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.
NEW DELHI – Riots erupted across the Punjab region of India yesterday in response to the killing of the leader of a Sikh sect who died in an attack on a temple in Austria on Sunday.
At least one person was killed and Indian authorities placed four towns under a curfew after a day of violent protests following the attack in Vienna on the sect leaders, who were visiting the large Sikh community in Europe.
Witnesses said the Vienna temple was attacked by Sikhs from a higher caste who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the religion's holy book.
"We're assuming the content of the sermon was the trigger," Werner Autericky, a Vienna police official told the Austria Press Agency.
Worshippers used a frying pan and microphone stands to fend off six knife- and gun-wielding assailants. One of the leaders, Guru Sant Rama Nand, died of his injuries. Sant Niranjan Dass was in stable condition following surgery.
The two men were the leaders of the Dera Sach Khand sect, which reveres a saint born in the 15th century to a family of leather workers, considered ``untouchables" or outcastes, and known today as Dalits.
Though the bloodshed happened a continent away, news of the attack, by text messages and mobile phone calls sent from the vast community of Sikh émigrés in Europe, came to Punjab almost instantly. The rioting quickly followed.
Television stations in India beamed images of sect members parading through the streets of Punjab with swords, metal rods and sharpened sticks aloft. The rioters smashed cars and set fire to empty trains, snarling traffic.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, said in a statement, "I appeal to all sections of the people in Punjab to abjure violence and maintain peace."
• Mobs attacks police stations, buses and banks in Punjab region • India's Sikh prime minister 'deeply distressed' by disturbances
India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, appealed for calm, as riots prompted by the fatal shooting of a sect leader at a Sikh temple in Austria spread to several northern Indian cities.
Hundreds of people defied a curfew and army patrols, attacking police stations and torching the car of a senior officer and several trains. In two places, police opened fire on mobs, wounding at least four people, according to officials.
The violence centered on the city of Jalandhar, a stronghold of the Dera Sach Khand, a Sikh sect comprising mainly Dalits (formerly known as "Untouchables"). One person was killed when troops opened fire on a mob attacking a police station in Lambran village, according the state's top elected official, Parkash Singh Badal.
The violence followed the news that a leader of the Dera Sach Khand was killed, and another preacher wounded, in Vienna last night, when several Sikh men armed with knives and a handgun attacked the two during a visit to a temple. At least 15 other people were wounded, Austrian police confirmed.
Witnesses said the attackers were fundamentalist Sikhs from a higher caste, who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the Sikh holy book – the Guru Grant Sahib.
While officially Sikhism does not recognise caste – the complex system prevalent among mainly Hindus in India, dividing people into hundreds of groups defined by livelihood, class and ethnicity – it remains deeply rooted.
Singh, India's first leader to belong to the Sikh faith, said he was "deeply distressed" by the attack and subsequent violence. "Whatever the provocation, it is important to maintain peace and harmony among different sections of the people," he said, adding: "Sikhism preaches tolerance and harmony."
The foreign minister, SM Krishna, said India was working with the Austrian authorities to "ensure that the perpetrators of this completely mindless and wanton attack are brought to justice".
Last night, after news of the Vienna attack, hundreds of Dera Sach Khand followers, supported by other local Dalit organisations, took to the streets of Jalandhar, burning several vehicles and a bank, stoning buses and blocking railway lines and roads.
Sporadic violence was also reported from several nearby towns, said Sanjiv Kalra, a senior police official at Jalandhar, some 210 miles (337 km) north-west of New Delhi. Today morning, about 400 soldiers patrolled the area and police set up roadblocks across the city. Initially it appeared that the move had restored calm, but later protests spread to at least five nearby cities.
"Curfew in the entire district has been extended for an indefinite period and five columns of army have been deployed to control the violence," a local government official, A S Pannu told the Press Trust of India news agency.Sikhs make up less than 2% of India's nearly 1.2 billion people, the vast majority of whom are Hindus. Caste discrimination has been outlawed in India for more than a half century, and a quota system was established with the aim of giving Dalits a fair share of government jobs and places in schools. But their plight remains dire, living in poverty and kept down by ancient prejudice and caste-based politics.
A Sikh preacher died today after ng wounded in an attack on his temple in Vienna, by a group of fundamentalist Sikhs armed with knives and a handgun, police said.
India's prime minister appealed for calm as riots protesting the deadly shooting spread to several northern Indian cities.
Witnesses said the Vienna temple attended by lower-caste Sikhs had been attacked by Sikhs from a higher caste who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the religion's Holy Book.
The attack set off a brawl that wounded 16. It was not clear whether some of the weapons used were kirpans - ceremonial daggers that may legally be worn by Sikhs in Austria.
Two preachers - identified by Indian diplomats as Niranjan Das and Sant Rama Nand - underwent operations for gunshot wounds, but Nand died early today, according to a police official who declined to identify himself on the telephone, in line with Austrian custom.
Hundreds in India defied a curfew and army patrols to protest the killing, attacking police stations and torching the car of a senior officer and several trains. In two places police opened fire on mobs, wounding at least four people, said senior police officer Khubi Ram.
The violence in Indian centered on the north Indian town of city of Jalandhar, a stronghold of the Dera Sach Khand, a Sikh sect comprised of mainly "untouchables", or Dalits.
Worshipper Mohnder Ram, 72, who has lived in Vienna for decades, said the temple that was attacked had been attended by followers of Shri Guru Ravidas, the 14th-century founder of the sect. Witnesses said the group of bearded and turbaned men raided the temple as the preachers led several hundred worshippers in prayer. Followers moved to defend their leaders.
"I heard four to five shots" in the temple, said Ram. "People started screaming, children were crying as they ran out. It was like war. There was lots of blood everywhere."
Six suspects are in custody, including four wounded and in serious condition, police spokesman Michael Takacs said, adding that more may be detained. The wounded were all of Indian origin and aged between 30 and 50, said Bernhard Segall of Vienna medical services. The most serious wounds were caused by gunshots to the abdomen and head.
The temple is housed in a residential building of the working-class neighborhood of Vienna-Rudolfsheim.
Ram said about 400 people were at the service when the fight broke out; police put the number at between 150 and 300.
The scene was "like a battlefield," Takacs said.
Nearby resident Bimla Lalka said she saw seven or eight men with long beards and dark blue and orange turbans fleeing the building.
Sikhs make up less than 2 per cent of India's nearly 1.2 billion people.
Caste discrimination has been outlawed in India for more than a half century, and a quota system was established with the aim of giving Dalits a fair share of government jobs and places in schools. But their plight remains dire, living in poverty and kept down by ancient prejudice and caste-based politics.
When I first came across the bizarre story about Sikh police officers hoping to develop a bullet proof turban it reminded me of a sketch from Only Fools and Horses.
In this sketch Del wisecracks about a Dr. Singh not wearing a crash helmet because of his huge turban. Del’s entrepreneurial spirit leads him to developing prototype ‘Trotters Crash Turban’. With all the best will in the world, Del innovation was doomed from its inception
Under the Motor-Cycle Crash Helmets (Religious Exemption) Act 1976, "any follower of the Sikh religion" is exempt from having to wear a crash helmet if he is wearing his turban instead.
A newly formed National Sikh Police association (BPSA) has made bullet proof turbans a top priority, so that Sikh officers can serve within specialist firearms units and as riot officers. The chairman of the group is pushing for more research into finding the ideal material for a ballistic Turban.
As a Turban wearing Sikh I noticed that the coverage in the press circumvented some very obvious practical points of consideration.
The first point takes us to the grounds of International Cricket. Cricketers on the Global stage such as Monty Panesar (pictured) and Harbhajan Singh are both Sikhs. In order for them to fulfil their contractual obligations, they both wear a smaller ‘Under Turban’ beneath their helmets.
As a consequence they preserve their identity whilst adhering to safety regulations of the sport. The English Cricket Board needless to say has not made any special provision for them, nor have any demands been made.
On second point and one of historical relevance, displays at the Victoria & Albert Museum corroborate that the armies of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the one eyed charasmatic ruler of the Sikh Kingdoms, had ‘Turban helmets’ made of steel. These were worn over the turban as the name suggests and on inspection allowed space for the ‘top not’.
The case for the ballistic turban is far from unequivocal. Ironically Sikh soldiers serving under the British Army refused to wear helmets during World War I and World War II, several receiving the Victoria Cross for acts of Gallantry.
Practical adaptations may offer an alternative solution, however common sense should prevail thus avoiding expense to the Tax payer. Notably, debates of this hue can only be aired in a progressive multi-cultural society such as Great Britain.
In stark contrast across the Atlantic, Sikhs have been barred from wearing turbans in the US Army. This is tentamount to a huge misunderstanding of Sikh identity, partially fueled by confusion around the Sikh turban post 9/11. The Sikh Coalition a US civil rights group is lobbying to readdress this issue with the ‘Sikh Right to Serve campaign’.
Although I can’t see the bullet proof turban coming out any time soon, I guess if it ever becomes a reality its popularity may extend far beyond the British Police force. Perhaps it may become the head dress of choice for Sikhs in NATO as well as seasoned Sikh snowboarders across the world.
BULLET-PROOF turbans are being developed so that Sikh police officers can carry guns.
Sikhs are currently barred from becoming riot or firearms police officers because their religion does not allow them to replace their turbans with bulletproof headgear.
But scientists are working on developing a turban made from Kevlar-like material to protect their heads from gunshots.
With more than 2,000 Sikh police officers and staff in the UK, the new British Police Sikh Association (BPSA), has made bulletproof turbans a top priority.
Insp Gian Singh Chahal, of Kent Police and vice chairman of BPSA, told Police Review magazine that research has begun into finding the perfect material for a ballistic turban, but that the hi-tech headwear will need to pass strict Home Office tests.
He said: “We would like to follow any opportunity where we could manufacture a ballistic product, made out of something like Kevlar, to protect Sikh officers.”
One Sikh Pc said: “It would be incredible if they developed a bulletproof turban. We could go for jobs as firearms and public order officers.”
Banned by the Raj, the world's original martial art is being revived by British Asians. Jerome Taylor reports
In a fluorescent-lit sports gymnasium at a sprawling sixth-form college in Hounslow, west London, three turbaned Sikh warriors are frantically battling each other with razor-sharp swords. Draped in flowing blue robes and sporting chest-length beards, the three men cavort, twist and counter-attack each other in a blur of clashing blades and skilled confusion.
Watched by scores of eagle-eyed students, the two younger combatants use elegant curved swords and small circular shields to attack a taller and older man who is armed with a long double-edged blade and a simple dagger. Each time his opponents bring their weapons down, the lone warrior nimbly dodges the blow by sidestepping away or deflecting it back on to one of his opponents.
After a brief pause the tall man walks forward, runs a hand through his thick beard and announces with a slight hint of a Black Country accent: "The next technique I'll teach you is one that can break both a man's arms in just three moves. In real life of course, once you've broken the first arm your opponent is not getting back up. But when you're practising it's best to learn how to break both."
The martial art that the men are practising is shastar vidiya – a now little-known fighting technique from north India that virtually died out when the British Raj banned it after the final, bloody defeat of the Sikh empire in the mid-19th century.
While Chinese and Japanese fighting forms such as kung fu and ju-jitsu have become national institutions, shastar vidiya has languished alongside many of India's fighting techniques as a forgotten art form.
But one man is determined to bring it back from the brink of extinction. Nidar Singh Nihang is a 41-year-old "gurdev" (master) who has spent 20 years studying the secrets of shastar vidiya in order to pass it on to younger generations. It is a journey that has taken him from being a food packer in a Wolverhampton factory to one of the world's top authorities on ancient Indian fighting styles. Now he is looking for young apprentices willing to devote their life to learning the secrets of an art that he believes risks dying out altogether.
"Most people who practise Indian martial arts nowadays are simply learning the toned down exhibition styles that were allowed by the British," he says. "Unless we start teaching the original fighting styles they will be extinct within 50 years. I want to find two or three sensible, intelligent and tolerant young apprentices who can pass on what I've learned to future generations."
That a British citizen is trying to resurrect shastar vidiya by teaching it to young British Asians is more than a little ironic given the history.
Although shastar vidiya was widely practised across the subcontinent long before the emergence of Sikhism in the mid-16th century, it was the Sikh tribes of the Punjab that came to be the true masters of this particular fighting style.
Surrounded by hostile Hindu and Muslim empires who were opposed to the emergence of a new religion in their midst, the Sikhs quickly turned themselves into an efficient and fearsome warrior race. The most formidable group among them were the Akali Nihangs, a blue-turbaned sect of fighters who became the crack troops and cultural guardians of the Sikh faith. As Britain's modernised colonial armies expanded across the Indian subcontinent, some of the stiffest opposition they faced came from the Sikhs who fought two bloody but ultimately disastrous wars in the 1840s that led to the fall of the Sikh empire and allowed Britain to expand its Indian territories as far as the Khyber Pass.
Astonished by the ferocity and bravery of the Akali Nihangs, the Punjab's new colonial administrators swiftly banned the group and forbade Sikhs from wearing the blue turbans that defined the Akalis.
Sikh warriors were quickly given rifles and drafted into Britain's armies. The practice of shastar vidiya went underground and was nearly forgotten. In its place, the British allowed and encouraged "gatka", a ceremonial and toned-down version of shastar vidiya which is widely displayed during Sikh festivals today. Now Singh Nihang hopes he can make shastar vidiya as widely practised as gatka.
In one corner of the gymnasium where Singh Nihang is teaching his class an array of weaponry has been ceremonially laid out on the floor. Students begin learning how to fight with relatively harmless wooden sticks but those who show a particular finesse and dedication are allowed to practice with the kind of swords that once made the Sikh armies so powerful.
"This is one of my favourite weapons," says Singh Nihang as he picks up an undulating, serrated sword that looks uncannily like a snake. "It's very difficult to learn how to use, but it's also very difficult to fight against. The serrated edge confuses your opponent and allows you to sever muscle tendons in battle. It's a very nasty weapon.
"The key skill shastar vidiya teaches is deception. It's the blows your enemy never sees coming that do the real damage." For followers of shastar vidiya, the martial art is more than just a fighting style. Acolytes are expected to live up to strict religious principles and honour martial codes. The roots of shastar vidiya are not known but there is evidence to suggest that India's martial arts predate those from China and Japan.
Indian monks were the first to export Buddha's new teachings across the Himalayas and according to Chinese legend it was an Indian monk called Bodhidharma who first introduced martial arts to the famous Shaolin Temple in AD 600. Bodhidharma himself is thought to have come from south India where another indigenous fighting style known as Kalaripayattu has also undergone a recent renaissance.
One of Singh Nihang's top students is Iqbal Singh, a 39-year-old businessman from Slough who had spent many years looking for a master who might be able to reconnect him with his culture's fighting past.
"When I was younger I used to head down to the British Library where there are loads of manuscripts and books from the Sikh empire," he recalls. "I kept dreaming about travelling back to the Punjab to find a master and I always imagined he'd be some grizzled old man living in a hut somewhere. Instead, the person who seemed to know the most about these fighting styles was a factory worker from Wolverhampton."
In fact, it was thanks to the British Raj's obsessive bureaucracy that people like Singh Nihang have been able to reacquaint themselves with their ancestors' past. The physical technique of fighting was taught to him in the Punjab by a septuagenarian gurdev when he was a teenager but the vast records in the British Library and the V&A Museum enabled him to compile a history of the Akali Nihang warriors in a book called In The Master's Presence.
"That's something that has always amused me," laughs Singh Nihang. "It was British colonialism that nearly destroyed shastar vidiya, but it is also colonialism's obsession with book keeping that may save it."
Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs addresses displaced Sikh families from Buner during his visit to Gurdwara Panja Sahib
By Farzana Shah-Asian Tribune Correspondent in Pakistan
Islamabad, 06 May, (Asiantribune.com): Pakistan has announced relief package for Sikh families who have been affected by ongoing militancy in North West Frontier Province.
The package was announced by Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti during his visit to Hasanabdal city.
Addressing a press conference regarding non-Muslim displaced families in the wake of recent disturbances in Swat, Buner and Orakzai Agency, the minister said "The present government believes in the principles of tolerance, human equality and peaceful co-existence.".
Earlier, he visited Gurdwara Punja Sahab, Hassan Abdal, where 128 Sikh families have taken refuge after violence in the aforementioned areas.
The minister announced a relief package for non-Muslim families who have been dislocated due to recent disturbance in Swat, Buner and Orakzai Agency.
These families have been housed in Gurdwara Punja Sahib, Hassan Abdal and Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh, Peshawar.
The package covers residence, provision of food items, medical and educational facilities and emergency financial assistance of Rs10,000 for each family.
The Federal Minister also declared that the government will ensure their rehabilitation in their respective areas as and when the situation improves.
He also constituted a committee of Ministry’s officers to look after the problems of these refugees.
The Minister informed that he has already written letter to Governor and Chief Minister of the concerned province for protection of minorities in the prevailing situation.
Ministry of Minorities is doing its best to help out the non-Muslim families who have become the victims of militancy in these areas, he said.
‘The Ministry has its special budget for upkeep and renovation of their religious places and to facilitate the Yatrees to the major Gurdwaras in Pakistan,’ he said.
A plan of establishing Baba Guru Nanak University at Nankana Sahib is also under consideration while religious festivals of the Sikh community are celebrated with great zeal, Bhatti said. Gurdwara Panja Sahib.
The minister said that nobody has right to alter the state system in contradiction to Quaid-e-Azam’s vision.
The minister emphasized on religion-social harmony in the country that was what the father of the nation mentioned in his very first speech in the First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
He condemned the demand of Jizia (tax) by local Taliban and said that the minorities in Pakistan are not conquered communities rather they are sons of the soil and the government will not allow any faction of society to trample the constitutional rights of the minorities.
‘The concept of Jizia is (in) blatant violation of the law of the land as Article 20 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan protect the right to profess and practice the religion for every citizen of the country without any discrimination,’ he added.
Rome, 5 May (AKI) - A homeless Indian Sikh who was burnt and beaten in a savage attack in central Italy earlier this year is now out of danger, one of his doctors said on Tuesday. But Vito Verardi, a surgeon at Rome's St Eugenio hospital told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Navtej Singh Sidhu would require several more operations and is likely to be in hospital at least until mid-June.
"I think he is out of danger now. But he has problems with both of his legs," Verardi told AKI. "His fibia bones are protruding through the skin and he will require delicate cosmetic and orthopedic surgery."
Sidhu was admitted to St Eugenio's burns unit on 1 February with a fractured skull and burns to 40 percent of his body after three youths in the coastal town of Nettuno allegedly attacked him as he slept on a railway station bench.
He has already undergone 10 skin graft operations, but Verardi said Sidhu was in good spirits. "He has made many friends in the hospital," he said.
The attack against Sidhu has angered immigrants in Italy, and has drawn condemnation from the charities that work with them, as well as politicians.
Three youths have been arrested and charged with attempted murder over the attack in which Sidhu was beaten, sprayed in the face with metallic paint, and set alight.
The three, who had allegedly been drinking, claimed they had sought out "a bum" to whom the could "teach a lesson" and "experience powerful emotions."
Sidhu became homeless when he lost his job as a builder's labourer last year after his residency permit expired.
Since the attack Italian authorities have pledged to give Sidhu residency, as well as a job and accommodation when he leaves hospital.
Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno, the Indian ambassador to Italy, Arif Khan, and Italy's Senate speaker, Renato Schifani, and members of the Punjabi community have visited Sidhu in hospital.
By Hardeep Singh
