According to press reports, the Indian government has “concerns” about the creation of the American Sikh Congressional Caucus, such that it has “warned” the U.S. government about its very existence. These concerns appear to be grounded in the suspicion that the caucus is a front for an effectively defunct for a separate Sikh homeland called “Khalistan.” The concerns are without merit, and the caucus itself stands firmly on bedrock American principles and traditions.
Understanding the Bhinder decision: A legal perspectiveRecently, I have received several inquiries about the Bhinder case that was decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985. Apparently, some individuals have suggested to the Punjabi media that S. Karnail Singh Bhinder had in fact won the case but that neither he nor the community had known of this before.
[...]I read the leaflet then walked into the march, joining three women who I asked about Professor Bhullar. ‘This is not an execution,’ said one of the women ‘if the government kill him it will be an assassination. If this happens there will be a lot of anger in India.’ [...]
In a previous write up on the issue of Indian media and Sadda Haq (Fabricating a controversy), We tried to the highly biased approach of the Indian media towards Punjab film Sadda Haq. Reasons behind this approach were also discussed.
Two young Hindu boys were killed by some unknown persons on a day in early 1980s in Majha region of Punjab. A Journalist who was deployed at Amritsar by a news agency because of his Sikh appearance, while ideologically he had a leftist approach, was asked to send a specified news-story on this matter.
Patiala, Punjab (April 05, 2013): Under pressure from high-ups in Punjab police and the bureaucracy, the Punjab government imposed ban on Sadda Haq Punjabi movie on late evening of April 04, 2013. The movie was scheduled to be released on April 05. In an official statement it was reportedly said that the ban was imposed in order to prevent disturbance of law and order.
Sadda Haq, a much awaited Punjabi movie hit cinemas across the globe today. Sadda Haq is an attempt to tell the untold story of painful days of post-1984 to mid-1990s on the cinema screen. The movie’s plot is based on events of a period that was never so openly addressed in Indian cinema or by the Indian media.
It seems to me that the only time the political system of India attracts any kind of scrutiny by the Western media is during a general election campaign. Every 4 years or so India becomes billed as the world’s largest democracy and India is presented as a beacon of freedom and human suffrage. A beacon of Western secular democracy in the Orient.
For a Sikh it is obviously impossible to hide his turban. Yet you claim that your law is the same for everybody. This oxymoron — “it’s not same for Sikhs, but it is same for everyone” — was the utterance of a French government spokesperson reportedly defending the decision to not lift the ban, despite the United Nations 2012 finding that France’s ban violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
[...] Now he has been hanged, I hope our collective conscience has been satisfied. Or is our cup of blood still only half full?