen applications from him to join.
Pc Sangram Singh-Bhacker, 41, who comes from an Indian family in Manchester, had been trying to transfer to the city since 1990.
But despite having served for 16 years with five other forces in England, his applications were repeatedly refused by Greater Manchester Police.
He now works for British Transport Police and has abandoned any hopes of working in Manchester.
A tribunal found GMP guilty of racial discrimination and condemned the force both for its refusal to employ the officer and the way it later sought to impugn his integrity.
Pc Singh-Bhacker was awarded £5,000 for "injury to his feelings", £4,000 in aggravated damages and £400 in travel expenses. The aggravated damages were awarded because of the way GMP had attacked Mr Singh-Bhacker's integrity without any supporting documentation.
A GMP spokesman said: "We regularly accept transfers of officers from other forces if they meet the rigorous standards we require. These officers are drawn from many different communities, including the Asian community."
Excitement and anticipation are building among Leamington's Sikhs as work on the town's new temple begins this month.
The £8 million gurdwara is expected to open in 2010 and has been paid for by fundraising and donations from the congregation.
Member Parminder Singh Birdi said: "It is exciting time and people are starting to become aware that long wait is over and the place is buzzing.
"Just the other day there was an anonymous donation of £5,000 and I think as soon as work starts we will start to see a lot more enthusiasm from the Leamington community."
Committee member Jaspal Singh Bhambra said: "December 9 was an important day for us as it was when an open meeting was called to dispel the difference of opinion that few members had and the congregation unanimously agreed to proceed with the project. "
Contracts with Leamington builders AC Lloyd have now been signed and work is expected to start in the next few weeks. The new gurdwara, which will be built on the temple's existing Queensway site, will have a library, meeting rooms and three prayer halls to meet requirements of its large number of members, weddings and functions.
The current building will remain in use while the project is being completed and will eventually become a community centre.
Before Christmas some 180 families had signed up to help the project and since then the number of donations has continued to rise.
Organisers hope the gurdwara will meet the needs of the 4,500 Sikhs living in Leamington, Kenilworth and Warwick and will also welcome schools and other faiths to visit and learn about Sikhism.
Plans also show a large basement which will be used to house language and music classes.
Mr Birdi believes seeing work begin will be a poignant moment for everyone involved. He added: "This is a very large building project and we are surprised that it is right on schedule. It is a testament to the dedication and professionalism of all volunteers involved."
A magistrate has been jailed for 18 months after admitting telling a contact he could delay his court case in return for a £50,000 payment.
Balbir Sandu, 63, who had been a lay Wolverhampton magistrate, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to the fraud charge.
The court heard Sandu, of Merridale Road, Wolverhampton, later dropped the fee for his contact to £40,000.
Sandu told police when he was arrested the offer was intended as a prank.
The court heard how Sandu's acquaintance had become concerned and called police following their conversations, which happened between 14 January and 14 March last year.
Sandu pleaded guilty to fraud at a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court in January.
St. Patrick's Day festivities kick off with Ireland fund lunch, tomorrow's parade
Mar 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Prithi Yelaja Staff Reporter
Even the Sikh cabbie who drove Susan Storey, chair of the Ireland Fund of Canada, to the group's annual St. Patrick's Day bash in downtown Toronto was wearing the green.
As in a green turban.
"He was thrilled. I thought that was so cute," says Storey.
Yes, it's that time of year when, as Jack Ferns, organizer of Sunday's St. Patrick's Day parade, likes to point out: "There are three kinds of people in the world: those who are Irish; those who wish they were and those who have no ambition."
Undoubtedly, the nearly 1,400 people who enjoyed the craic (fun) at the Ireland Fund's hooley (party) yesterday at the Metro Convention Centre fell into the first two categories.
"It celebrates the best of Ireland in a way that even if you come from another cultural group you can have fun," says Eleanor McGrath, a Toronto author who is writing a book about the Irish in Canada.
Adds Liz Power, whose husband Michael donned a big, goofy green hat for the occasion, "It's the Irish event of the year in Toronto."
Two stately Irish wolfhounds sauntered around.
And Guinness flowed freely as the crowd was treated to Irish jigs and sang along to perennial favourites like "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and "Molly Malone."
Launched modestly in 1982, the first Ireland Fund luncheon attracted 80 people, raising $2,500.
Now in its 25th year, the $225-per-ticket event was expected to raise more than $250,000 and capture a Guinness Book World Record for "largest simultaneous roast beef dinner."
"We've just outgrown every facility. We could probably do a 3,000-person lunch, but there's no facility that could accommodate that," says Storey.
Founded in 1978 by Hilary Weston, the Ireland Fund of Canada is one of 11 such funds worldwide, supported by many of the estimated 73 million people who belong to the Irish diaspora – including 3 million in Canada, 1 million in the GTA.
The fund raises money for grassroots community projects that celebrate Irish heritage and promote peace and reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants in their homeland.
The fund's Canadian branch spearheaded the creation of Ireland Park on Éireann Quay at the foot of Bathurst St., which commemorates the Irish famine immigrants of 1847.
The park was inaugurated by Ireland's president, Mary McAleese, last June.
"Canada has done an incredible job of accepting people from every nation, but it's really important to understand where you come from. If you don't understand your history and what made the good and the bad, you can't build another country," says Storey.
Like Canada, Ireland struggles with issues of national identity following waves of immigration in the wake of its current economic boom."The big debate in Ireland these days is: `What is it to be Irish?' You can't say any more what it is to be Irish, only what is perceived to be Irish," says Finbar McCarthy, a building contractor who migrated to Toronto from Cork in 1982.
About 400 people attended a special mass at St. Michael's Catholic Cathedral to honour St. Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century.
The hour-long ceremony began with the blessing of the shamrock, which the patron saint used to illustrate the concept of the Trinity to the uninitiated.
The service is usually held March 17 but was moved up by the Vatican because Palm Sunday, the beginning of solemn Holy Week, arrives early this year, tomorrow.
Father Patrick O'Day, who plans to raise a pint or two of Guinness this weekend, believes there's room for both religion and fun in remembering St. Patrick, the latter in moderation of course.
"Though I hope people who are celebrating St. Patrick's Day know he didn't found beer," O'Day says with a chuckle.
The Maharani's headstone after it was unveiled at Ancient House Museum, Thetford, yesterday.
For decades, it gathered mould under tonnes of rubble and human remains at a derelict London chapel.
But a broken Victorian headstone that marked the temporary resting place of an Indian Queen was unveiled at a Norfolk museum yesterday to add to the region's rich Anglo-Sikh heritage.
Tourism chiefs said they hoped the installation of the restored marble gravestone of Maharani Jindan Kaur - mother of the Maharajah Duleep Singh - at Ancient House, in Thetford, would help the area to wake up to the huge economic potential of promoting its Sikh connections.
Thousands from across the country already visit west Suffolk and the south Norfolk town every year to pay homage to the last Maharajah of the Punjab and Britain's first Sikh settler, who lived at Elveden Hall, was buried at the village church and has a statue in nearby Thetford.
Harbinder Singh, director of the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail, yesterday said the gravestone of the Maharajah's mother, who died in London in 1863, would add to the town's popularity among the UK's Sikh community. “East Anglia, and in particular Thetford, is well represented on the heritage trail, but the economic potential for the area remains to be realised. It evolves with time and I think we are getting to that time. The interest will carry on cascading for centuries,” he said.
Mr Singh added that the chance discovery of the Maharani of Lahore's headstone in the catacombs at Kensal Green Dissenters Chapel, northwest London, during a restoration project in 2006 had stunned historians and was “highly significant” for Anglo-Sikh heritage.
Oliver Bone, curator of Ancient House, said the 2ftx2ft stone was a fitting addition to the museum because the building owed its existence to the Maharani's grandson, Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, who gave the Tudor townhouse to the people of Thetford in the 1920s.
Duleep Singh, who lived at Elveden Hall.
“It [the stone] is important because the Maharani was not in Britain very long and there are very few traces of her existence,” he said.
Maharani Jindan Kaur was the beautiful wife of the one-eyed “Lion of the Punjab”, Maharajah Ranjit Singh. She gave birth to Duleep Singh in 1838, who at the age of six became Maharajah of the Punjab.
But when the British annexed the region in 1849, the most powerful woman in northern India was sent into exile and her son was shipped off to England to live the life of a British aristocrat.
The proud woman who was known as the “Messalina of the Punjab” was eventually reunited with Duleep Singh in 1861 and was permitted to enter England. She died two years later in Kensington, London.
She was entombed at the old chapel at Kensal Green until her son arranged for her body to return home in the spring of 1864 and was cremated at Nasik in Bombay. The Maharajah Duleep Singh, who was a favourite of Queen Victoria, bought Elveden Hall, near Thetford, in 1863. He died 30 years later in Paris.
The BBC has been accused of being biased against religious groups like Sikhs and Hindus, according to the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO). 
