Tel: 905-670-1522, Fax: 416-661-7273 Vol.9 , No. 1090 Thursday, August 04, 2011 19 Savan , Nanaksahi Calendar 543

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T: 905-670-1522 - editor@SikhPress.ca

Harper questions NDP!

HAMILTON, Ont. — Prime Minister

Stephen Harper is questioning the NDP's

commitment to Canada following revela-

tions interim leader Nycole Turmel is a

former card-carrying member of the sep-

aratist Bloc Quebecois.

Joining the chorus of criticism

against Turmel, Harper said today that

Canadians expect that any political party

that wants to run the country be "unequiv-

ocally committed" to it.

Turmel confirmed Tuesday that

she was a member of the Bloc for more

than four years before returning her mem-

bership in January, a few months before

the federal election.

She also said she was a member of

provincial sovereigntist group Quebec

Solidaire, but plans to send her card back.

While Turmel says she's never

been a separatist, Harper says he thinks

Canadians will be disappointed to hear of

her association with the groups.

Turmel was named last week as

Jack Layton's replacement while he fights

cancer. Harper made the comments

Wednesday after announcing the recipi-

ents of the 2011 Vanier Canada Graduate

Scholarships at McMaster University in

Hamilton. "I think it's very disappoint-

ing," Harper said when asked about

Turmel after the announcement. "I don't

know that I have a lot to say but I do think

Canadians will find this disappointing. I

think Canadians expect that any political

party that wants to govern the country be

unequivocally committed to this country.

I think that's the minimum Canadians ex-

pect." But the New Democrats say the

Tories are in no position to criticize any-

one. "Knowing that ... Conservative min-

ister Denis Lebel was an active member

of the Bloc Quebecois and that Maxime

Bernier was a political aide to former pre-

mier Bernard Landry who made all em-

ployees declare their loyalty to an

independent Quebec, we wonder why

politicians who live in glass houses are

throwing stones," the party said in a news

release Tuesday.

Turmel, 68, said she got a Bloc

membership card in support of friend Ca-

role Lavallee, a Bloc MP who was de-

feated in the May 2 election after

representing the Saint-Bruno--Saint-

Hubert riding since 2004.

Courageous Journalism02 August 04, 2011

THE BLACK LAWS: CHARTERS OF SLAVERY

A DISILLUSIONMENT

When the British tried to crush

Indian dissent by passing more drastic

black laws like the Rowleatt Act in 1919,

Gandhi gave a call of 'Satyagraha' and it

was Punjab which gave the most power-

ful and militant resistance to such alien

repression showing remarkable Hindu-

Muslim-Sikh unity. The historical Jal-

lianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar took

place on 13th April 1919 which formed

a turning point in Indo-British relations

almost as important as the mutiny of

1857. Stanley Wolpert comments, "... On

April 13, 1919, Amritsar (Nectar of Im-

mortality), a city sacred to the Sikhs of

the Punjab, was transformed shortly be-

fore sundown into India's first national

urban shrine." (Jinnah of Pakistan by

Stanley Wolpert, page 64).Martial law

was promulgated in Amritsar, Lahore and

a number of districts in Punjab on 15th

April 1919. Special Courts and summary

courts were appointed. Arrests, impris-

onment and executions on a big scale

took place. Martial Law lasted from

15.4.1919 to 11.6.1919 during which

whole of Punjab was isolated from rest

of the world by a rigid censorship.Those

who suffered and faced gallows during

freedom struggle in Punjab resisting

British repression could never have

imagined that Punjab would have to face

again the same kind of repressive laws,

even more drastic, in free India against

which they were revolting! It is a sad

commentary on the functioning of Indian

democracy that the same kind of repres-

sive laws which used to be condemned as

Charters of Slavery during British time

are being enacted in one form or other in

free India. Though Indian Penal Code

and other laws already provide for all

kinds of offences like, sedition, waging

war against the Government and acts of

Terrorism, the Maintenance of Internal

Security Act, popularly known as MISA,

was passed in 1971 with the avowed ab-

ject of preserving national security, but

we know how this Act was used against

political parties, Trade Union workers

and other innocent activists.The same

government of free India has now passed

the National Security Act, 1980; the Pun-

jab Disturbed Areas Ordinance, 1983;

Armed Forces (Punjab & Chandigarh),

Special Powers Act, 1983; The Terrorist

Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act,

1984 and the Terrorist and Disruptive Ac-

tivities (Prevention) Act, 1985. Our in-

vestigation has revealed that these Acts

are being widely used in depriving the

people of Punjab of their civil liberties

and fundamental rights and have given a

free hand to the police and other Para

military forces to torture and harass the

simple village folks for ulterior purposes.

NATIONAL SECURITY ACT 1980

In spite of the harrowing experi-

ence of MISA, the present ruling party

passed the National Security Act in De-

cember 1980. The object and reasons

proclaimed for the said Act were:1. In the

prevailing situation of communal dishar-

mony, social tensions, extremist activi-

ties, industrial unrest and increased

tendency on the part of various interested

parties to engineer agitation on different

issues, it was considered necessary that

the law and order situation in the country

is tackled in a most determined and ef-

fective way. The anti-social and anti-na-

tional elements including secessionists,

communal and pro-caste elements and

also other elements that adversely influ-

ence and affect the services essential to

the community pose a grave challenge to

the lawful authority and sometimes even

hold the society to ransom. 2. Consider-

ing the complexity and nature of the

problems, particularly in respect of de-

fense, security, public order and services

essential to the community, it is the con-

sidered view of the Government that the

administration would be greatly handi-

capped in dealing effectively with the

same in the absence of powers of preven-

tive detention.Through this Act the Gov-

ernment acquired powers for preventive

detention of such persons who posed a

threat to the defense or security of India

and maintenance of public order. How-

ever, the developments from 1980 to

1984 shows how the Government tackled

the deteriorating law and order situation

in the country, in spite of its resolve to

tackle the same 'in a more determined

and effective way'. The activities of Sant

Bhindranwale and his various associates

were well known to the Government but

the National Security Act was never re-

voked against him. But how more dra-

conian amendments were made in it after

Blue Star Operation and how the same

were used against innocent citizens will

be seen subsequently.

BLUE STAR OPERATION & RIGID

CENSORSHIP

Then came the Blue Star Opera-

tion, and rigid censorship was imposed

in Punjab. There was no independent

and reliable source of news about the

happenings in Punjab. The rest of India

and the world could know about the sit-

uation in Punjab only through the gov-

ernment sponsored news. Any journalist

or other independent person, who tried to

discover the truth, was charged with sedi-

tion. There is the case of Brahma Chel-

laney, Correspondent, and Associated

Press of American who was arrested and

is now being persecuted by the Govern-

ment for reporting unpalatable news

about the official conduct. At the start of

the Blue Star Operation, a large number

of foreign and Indian journalists had

been rounded up and forced to leave Am-

ritsar in a military convoy. A party to the

dispute became its own witness and its

own judge in its own case.If the Govern-

ment's intentions were honest and it had

nothing to hide, then why did it not allow

independent observers, journalists and

other neutral persons to watch with their

own eyes as to how the conflict between

the two sides developed and how both of

them conducted themselves during the

course of the attack? Even during inter-

national wars and battles journalists are

allowed to cover the same, but in this

Blue Star Operation by the Indian Army

against its own citizens, majority of them

being innocent pilgrims--the Govern-

ment did not allow any neutral journalist

or newsman. In such circumstances, the

following portion of the eye witness ac-

count given by the 'girl student' who was

trapped in the Golden Temple along with

her family becomes significant:"...I could

not drink the water because it was mixed

with blood. Immediately then Bhai

Amrik Singh sent us a message that all of

'you must try to get out of the golden

Temple because you are innocent. If you

are captured by the army, they would not

spare you because whosoever is captured

by them--whether boy, girl, old or child,

would be a terrorist for them and would

be shot. Therefore you must try to get

out somehow so there would be some-

body to tell outside as to what actually

happened inside. They are making so

much false propaganda about us and

therefore you must get out to tell the real

truth".During this rigid censorship all

kinds of wildest and exaggerated rumors

spread in Punjab as well as outside. We

already had such experience of 'rumor

mongering’ during Emergency. While

All India Radio and Television blurted

out the government propaganda, which

no Sikh would believe, the newspapers-

-national or local--had no independent

source of information to provide to the

public. In the absence of any reliable

source of information, the Sikh and non-

Sikh opinions stood divided on opposite

extremes. The Sikh masses were led to

believe that the government had com-

pletely destroyed the Harmandir Sahib

and occupied it and had deliberately in-

sulted Guru Granth Sahib by defiling and

burning it. The other news like destruc-

tion of Akal Takht and killing of innocent

pilgrims were accompanied by all sorts

of exaggerations. Resentment and anger

began to develop fast and Akali Dal gave

a call to the Sikh masses to organize into

'Jathas' and march to Amritsar to liberate

Golden Temple from the clutches of the

'Satanic forces'. In the words Swarn

Singh, aged 65 years and Sarpanch of

Jefferwal village: "Meanwhile Akali Dal

had given a call to liberate premises of

Golden Temple and Morcha had to be

started from 17.7.1984 for this purpose.

There were large number of arrests on the

eve of this and I was also arrested on

14.7.1984 under section 107/151/IPC

and was kept in the Gurdaspur Jail for 15

days and then bailed out."The news of

the attack on the Golden Temple, the ru-

mors of destruction of Harmandir Sahib

and defiling of Guru Granth Sahib had a

traumatic effect on the Sikh soldiers. The

training and traditions of the Sikh Regi-

ments are nurtured on religious tenets

and before being inducted into the Army

as a trained soldier, a Sikh has to take the

oath of allegiance by physically touching

with both hands the Guru Granth Sahib.

Lest a Sikh soldier falter in keeping his

vow to die fighting in the thick of the bat-

tle for the honor of the country, the Guru

Granth Sahib accompanies the battalion

into the battle-field. And the same Guru

Granth Sahib, the Sikh soldier was in-

formed, was now being trampled upon

under the booted feet of the Indian Army

inside the Golden Temple and other Gu-

rudwaras in Punjab. Many of them went

out of their mind and started to march to

the golden Temple to defend their faith,

without which their very existence

seemed meaningless to them.Bhindran-

wale became a sort of martyr in the eyes

of the Sikh masses--not because he ex-

tolled violence and terrorism, but be-

cause he had died fighting in defending

their faith. Folk-songs eulogizing the

brave fight given by Bhindranwale and

his associates, and atrocities committed

by the Indian Army during the attack on

the golden Temple began to be sung in

the villages and cities. The folk-song

named 'SAKA' sung by famous Nabha

ladies, who were arrested later on, be-

came very popular. The song narrated as

to how the Sikhs had sacrificed most for

the freedom of this country and how they

were being killed by bullets and cannon

fire, and if they wanted to save their pu-

gree and beard, they had to stand and

fight.As the peoples movement began to

gather strength, the Government retali-

ated by passing the more brutal and dra-

conian laws like the Amendments in the

N.S.A. and the Terrorist Affected Areas

(Special Courts) Act, 1984.

AMENDMENTS IN THE NA-

TIONAL SECURITY ACT

The National Security Amend-

ment Ordinance No. 5 was issued in

April 1984 by which a detenu may re-

main in jail for fifteen days without

knowing the reasons of his arrest and

without having any effective remedy be-

cause the period of furnishing the

grounds of detention was extended to 15

days. Further the procedure for submis-

sion of the case of the detenu was

amended in such a way that a detenu will

undergo imprisonment for a period of six

months before his detention could be

found unjustified by the Advisory

Board.The National Security Amend-

ment Ordinance was issued in June 1984

by which Section 5-A was introduced in

the Act which provided even if detention

order is based on several grounds; it shall

be deemed to have been made separately

on each of such grounds. Thus the de-

tenu now has to challenge each of the

ground of detention in order to get him-

self acquitted. Another important

amendment in this ordinance is that after

the revocation or expiry of a detention

order, another detention order can be is-

sued even if no fresh facts have arisen,

provided that total period of detention

does not exceed one year.Thus the Gov-

ernment acquired arbitrary and repres-

sive powers in its hands by the above

amendments in the said National Secu-

rity Act. The government officials

started arresting the people at their

whims and fancy, and there was almost

no check on their arbitrary actions.Fol-

lowing are the few examples of the arbi-

trary manner in which the National

Security Act is used.(a) Giani Puran

Singh, who is a Granthi at Akal Takht

was arrested in FIR No 263/84 on

30.9.1984 under section 124 and 153A

and he was released on bail after three

months. He was again rearrested after

one month and is still in Amritsar jail.

He was involved with 10 others in the

said case but none of them was named in

the said FIR.(b) Mrs. Rajinder Kaur,

President, Stri Akali Dal, Punjab, made a

speech on 14.9.1984 in a Gurdwara in

which she said, "...We want a place

where Sikhs could have breath of free-

dom." Then she asked people to raise

their hands if they approved of such a

place. One lady Mrs. Harbhajan Kaur

Khalsa raised her hand. She was arrested

under the National Security Act, though

Bibi Rajinder kaur was not arrested. She

was able to get bail only in February

1985.(c) Shri. G.S. Grewal, Advocate,

Shri Manjit Singh Khera and Shri Jogin-

der Singh Sahni attended a small meeting

in a Gurdwara in Chandigarh on

8.6.1984. Students felt agitated and they

wanted to take out a procession. These

three and some other elderly persons

were persuading them not to do so. Dur-

ing his speech Shri G.S. Grewal said,

"...The weapons which are being shown

by the army are not likely to be the ones

used by the terrorists. In that case there

would have been more resistance than

they are telling us. We must rehabilitate

(Cont.. to page no 6)

The government has created following set of laws to suppress, torture and

kill innocent Sikh men, women and children. Clearly, the current Indian

government is much worse than the 18th century Mughal Empire.

Sikh Press Special

August 04, 2011Courageous Journalism

THE SIKH WAR CODE, ITS SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION AND IMPACT ON HISTORYGURTEJ SINGH, IAS & IPS (FORMERLY)PROFESSOR OF SIKHISM

It was Guru Nanak who laid down the

basic rules that must govern the waging

of war by his disciples. Besides pointing

out the code of conduct in conflicts, he

also spoke about the mental equipment,

spiritual training and self discipline of a

soldier. He is again the one who defines

what makes conflict legitimate, the ex-

tent to which it is to be pursued by indi-

vidual soldiers and armies and the

purpose to be achieved by waging war.

He talks of brave knights and martyrs

being honoured at Akalpurakh’s Court

(tithe jodh mahabal soor). Bhai Gurdas,

one of his earliest biographers, calls the

Guru a ‘roaring lion’ and a ‘conquering

hero.’ He goes on to commemorate him

in a ballad composed in the form of a

Vaar that is normally employed to eulo-

gise knights and to immortalise battles

and victories. The ideal human of Guru

Arjun’s concept is ‘Akalpurakh’s cham-

pion.’ (haun gosain ka pehalwanra) The

mental and physical training required of

a spiritually developed person is aimed

at imbibing the attributes of God which

the Guru has revealed. The incessant

striving to acquire these virtues and mak-

ing them a part of individual character is

defined as salvation. Thereafter, always

standing up for the implementation of the

Divine Will, as revealed in the Guru’s

word, is all that remains to make salva-

tion an eternal reality. Of the greatest im-

portance, perhaps, is also the method by

which salvation is to be achieved as well

as the nature of evil that was to be over-

come in the process. It is possible to trace

all this in the utterances of Guru Nanak.

Succeeding Gurus and other holy persons

(bhagta), whose word was accepted as

part of the final Sikh scripture, appear to

be in accord with the Guru’s thought.

Therefore it is pertinent recall the con-

duct of Sikh armies and soldiers engaged

in actual warfare, with a view to knowing

the extent to which the rules, so meticu-

lously codified, were followed.

2. In the opening verse of Guru

Granth, Guru Nanak lays down, amongst

others, the three most important attrib-

utes of the Creator that went a long way

in motivating his followers’ conduct dur-

ing war. These are: ‘The Ultimate Reality

is 1,’ S/He is fearless and has no enmity.’

The use of the numeral is deliberate and

is meant to convey absolute oneness. ‘It

is not my one God’ that the Guru be-

lieved in but the only One for all cre-

ation. The effect of this belief translates

into fearless combat in battlefield and hu-

mane treatment of the defeated. Guru

Nanak’s ideal devotee of the Divne is one

who is so ‘enthusiastic’ about playing the

‘game of love’ that he is prepared to stake

his life in the venture (to ‘carry his head

on the palm of his hand.’) A person must

think nothing of making the ultimate sac-

rifice while walking on the spiritual path.

(je tau prem khelan ka chaou sir dhar tali

gali mori aao).

3. The Guru expects his follow-

ers not to shirk battle for a worthy cause.

The cause has been defined clearly. It is

the Creator’s Will that absolute justice

should pervade all human institutions,

that everyone must enjoy the freedom of

worship and to preserve ones human dig-

nity. This is the basis of the Sikh political

thought in Guru Granth. Akalpurakh dis-

approves of oppression (har jio hankar

naa bhaaviee) born of impulse of aggres-

sion. In his Babarvani verses, Guru

Nanak expounds the theory that it is nec-

essary for a spiritually oriented person to

physically resist evil-doers. He de-

nounces the Lodhis who failed to protect

the women of Hind and its culture. The

conclusion is that the

devotees who strive

for spiritual progress

must resist oppression

to express their love

for Him. Physical re-

sistance to evil is

therefore necessary for

a person having spiri-

tual aspirations. This is

the ‘righteous cause’

that must be pursued

‘to the point of court-

ing martyrdom (mar se

mansa sooria hak hai

je hoe marahe par-

vano).’ Defining the

righteous cause more

explicitly, Guru Arjun told Adit Soini,

‘while engaged in battle, contemplate on

Akalpurakh, Who destroys evil-doers;

fight an ethical battle on behalf of the op-

pressed poor.’[i] The same idea is con-

tained in the verses of Kabir included in

the scripture. ‘Truly brave is one who

fights for the deprived,’ says the Bhagat.

(soora so pehchanie jo lare deen ke het).

While engaged in this pious duty, the bat-

tlefield must never be abandoned. (purja

purja kat marai kbhun na chhade khet).

4. We learn from literature other

than the scripture that the succeeding

Gurus blessed professional soldiers and

encouraged them to develop the right

kind of attitude towards warlike engage-

ments. Guru Angad, the second Nanak,

for instance, laid down an important rule

of warfare when he told a military-man

Mallu Shahi, ‘do not initiate a quarrel

with any one. If a battle is imposed upon

you, do not give thought to whether you

are well or ill equipped, enter the

fray.’[ii] While wanton aggression is

never justified, it is immoral to avoid war

‘at any cost.’ But even when engaged in

battle, the all-important discipline to con-

form to is that there should be no vio-

lence at heart. Guru Arjun advised Tiloka

Suhar, who was a soldier in the Mughal

army, ‘do not be violent at heart but re-

main steadfast in your profession of a

soldier'.[iii] Guru Hargobind, the Sixth

Nanak, fighting a ‘to the finish duel’ with

the Mughal commander Painda Khan on

the battlefield, would not strike first or in

anger. Mohsin Fani recalls an incident in

which the Guru warded off an attacker

and while dealing him a fatal blow

calmly observed, ‘this is how the sword

is wielded.’ He did not forget his primary

duty of a teacher even in those grim cir-

cumstances. The related injunction is

also derived from the famous letter Za-

farnamah (in Persian), supposedly writ-

ten by the Tenth Guru to Aurangzeb. The

oft quoted couplet is to the effect, that

‘when all peaceful strivings is of no

avail, righteousness it is then to grasp the

sword’. These sermons, prescriptions and

acts became the basis of the firm stipula-

tion that weapons were not to be taken up

in anger or with ag-

gressive intent and

only in the last resort.

They are reflected in

theRehatnamas put to-

gether by devoted

Sikhs much later.[iv]

In the Guru’s eyes

nothing makes the

cause more worthy

than the taking up of

weapons only when

every other possibility

of getting justice is ex-

hausted.

5. This attitude

to war also implies hu-

mane treatment of

prisoners of war, the injured, those who

give up confrontation, non-combatants

and the slain. The Tenth Nanak, Gobind

Singh specifically forbade the massacre

of fleeing enemy. This injunction is

based on the Sikh doctrine, that that there

is no ‘other’ among humans, as all derive

origin from the same divine entity, the

common Father/Mother of all. (na ko

bairi nahi begana sagal sang ham ko ban

aiee: sab ko meet ham apna keena ham

sabhna ke sajan).

It further says that evil is the re-

sult of misconception and wrong orien-

tation of the human mind. People are

intrinsically good, not bad. Once they

abandon evil ways or cease to support

evil causes, they must not be molested.

Qazi Nur Muhammad records, `they

never kill a retreating foe.’[v] Karl Marx

thinks that the Sikhs failed to consolidate

their victory over the British at Mudki on

December 21, 1945 because they would

not attack a defeated foe.[vi]

6. An application of the rule re-

lating to prisoners of war is documented

again and again. George Forester records

that the Afghan Prisoners of War were

compelled to clean the mess they created

at the shrine at Amritsar. But, “the Sikhs

– set bounds to impulse of revenge and

though the Afghan massacre and perse-

cution must have been deeply imprinted

on their minds, they did not, -- destroy

one prisoner in cold blood.”[vii] Rattan

Singh Bhangu’s father Rai Singh partic-

ipated in a battle against Jahan Khan, the

Afghan Governor of Sarhind, ‘in the

middle of November 1763 CE.’ Rattan

Singh has constructed the incidents that

happened on the battlefields on the infor-

mation received from his father. He says,

`the Singhs did not attack the enemy sol-

diers who abandoned their weapons.

They sought no revenge for they were the

personification of mercy.’[viii] When,

after a duel with Guru Hagobind, Painda

Khan, who was lying mortally wounded,

repented, the merciful Guru took his head

upon his lap and shielded the sun from

his eyes saying, ‘Painda it is time to re-

peat the ‘kalmia.’ Painda Khan was over-

whelmed by the gesture. His last words

were, ‘now Guru, your sword has be-

come my kalmia.’

In a battle against the King of

Kahlur in about 1711 CE, the Sikh com-

mander in chief Banda Singh Bahadur,

issued a military order, ‘do not pursue a

retreating soldier.’ At the conclusion of

the same battle, Sikh soldiers dug graves

and buried the thirteen hundred dead

since now they were beyond

enmity.[ix]This tradition dates at least

from the time of Guru Gobind Singh who

ordered a decent burial for the dead

enemy after the battle of Mukatsar. The

Sikh Commonwealth faced the greatest

danger from Maulvi Sayyid Ahmed

Brailvi who, with the British support, led

a Jehad against it (1831CE). His head

was cut off by a Sikh soldier who pre-

sented it to Kanwar Sher Singh. He

searched for the Sayyid’s body, retrieved

it from the battlefield, wrapped it in an

expensive shawl and called a Maulvi to

perform the last rites according to the Is-

lamic custom. All his dead companions

were honourably buried. Their leader re-

ceived state honours.[x]

7. Guru Gobind Singh, encour-

aged medical treatment of the injured

enemy, even in the field of battle. He

went to the extent of organising a volun-

teer force headed by Bhai Kanheyia, in

the closing years of the 17th century to

pursue this injunction. A section of the

Sikhs who continue with Bhai Kanheya’s

work of serving others, are organised

today as Sewapanthis.

8. In the above mentioned battle

“Jahan Khan himself took to flight. All

his camp equipage, relatives and depen-

dants fell into the hands of the Sikhs.

‘But as the Sikhs of old would not lay

their hands on women,’ says Ali-ud-Din,

‘they sent them safely to Jammu.’[xi]

The wife of Jahan Khan was amongst the

captured and it was on her wish that safe

journey to Jammu was arranged. A little

later, Sarbuland Khan the military com-

mander of Rohtas was defeated and cap-

tured by Sardar Charhat Singh. “He was

– treated with respect—as a highly

placed Afghan official and as an uncle of

Ahmed Shah.

(Ramaining part in next issue)

[This paper was presented to theGuru Nanak University for publi-cation in response to their invita-tion. It was not published becausethe University did not accept thatGuru Nanak had political con-cerns. This was the primary objec-tion. My view, strengthened by thisepisode, is that certain people inour universities are succumbing tothe diktat of the permanent cul-tural majority to bring Sikhiwithin the ambit of previously pre-vailing culture. In my opinion thiscultural aggression needs to be resisted]

Courageous Journalism04 August 04, 2011

History of Kabaddi Canada CupMetro Punjabi Sports Club founded in the early 1970s in the Greater Toronto

area sensed that Kabaddi was clearly missing something. A sport that spanned

across the globe in Punjabi communities had been predominately viewed as

something played at a professional level in India and England. Punjabi commu-

nities of a sizable number around the world would gather funds to hold sports

festivals that including an amateur exhibition of kabaddi much to the delight of

expatriate Punjabis. As the communities started to grow larger so did the number

of these non-profit organized sports festivals. The highlight of these festivals

from a crowd participation perspective would always be kabaddi.

Metro Punjabi Sports Club widely known to the Greater Toronto Punjabi

Community in the 70s 80s and early 90s as Rexdale Kabaddi Club had a vision

to elevate kabaddi to an international level. It was in 1990 when Mr. Sarwan

Singh Bal (Ramidi) during his visit to Canada, shared this idea of International

tournament during in an interview on then popular Radio show ankhila punjab.

In December 1990, on the occasion of Christmas party hosted by Rexdale

Kabaddi Club, Mr. Sukhminder Singh Hansra told audience of the views of Mr.

Sarwan Singh Bal. He urged everyone in the room to host a world cup. In sharp

and encouraging tone, Mr. Hansra motivated everyone to take this daring step

to promote KABADDI on International Level.

1991, the Rexdale Kabaddi Club transformed in to now known as Metro

Punjabi Sports Club of Canada, gathered their resources and relied on the

support of the business community to put together the very first international

Kabaddi tournament in the world, outside of India. The Punjabi community of

Toronto had never imagined that kabaddi would evolve to become a highly com-

petitive and professional sport in Canada and for that matter around the world.

There were many obstacles to overcome for Metro Punjabi Sports Club

in introducing an international level exposure to the game. Through community

networking, support of the Sikh Canadian business community, Kabaddi organ-

izers around the world and political leaders; Metro Punjabi Sports Club was

successful in creating a legacy for hosting international scale Kabaddi tourna-

ments in Toronto.

The first event of Kabaddi Canada Cup on Saturday August 10th was

covered by wide Mainstream Media including, CTV, CBC and McLean Maga-

zine.

In 1991, there were teams from Canada East (Ontario), Canada West

(British Columbia), India, England, Scotland and USA. The opening ceremony

was done in grand style and mocked a typical official sporting event with the

national anthem being played, formal team introductions, ribbon cutting cere-

mony to name a few. The fans loved every minute of the 8 hour event day.

Children were entertained by clowns and a Bhangra group while parents were

exposed to some of the greatest Kabaddi talent around the world. Unfortunately,

this international event could not be conducted under amateur sports guidelines

as some countries required the acquisition of players from India to enter an

official team. India being the heartland of Kabaddi talent was a rich pool to pick

from for businessmen in countries like USA and England to enter a team. Hence,

with the introduction of paid performance, the country that contributed the most

towards recruiting paid talent had the greatest chance to win. At the end of the

day, USA and their business community brought the best players and was the

winning team of Kabaddi Canada Cup, 1991.

The final match was a thrilling exhibition between the paid Indian stars

of USA and the home bread unpaid team representing India. The fans being

Indian expatriates were cheering for India in an extremely close final match.

There was so much excitement in the air that they showered a relatively un-

known player from India, Angrez Singh (Billa from Faridkot) for his relentless

attacks and earning of points against a world class stop line from USA.

The precedent was set by Metro Punjabi Sports Club through the

Kabaddi Canada Cup to bring a rural sport from Punjab to become a high stake

professional sport- providing many poor athletes from India an opportunity to

be overnight celebrities and become wealthy. Hundreds of players have Metro

Punjabi Sports Club to thank for enabling them to be wealthy sports star in India

and in the global Indian communities.

Metro Punjabi Sports Club held two more consecutive Canada Cups in

1992 and 1993. Both times USA took the cup. in 1994 the Federation of Ontario

Sports and Culturals associations were formed. Each member club was given

opportunity to host Kabaddi Canada Cup. In 1995, first time in the history the

event was taken indoor by Shere Punjab Sports club and others in association.

Kabaddi team from Pakistan also entered in this tournament. Nearly 14, 000

spectators attend this event which became a landmark event in Kabaddi history.

Kabaddi Canada Cups were held consecutively since then.

In 1999, Metro Punjabi Sports Club was given the opportunity by the

Federation to host the Kabaddi Canada Cup. Once again, the members and

volunteers of MPSC set a new stage for kabaddi. For the first time, Judo mats

were used to play on an indoor service. These mats provided much better sup-

port and balance without injury than previously held indoor kabaddi tourna-

ments that were played on carpet foam surfaces. Unlike ever before, the club

introduced each player with a brief bio individually for the benefit of the fans.

A time clock highlighting seconds left per raid increased the level of excitement

for fans. A mixture of pumping music bits with live color commentary was thor-

oughly enjoyed by everyone. Team Canada beat England convincingly in the

1999 finals.

In two weeks, the Shere Punjab Sports club is going to host 21st Kabaddi

Canada Cup at Powerade Center of Brampton Ontario. Under the leadership of

Gurmit Singh Kahlon, a veteran Kabaddi player and a senior member of Ontario

Federation, Shere Punjab Sports Club is known for their organizational skills.

In 21st Kabaddi Canada Cup, there are two women kabaddi teams are

going to participate. A women team from UK army and a women team from

USA is going to be the attraction for this event. Another team to look for is a

team from Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. All players in this team

are Keshadhari. This is first time when SGPC is sending their team to Kabaddi

Canada Cup.

by Martin SinghWith the surprise announcement this past week by Jack Layton that he has been af-

flicted a second time with cancer, I felt it prudent to dedicate this article to him and

the work that he has done for the NDP both as an activist and as leader of the

federal party.

A number of years ago, I had heard about Jack as a progressive thinking coun-

cillor from Toronto. Since first hearing about him, I took some time to learn more

about the accomplishments that he had had during his time in municipal government

in Toronto and later as the President of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities.

His record even at that time was impressive. When Alexa McDonough stepped down

as leader of the federal NDP, I felt that Jack would be the best candidate for the job.

At the time, I had no idea if he was even considering the possibility of running.

Nonetheless, I felt it was important that if he was considering the possibility of run-

ning that he would have support from across the country for his bid.

Given that he had not declared himself as a candidate, there was no leadership

website or contact information available. I searched for his Toronto City Councillor

website and got the contact information for his website. When I called, a very polite

staff worker answered the phone and I said, “Hello, my name is Martin Singh. You

have never met me and I do not live in Jack’s district or even in Toronto. The reason

for my call is that I live in a small village called Musquodoboit Harbour in rural Nova

Scotia and I wanted Jack Layton to know that I would support him if he decided to

run as leader of the federal NDP.” The staff worker thanked me for my call and took

my email address and phone number.

Such was Jack’s appeal that even though he was a councillor from the most

urban of cities in Canada, his appeal could reach across the country and speak to the

imagination of a young man who resides and whose family has resided in rural Nova

Scotia for generations. I was not giving my support to Jack thinking that he was

going to have deep insight into the issues of importance to my community given how

different it was from the community that he represented on Toronto City Council. I

was giving him my support because I believed that he could bring the NDP to power

in the federal government and that the policies that would be enacted as a result of

that win would benefit all Canadians including those who reside in rural communities

similar to my own. As an aside, I was pleasantly surprised to learn shortly after the

beginning of the leadership race that Jack did have a solid understanding of many of

the issues important to rural communities.

At the leadership convention itself, the anticipation was palpable. The dele-

gates who were supporting Jack felt that his team had run a very good campaign and

that he had a very good chance of winning. There was still some question though as

to whether or not he could take the leadership as he would have been the first person

in Canada to make a direct jump from a position in municipal politics to the leadership

of a federal party. After the first round of voting, there was a long delay. Part of this

was felt to be likely due to the fact that this was the first one-member-one-vote lead-

ership election. Along with the fact that there were many ballots to be counted, NDP

members had the option to vote over the Internet and by phone. As time dragged on,

I had a realization that I shared with my friend Ian who was also a delegate for Jack

from Nova Scotia. I told Ian that I felt Jack had won the election on the first ballot

and that the delay was as a result of the party workers having to perform a recount of

the ballots due to the first ballot victory. While I am not sure to this day if that was

in fact the reason why it took so long to count the ballots, we started celebrating on

the convention floor before the final results were released.

In the years since Jack won the leadership, I have been thoroughly impressed

not only with his leadership, but also with the success he has had in reorganising the

structure of the federal NDP itself. While not immediately recognizable to someone

outside the NDP, these structural changes have provided the federal party with a

greater capacity than it has ever had to perform the work necessary to succeed in

winning elections. Jack, we all look forward to your speedy recovery. We wish you

and your family the very best in these difficult times.

Birmingham UK – UNITED SIKHS has been successful last month in securing the

right of care worker Gianroop Singh to wear his Kirpan, a mandatory article of his

faith, after he was initially told by his employer that he had to take it off at his work-

place. After taking Amrit (initiation) this year, Gianroop Singh, formerly Linden Bar-

rington, went to work as normal at a care home run by the Birmingham Council. At

first he did not encounter any problems in regard to the wearing of any of the Panj

Kakaar (five mandatory articles of faith). However, he was eventually informed by

managers that, largely on the grounds of health and safety, he would not be allowed to

wear his Kirpan in the course of his employment. At this point Gianroop Singh con-

tacted UNITED SIKHS, whose legal team took it up as it was a serious breach of his

rights, under both national and international law.“We wrote to the Brooke Street Social

Care Agency that hired Gianroop Singh and the Birmingham Council which own the

care home, citing legal authorities for allowing him to wear his Kirpan. We also drew

their attention to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance on Sikh ar-

ticles of faith, which confirmed the rights of health workers to wear their kakaar,” said

Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS Legal Director.

“A few days later, Gianroop’s employment agency, Brooke Street Social Care,

called him for a meeting to give him the good news that he may wear his Kirpan and

that the Birmingham Council had issued a statement in support of it,” she added.

Dear Jack, get well soon

United Sikhs Secure Kirpan Rights of Sikh Care Worker

Martin Singh is a pharmacist and

businessman who resides with his

wife and three children in

Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia.

In the federal NDP, Martin is the

President of the Faith and Social Jus-

tice Commission. Follow Martin’s

new blog on politics and other issues

at www.martinsingh.ca.

05 August 04, 2011 Courageous Journalism

Moving Clean Energy Projects ForwardMcGuinty Government Providing More Stability, Creating Clean Energy Jobs

Norway attacks editorialcartoon stirs controversy

“SARNA” Should Apologies For Violating the Sikh Tenets

An editorial cartoonist in Sydney, N.S.,

has drawn controversy over his cartoon

showing turban-wearing extremists cel-

ebrating Friday's massacre in

Norway.The cartoon didn't go over well

with some

Cape Breton

P o s t

readers.Toby

Morris was at

first puzzled

by what he

found on the

editorial page,

and then out-

raged.Morris

feels the car-

toon is racist

and promotes hatred.

"Why illustrate somebody

wearing a turban, enjoying the fact that

there was a terrorist attack in Norway?

Why not put them in a kilt? I notice they

are not IRA gunman - they still exist,

there still are problems in Ireland with

terrorist attacks - but these are not Irish,

they are not Basque terrorists in northern

Spain."Morris is not alone. So far, the

Cape Breton Post has received four let-

ters of complaint and some angry phone

calls about the cartoon.The man behind

the drawing is Sean Casey, who says he

is surprised that people are upset. He be-

lieves it makes the political point he

wanted to get

across - that ex-

tremists are

alike regardless

of doctrine.He

also believes it

is his job to cre-

ate contro-

versy."If there

is a venue for

an image that

might be despi-

cable or insen-

sitive, that's the editorial cartoon. You

can't do that in a regular newspaper. You

can't be an essayist or columnist and

write stuff like that," said Casey. "A re-

sponsible journalism editorial cartoonist

is supposed to be like a jester in the

king's court who gets away with saying

things - where a regular person would

have their head cut off by the king."The

newspaper is standing behind the car-

toon and the cartoonist.

Ontario is making it easier for energy de-

velopers and manufacturers to do business

in the province. This is part of ongoing ef-

forts to help provide stability and create

jobs in Ontario’s clean energy sector

while protecting

the health and

safety of Ontarians

and the environ-

ment. Changes in-

clude:

A new

stage in the devel-

opment of renew-

able energy

projects that will

provide greater

stability to devel-

opers and manu-

facturers, helping

to create jobs in Ontario:

Developers who are able to

demonstrate a completed Domestic Con-

tent Plan and a manufacturing equipment

agreement will now be able to request a

waiver of the Ontario Power Authority's

termination rights. Projects will still be

required to submit a financing plan, con-

nection impact assessment and obtain all

regulatory approvals before proceeding to

the construction stage.

Improvements to the Renewable

Energy Approvals (REA) process that will

provide greater certainty for developers,

while continuing Ontario's rigorous pro-

tection of the environment and human

health. Based on recent consultations, the

Ministry of Finance has proposed new

rules to provide greater clarity and stabil-

ity to the property tax assessment of re-

newable energy projects.

These changes will further ad-

vance Ontario as the leading destination

for clean energy investment. Ontario’s

clean energy sector has already created

20,000 jobs to date and is on track to cre-

ate 50,000 jobs by the end of 2012.

Fatehgarh Sahib - (Gurinderjit Singh

Peerjain) Objecting to the bestowing of

“siropa” on Rahul Gandhi by Paramjit

Singh Sarna of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara

Management Committee during the inau-

guration of a Sri Tegh Buhadur Memorial,

Karnail Singh Peermohmmad President

All India Sikh Students Federation

(AISSF) requested Akal Takhat Jathedar

Giani Gurbachan Singh to summon

Paramjit Singh Sarna at Akal Takhat and

admonish.

AISSF President stated that Sarna

has hurt the sentiments of the Sikh com-

munity by presenting Siropa to Rahul

Gandhi. Paramjit Singh Sarna’s actions of

pleasing the ruling party leadership are in

complete contradiction to Sri Guru Tegh

Bahadur Singh Ji’s message who gave his

life standing up against the tyrannical

regime, stated Peermohammad. Earlier,

Paramjit Singh Sarna have had Shiela

Dixit inaugurate the beautification project

of Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib against

Sikh tenets.

Sarna brothers are also helping

Kamal Nath who led the attack on Gurud-

wara Rakab Ganj Sahib in November

1984 by keeping Mukhtiar Singh from

testifying in the case filed in New York

court against Kamal Nath.

Following the footsteps of

Parkash Singh Badal, Sarna brothers are

also using their position in Gurudwara

Management Committee to obtain politi-

cal benefits added Peermohammad.AISSF

President appealed to the victims of No-

vember 1984 Sikh Genocide and mem-

bers of Sikh Community of Delhi to

boycott Sarna brothers and force them to

apologize to Akal Takhat Sahib for work-

ing against the Sikh nation and hurting the

sentiments of the Sikhs.

AISSF will contest the coming

SGPC elections independently on their

own symbol of “DEER” and will wrest

the control of SGPC from the Badal group

stated Peermohammad.

06 August 04, 2011 Courageous Journalism

THE BLACK LAWS: CHARTERS OF SLAVERYand help families killed in Blue Star and

collect funds."Shri Manjit Singh Khera

said, "Our struggle has not ended. It has

just begun. We must sit quietly and de-

cide how to carry on our agitation rather

that just emotionally agitate."Joginder

Singh Sahni said, "Next week we will

commemorate the operation. Then we

can wear black turbans."All the above

speeches were objected to as sedition and

all of the three were apprehended under

NSA.In the said meeting only resolutions

were passed and one resolution said, "De-

serters have deserted because their senti-

ments were touched. Their cases should

be looked at sympathetically and their

families should be looked after." This res-

olution was also objected to and there was

harassment of all those who participated

in the said meeting.Thus the people were

being, and still are, prosecuted for merely

expressing their resentment and views

which is one of their fundamental rights.

The time honored truth of a democratic

system, that "the ultimate good desired is

better reached in free trade in ideas that

best test of truth is the power of the

thought to get itself accepted in the com-

petition of the market," has been rejected

(Mr. Justice Holmes in Abrams Vs. United

States --250 US). In a democracy it is an

insult to the people to think that they can-

not be trusted to read or hear or under-

stand or to discriminate among various

points of views. Gandhi believed if rights

of minorities are to be respected, the ma-

jority must tolerate and respect their opin-

ion and action.

WAGING OF WAR AGAINST THE

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

It was claimed by the government

that 1592 civilian/terrorists were captured

from inside the Golden Temple and 796

from other religious places. These civil-

ians were charged with waging of war

against the Government. A great majority

of them were innocent pilgrims and if they

were tried in the ordinary courts, they

would have easily proved their innocence

and got themselves released on bail and

acquitted. And if it was proved subse-

quently that there were only near about

dozen of terrorists among the captured,

the government action would have be-

come a mockery that it had to use military

to capture such an insignificant number of

terrorists. According to Shri S.S.

Bhagowalia, advocate, Bhindranwale's

men were only 140 to 150. Therefore

charges of waging war etc. were foisted

on by the government on thousands of in-

nocent civilians apprehended during the

operation, in order to justify the govern-

ment action. Therefore in order to ensure

that these innocent accused do not get any

relief entitled to in an ordinary courts, Na-

tional Security Act was amended in June

1984 and Special Courts Ordinance pro-

claimed. Following are a few examples

to show the type of terrorists captured

from the Golden Temple:1. Kanwaljit

Singh: He is a 20-year-old student of

Khalsa College (evening), Delhi whose

father Satnam Singh runs a provisions

store at Lawrence Road, Delhi. He had

visited the Golden Temple on June 2 and

wanted to return to Delhi but found that

all the outgoing trains were cancelled and

therefore both of them were forced to stay

at the Golden Temple at Guru Ram Das

Serai. Kawaljit had to miss his interview

at Delhi with the Institute of Bank Man-

agement on June 3 morning and his exam-

ination with the State Bank of India the

same afternoon. He was captured by the

army along with the other pilgrims and is

still under detention in the Jodhpur jail.2.

Bakshish Singh: He was manager of the

Punjab & Sind Bank branch situated at

Guru Ram Das Serai, Golden Temple. He

was receiving a salary of Rs 3000 p.m.

He had taken his wife to the Golden Tem-

ple on June 1, 1984 for her treatment for

tumor and they were staying in Guru Ram

Das Serai from where both of them were

arrested on June 6. His wife was taken to

Jalandhar jail, kept there for 22 days and

then taken to Hospital and operated upon

and then released. Bakshish Singh, aged

43 years is still in the Jodhpur jail.3. Ra-

minder Pal Singh, Aged 20 years. He is

the son of Shri Harcharan Singh Ragi who

is an employee of the SGPC. His family

has its residential quarters in Parikrama

Scheme in the golden Temple. Finding

themselves unsafe in the midst of the fir-

ing, the family, along with some other em-

ployees took shelter in the basement of the

Information Office. Raminder Pal Singh

was arrested on June 6 along with others

and is still in the Jodhpur jail. Extremely

studious boy, he also took his B.A. II year

examination from the Jodhpur Jail.4.

Kashmir Singh, s/o Gujjan Singh, r/o vil-

lage Baba Bakola, ages 45 years: He had

gone to Darbar Sahib for Guru Purb. He

has only one and half acres of land and

four small children to feed. His wife learnt

after one month that he was picked up

from Bazar Kathian on June 6 and was

falsely implicated as 'waging war against

the State' and was shown to have been ar-

rested from inside the Golden Temple.5.

Bhupinder Singh, s/o Jiwan Singh, aged

22 years, r/o village Rayya, Distt.Amrit-

sar. He used to manufacture steel almi-

rahs. He was arrested from Kathiwali

Bazar on June 6 in Amritsar but was

shown to have been arrested from inside

the Golden Temple.6. Manjit Singh s/o

Bawa Singh 7. Randhir Singh s/o Mangal

Singh8. Randhir Singh s/o Bahadur Singh

r/o village Dehriwal Kiran, P.S. Kalanaur,

Distt. Gurdaspur: These three young boys,

like hundreds of others, took the custom-

ary village donation of grain to Darbar

Sahib on the eve of Guru Purb, where

were trapped inside the Golden Temple

and are now lodged in Jodhpur jail as ter-

rorists.And there are several cases like

that. All these accused numbering more

than a thousand have been charged with

'waging war against the State' and are de-

tained under the National Security Act.

THE TERRORIST AFFECTED

AREAS (SPECIAL COURTS) ACT

1984This Act, hereinafter referred

to be as the Special Courts Act, was en-

acted in strange circumstances. Blue Star

Operation in June 1984 claimed to have

successfully curbed terrorism but soon

after one month of the said Operation, this

Act was passed in the form of a Presiden-

tial Ordinance on 14th July 1984 with the

ostensible purpose of curbing and control-

ling the menace of terrorism.The avowed

object of the Special Courts Act was de-

clared to provide for speedy trial of certain

offences in the terrorist affected areas, but

in practice the Act is most dilatory, and

tortuous. A host of offences have been

listed in this Act as scheduled offences

which are already covered by the Indian

Penal Code. The Explosives Act, the

Arms Act, the Telegraph Act, the Railway

Act, the Unlawful Activities Act, the Anti-

Hijacking Act and the Prevention of Dam-

age to Public property Act. The offences

such as waging war, sedition, abetting

mutiny or attempting to seduce a member

of the armed forces from his duty, creating

communal hatred, threat of injury to pub-

lic servant, harboring offender, defiling or

injuring place of worship with intent to in-

sult the religion, intentional acts of such

insult, murder, attempt to murder, serious

hurt, wrongful confinement, kidnapping,

robbery and dacoity are already provided

and punishable under the Indian Penal

Code. All these things even on paper are

so fearful, but in life when used how dif-

ficult it must be for a human being to

carry out his every day life. The Govern-

ment has not explained as to why it re-

sorted to such drastic measures as this

Act.There are about 47 courts presided

over by the District and Sessions Judges

and Additional Judges and there are only

11 special courts in Punjab. More than

3/4th work of the regular courts now stand

transferred to these 11 special courts

which are overworked as even ordinary

offences without any element of terrorism

are being tried by them. The ordinary ad-

journment is from 5 to 8 months and it is

beyond any comprehension as to how it

can achieve the object of speedy trial.The

object of 'speedy trial' could very well

have been achieved by establishing addi-

tional courts and appointment of more

judges to preside over these courts. But

this has not been done. On the other hand

an extraordinary procedure has been

adopted for the special courts which is

most fanciful, oppressive and

arbitrary.According to section 167 of the

Criminal Procedure Code, Magistrate can

give police remand only for 15 days but

in the Special Courts Act this period has

been extended to 30 days. Moreover, ac-

cording to the Criminal Procedure Code,

(Cont.. to next page)

Courageous Journalism August 04, 2011 07

THE BLACK LAWS: CHARTERS OF SLAVERYon the expiry of 60 or 90 days as the case

may be, the accused is bound to be re-

leased on bail. But the Special Courts Act

has extended this period to one year. The

result is that the police has been empow-

ered to deprive an innocent person of his

liberty for a period of one year without

even bringing a charge against him. There

have been several cases in which a person

was arrested by the police just to harass

and torture him and after the expiry of 7

or 8 month period in jail, the police has

just withdrawn the case on the ground that

no material could be gathered against the

detainee. Though the accused is released

in such cases, but during the period of de-

tention, the family of the accused stands

broken and his means of livelihood de-

prived.Following are the illustrative cases

to show how the police is making use of

this Act in order to deprive the innocent

persons of their civil liberties:1. Randhir

Singh, s/o Harbans Singh Ghumman, r/o

village Ghumman Kalan, aged about 20

years: Randhir Singh was arrested in Gur-

daspur on 16.8.84 in FIR No. 80/84 dated

2.4.84 u/s 302 IPC of PS Dera Baba

Nanak. After torturing him for a number

of days and keeping him in jail for more

than 3 months, the police withdrew the

case against him. The orders of the Addl.

Sessions Judge, Batala. Shri R.N.

Moudgil, dated 26.11.84 are as follows:

Present: App accused in custody. ASI

Gurpal Singh, P.S. Dera Baba Nanak, ASI

Gurpal Singh who is present in Court

states that Narinder Singh is no longer re-

quired by them in this case. His further

judicial custody is not requested. Accused

Narinder Singh, be therefore, released.

Sd/ R. N. Moudgil

JMIC 26.11.84 Contention of

Shri Narindar Singh is that he was re-

leased because the police wanted to liqui-

date him in false encounter and now he

saved himself. Since then he is under-

ground.2. Pargat Singh: Pargat Singh was

arrested in June 1984 and he was able to

get his bail when he showed to Court the

three different versions of the police and

the military about the recovery made from

him and his arrest. The whole order is re-

produced below:In the Court of Sardar K.

S. Bhalla, Judge, Special CourtJudicial

Zone, JalandharBail application No. 668

of 1984Date of Decision: 11.12.1984State

Versus Pargat Singh, Son of HarbhajanS-

ingh r/o village Bhullar Hans,District Am-

ritsar.F.I.R. No. 143 dated 29.6.1984 P. S.

KathuNangal (Distt. Amritsar) U/s 4/5

Explosive Substances ActPresent: Shri P.

S. Hundal, Counsel for the applicantShri

V. K. Gupta, Public Prosecutor for the

State.ORDER Arguments heard. In this

case under section 4 of the Explosive Sub-

stances Act a hand grenade is said to have

been recovered from the possession of ap-

plicant Pargat Singh but there are three

different versions with regard to the re-

covery. One is provided by Capt. S. C.

Shukla, a commissioned Officer of Indian

Army. He in his written report dated

29.6.84 addressed the SHO, Police Station

Kathu Nangal, states that on receipt of in-

formation houses were searched in village

Bhullar Hans and a hand grenade was re-

covered from the possession of applicant

Pargat Singh. It has not been spelt out in

the report from where the recovery was

made and how the possession of the ap-

plicant is fixed so far as the hand grenade

is concerned. The SHO in his turn pro-

vides 2nd version through FIR No. 143 of

1984. In that important document it is

mentioned by S. I. Joginder Singh that ap-

plicant Pargat Singh on his interrogation,

made a disclosure statement to him at his

house in village Bhullar Hans, which was

already secured by Military authorities,

leading to recovery of a hand grenade

after digging out of the court yard of his

house.The light of the day has been shown

in the third version in a Calendar dated

10.7.1984 prepared by an officer not less

than the rank of Inspector Police. SHO,

Police Station, Kotwali, Amritsar, photo-

state copy of which has been placed on the

file by the counsel for the applicant and

existence of which calendar is not dis-

puted. In the version provided by said re-

sponsible officer in that Calendar under

section 107/151 Cr. P. C. It is mentioned

that security forces apprehended the ap-

plicant from Golden Temple complex,

Amritsar while fighting after collecting

arms and ammunition against the Indian

Government during Military action. If the

applicant was apprehended, during mili-

tary action which took place in the first

week of June 1984, recovery if any was

bound to have taken place at Amritsar and

in the first week of June 1984. In this sit-

uation of the matter for obvious reasons,

it is fit case to admit applicant Pargat

Singh to bail and he is, therefore, ordered

to be released on furnishing personal bond

with one surety in the sum of Rs. 7000

each to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial

Magistrate Amritsar.sd/JudgeSpecial

Court, Judicial ZoneJalandharAnnounced

on December 11, 19843.

Amrik Singh: He was arrested on

3.7.84 and a case was planted on him that

Amrik Singh was making provocative slo-

gans in a meeting of 100 men audience.

In April 1985 the police furnished the

names of two witnesses in the case i.e.

Shri Kashmir Singh and Shri Seva Singh.

However, when contacted, these two wit-

nesses told the family of Amrik Singh that

they had not seen any such incident but

the police had told them that they were

witnesses in the case. These two persons

filed their affidavits in the court alleging

that they had not seen any such incident

and on the basis of the same Shri Amrik

Singh was released on 3rd May 1985. His

statement is enclosed as Annexure No.2.4.

Rajinder Singh, s/o Subedar Ganga Singh,

aged 35 years, r/o village Narrawali, P.O.

& P. Kalanaur, doing private medical

practice. He is an Akali activist and was

arrested in July 1984 and was falsely im-

plicated in a case of fire which occurred

in a shop in Kalanaur on 25.11.1983.

However, Rajinder Singh had courted ar-

rest in Akali Agitation and was in jail from

18.9.83 to 26.11.83. He showed these

facts to the Judge and so the judge re-

leased him after 15 days dismissing the

case of the police.5. Shri Puran Singh, s/o

Fauji Singh, aged 27-28 years, employed

as Assistant Linesman with the Punjab

Electricity Board: He was arrested on

September 10, 1984 as he was coming out

of duty at 11 p.m. at Kanun and was badly

tortured. He was acquitted in February

1985 as the police withdrew his case for

want of evidence. JAIL, NOT BAIL"Bail,

not jail" is the general rule which has been

adopted in the criminal trials which begin

with the presumption of innocence in

favor of the accused. The idea behind is

this if the accused is detained before and

during the trial, then it has grave conse-

quences for the accused. Though he is

presumed to be innocent till his guilt is

proved, yet he would be subjected to psy-

chological and physical deprivations of

jail life. The jailed accused loses his job

and is prevented from contributing effec-

tively to the preparation of his defense.

Moreover, the burden of his detention fall

heavily on the innocent members of his

family.

Therefore to grant bail is the rule

than exception. But in Punjab this rule

has been changed into 'jail, not Bail', Spe-

cial Courts Act has been framed in such a

manner that it is almost impossible for the

accused to be released on bail under

it.One of the most obnoxious features of

the Act is the denial of the rights guaran-

teed under section 438 of the Criminal

Procedure Code. Section 438, usually

called the Provision for Anticipatory bail,

empowers the High Court and the Court

of Sessions to grant anticipatory bail i.e.

direction to release a person on bail even

before the person is arrested. According

to the Forty First Report of the Law Com-

mission on the Code of Criminal Proce-

dure Code, the necessity for granting

anticipatory bail arises because sometimes

influential persons try to implicate their ri-

vals in false cases for the purpose of dis-

gracing them or for other purposes by get-

ting them detained in jail for some days.

Apart from false cases, where there are

reasonable grounds for holding that a per-

son accused of an offence is not likely to

abscond, or otherwise misuse his liberty

while on bail, there seems to be no justi-

fication to require him to first submit to

custody, and remain in prison for some

days and then apply for bail. The section

is salutary provision which enacts the

mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution

of India but the people of Punjab have

been deprived of this salutary provision.

The numerous cases mentioned in the re-

port elsewhere show that the deletion of

section 438 of the Cr. P.C. for the people

in Punjab has brought misfortune and

havoc for the innocent persons. The case

of Shri Paramjit Singh Sidhu, Advocate at

Jalandhar, is also illustrative of this.

Though this advocate has been daily prac-

ticing in the Jalandhar Court and there is

no likelihood of his absconding yet the

police has raided his houses several times

in his absence and tried to arrest him on

false charges. His only crime is that he is

valiantly fighting for justice for the sev-

eral innocent citizens who have fallen vic-

tim to the police rapacity.

It is with great difficulty that he

has been able to save himself from the

mollified detention, but there is no secu-

rity in future so long the Special Courts

Act exists.Further, when person is ar-

rested, to make it almost impossible to se-

cure his release on bail, it has been

provided in the Act that the Court, while

making an order must be satisfied that

there are reasonable grounds for believing

that such an accused is not guilty of such

an offence and that he is not likely to com-

mit any offence while on bail. Which

court will take such future guarantee for

an accused?

(Remaining part in next issue)

CHANDIGARH: The

Punjab Chief Minister

Parkash Singh Badal

said here Thursday that

Captain Amarinder

Singh was a Congress-

mole planted on Shiro-

mani Akali Dal in 1984

and he conspired with

Late Rajiv Gandhi to

scuttle the Punjab Ac-

cord in its only clause

that suited Punjab– the

transfer of Chandigarh.

"He is the worst Trojan

Horse in Punjab's his-

tory, planted by the

Congress to wreck Pun-

jab's battle from within.

In reward for his con-

spiratorial role against

Punjab, he has always

been showered with

princely pleasures by

the Congress, even

when the party’s whole

state unit opposed him.

Rajiv Gandhi had given

him a role to play

against Punjab and the

Sikhs, and Amarinder

played it true to the

script, in letter and

spirit,” said the Chief

Minister

“Everybody

in Punjab knows that

Mr.S S Barnala is a

weak and greedy man,

always willing to sell

his conscience and be-

tray his state for per-

sonal gains. But what

about Amrinder’s own

role? Did he resign

when the center humil-

iated Punjab on the

midnight of January

25-26 1986 by cancel-

ing the transfer of

Chandigarh? What was

Amarinder’s reaction

against this brazen be-

trayal against Punjab

and Sant Harchand

Singh Longowal by his

(Amarinder’s) friend,

Rajiv Gandhi? I had

cautioned against this

betrayal," said the

Chief Minister in a

statement here.

“The blood of Sant-ji is

on the hands of those

who betrayed him and

those who helped in

that betrayal. I had cau-

tioned against this be-

trayal.

A b o u t

Amarinder ‘moral

courage’ , the CM said

that he had checked the

records. Amarinder just

maintained a sheepish

silence over this mur-

derous betrayal by the

center. And he talks

about courage!”

" As against this,

Amarinder as agricul-

ture minister in Barnala

government, went out

of his way to get the

SYL started to rob Pun-

jab of its waters. I cau-

tioned against this also

and its for the people

and history to judge

whether I was proved

right or wrong. ”

The Chief Minister fur-

ther asked, “As a Sikh

and an ex-soldier, did

Amaridner ever ask for

the reinstatement of

Sikh soldiers who had

left the army under ex-

treme religious and

emotional hurt, a yard-

stick applied through-

out the world, including

India, in all such cases.

I had expressed my

opinion against this in-

justice within the party

platform. People and

history again will judge

whether I was right or

wrong in asking for

this."

Badal was re-

acting to Captain

Amarinder Singh's

statement targeting the

Chief Minister's

"moral” courage. "He is

a fine one to talk about

morality. I never use

words like moral turpi-

tude, but on

Amarinder's "moral-

ity", I do not even need

to comment. The whole

world knows how

'moral' a life he is lead-

ing. And he talks about

morals. I am amused.,”

said the Chief Minister.

Badal said that

Amarinder was sent

into the SAD under a

deep conspiracy to get

a seal of ‘moral justifi-

cation for all the cen-

ter's discrimination

against Punjab, includ-

ing the tragic army as-

sault on Sri Akal Takhat

Sahib. "The army

moved into Punjab on

June 2 with a declared

intent of attacking the

holiest of holy Sikh

shrines, the Darbar

Sahib. The assault took

place four days later.

During these four days,

where was Amarinder?

And did he use his

well-known friendship

with Rajiv Gandhi and

proximity to Indira

Gandhi to stop this

tragic assault.

“ He was one of the

key advisors on Punjab

to the Indira Gandhi

government when the

army assault was

planned and declared.

He must explain his

role. The later tamasha

of resigning from and

then rejoining the same

Congress as its state

chief has its own tale

to tell. His conscience

has some flexibility!

”said the CM.

Badal said that

Amarinder has always

been the blue-eyed boy

of the people who

rolled tanks into the

Golden Temple. He still

is. He was always taken

into confidence by the

Gandhi family on all

moves against the

Sikhs and Punjab, in-

cluding the Operation

Blue Star.” Said Badal

“It is no coincidence

that one of the attacks

on Darbar Sahib was

ordered directly by

Amarinder as Chief

Minister on July 10,

2004 to stop the Sikhs

from electing the Pres-

ident of their supreme

elected religious insti-

tution. "All newspapers

had carried photo-

graphs of police march-

ing yet again on the

Golden Temple that

day and Amarinder

openly justified it. If

Amarinder wants, we

can release these media

pictures again.” Said

the CM.

“The Commando Oper-

ation during the Akali

govt headed by Barnala

was executed to secure

endorsement for Oper-

ation Blue star. It was

carried out despite the

fact that the then DGP

Julio Francis Rabeiro

had already declared

that the so-called ter-

rorists and members of

the Panthic Committee

had fled from the Dar-

bar Sahib Complex and

no purpose would be

served by the Com-

mando Operation. Ask

Amarinder what did he

do to get it stopped. He

close friendship with

both Rajiv Gandhi and

Arun Nehru is one of

the worst kept secrets

in Punjab.”

“In fact, get-

ting an Akali govt. to

send commandos into

Darbar Sahib was the

chief mission for which

Amarinder was planted

on the SAD. Once that

mission was accom-

plished, he went back

into the same Congress

as its state chief

through a repeat

tamasha.,” said Badal.

As for attacks recent at-

tacks against him,

Badal said, “ Traitors

have a natural affinity. I

am not surprised that

Barnala and Amarinder

enjoy such close rela-

tions and speak the

same language against

the SAD and me. Both

are guilty of humiliat-

ing their state and their

community. One of

them did it openly and

the other deviously.

And both have ex-

tracted their share of

blood money. ”

“ F o r

Amarinder’s role

against the Sikhs and

Punjab, he was

promptly rewarded first

with the presidentship

of PPCC and later with

Chief Ministership.

As for Bar-

nala’s role and reward,

he is the only Akali in

history to hold gover-

norships under Con-

gress regimes,” said

Mr. Badal

-------

08 August 04, 2011 Courageous Journalism

Chandigarh : Shiro-

mani Akali Dal (Amrit-

sar) led by its President

Simranjit Singh Mann

suffered a major set-

back today when four

of his senior leaders

from Barnala district

included General Sec-

retary Mr. Paramjit

Singh Khalsa, Organis-

ing Secretary Paramjit

Singh, Vice President

Jathedar Roshan Singh,

and Ex-MC & Presi-

dent Cooperative Soci-

ety Handiaya Mr.

Gurdarshan Singh

joined the Shiromani

Akali Dal (Badal) here

in the presence of

its President Mr.

Sukhbir Singh

Badal and Secre-

tary General Mr.

Sukhdev Singh

Dhindsa.

While wel-

coming these

leaders in the Shi-

romani Akali Dal

(Badal) fold, Mr.

Sukhbir Singh

Badal said it was

a great occasion

and matter of ju-

bilation for all of

us when these

leaders had joined the

Shiromani Akali Dal

Badal because it was

the only Party which

had safeguarded the

rights of the people be-

sides defending the

Panthic values.

On the occasion,

General Secretary SAD

(Amritsar) from Bar-

nala Mr. Paramjit Singh

Khalsa said he and his

party colleagues have

consciously taken this

decision to join Shiro-

mani Akali Dal Badal

unconditionally on the

inspiration of former

MLA and SAD Area

Incharge Barnala Mr.

Malkit Singh Keetu and

MLA Bhadaur Sant

Baba Balbir Singh

Ghunas. He said the au-

tocratic style of func-

tioning of Mr. Simranjit

Singh Mann had com-

pelled them to leave

SAD (Amritsar) as they

were feeling suf-

focated. He said

SAD (Badal)

was the only

party that could

deliver the goods

effectively and

fulfil the aspira-

tions of the peo-

ple through its

progressive poli-

cies and pro-

grams.

Expressing soli-

darity with the

SAD (Badal),

Mr. Khalsa said

whatsoever du-

ties would be assigned

to us by the Party Pres-

ident Mr. Sukhbir

Singh Badal in the

forthcoming SGPC and

Assembly elections, we

would discharge our re-

sponsibilities with ut-

most sincerity and

commitment in the

larger interest of the

Party and for the well

being of the Sikh Panth.

Washington/ Toronto/

Chandigarh - Punjab

Chief Minister Parkash

SIngh Badal's Media

Advisor Mr. Harcharan

Bains said here today

that his call for an open

and unbiased debate

with Manpreet Singh

Badal on all issues con-

cerning Punajb's econ-

omy and governance

was not a 'challenge'

but an 'offer' and that he

had no intention of

chasing Manpreet

down everywhere he

goes.

"I am here under cir-

cumstances which are

not entirely happy for

me and I have already

clarified that there was

nothing 'official or po-

litical' about my visit. I

am not using the tax

payers' money for this

trip. But since the two

of us relatively edu-

cated persons, who

have shared a warm

past but represent two

different sets of opin-

ions, happen to be to-

gether in the same part

of the world at the same

time, it could be a good

opportunity to talk to

each other before our

distinguished NRI

community in a direct

and live debate. The

NRI community de-

serves more than polit-

ical speeches. It

deserves high quality

debate among people

holding different opin-

ions. The debate should

be held in front of unbi-

ased audience, com-

prising intelligentsia,

media and Punjabi

achievers in various

fields. I want this de-

bate to be free from po-

litical acrimony or

mud-slinging and to be

based instead on facts

and rational perspective

on issues concerning

Punjab," said Mr.

Bains.

" No, I have neither

the time nor the inten-

tion nor a taste for

chasing anyone down. I

have just said that if

Manpreet agrees, we

can discuss issues in

front of an enlightened

audience with live cam-

eras beaming every-

thing into homes. I

stand by my offer but

as one who is senior to

Manpreet in age and

experience of working

in the government on

critical posts, I will

keep this debate free

from bitterness -- at

least from our end.,"

said Mr. Bains. He reit-

erated his offer for an

open and live debate.

Mr. Harcharan Bains call for

an open and unbiased debate

with Manpreet Singh Bada

Amarinder was consulted on armyassault on Akal Takht while the prezwas kept in the dark,claims Badal

Simranjit Singh Mann Suffers A Major Jolt In Barnala Four Senior Leaders Of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) From Barnala Joins Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal)

CHANDIGARH:

Punjab Pradesh Con-

gress Committee

President Capt

Amarinder Singh

Tuesday condemned

the killing of a farmer

during police action

against the protestors

near Mansa Tuesday.

In a statement issued

here Tuesday, Capt

Amarinder while ex-

pressing sympathies

with the bereaved

family condemned

the police

action and

called for

a c t i o n

against the

guilty cops.

The PCC

P r e s i d e n t

said, it was

highly con-

d e m n a b l e

that the

government

w h i c h

should give

patient hear-

ing to the

farmers and concede

their demands, has

been lashing lathis on

them leading to the

death of a farmer.

He warned that if the

Indiabulls, which has

been given the power

project without any

bidding, did not pro-

vide adequate com-

pensation to the

farmers the next Con-

gress government

will cancel it.

Capt Amarinder codemns

farmer's killing

July 28, 2011 09Courageous Journalism

Auto SectionFans of high-perfor-

mance driving are no

doubt well aware of

the activities of the

SRT group within the

Chrysler corporation.

Responsible for such

iconic creations as

Viper and Prowler, in

the past the SRT group

was merely an organi-

zation within the over-

all Chrysler corporate

structure.

Starting with the 2012

model year, SRT be-

comes a brand unto it-

self, complete with a

chief executive officer

in the person of Ralph

Gilles (pronounced

Jeels), who is also

Chrysler’s vice-presi-

dent of Design. After a

brief stint as president

of Dodge, Gilles has

been handed the reigns

of the newly minted

Chrysler high per-

formance division.

To mark the introduc-

tion of the brand,

Gilles is letting four

white-hot models off

the chain simultane-

ously to scald the

streets, Chrysler 300

SRT8, Dodge Charger

SRT8, Dodge Chal-

lenger SRT8, and Jeep

Grand Cherokee

SRT8. While we’ve

seen all four models

before in a different

form, for 2012,

they’ve been reinvigo-

rated with more per-

formance—thanks to a

new 6.4-liter HEMI

V8 engine, methodi-

cally crafted suspen-

sion systems and a raft

of purpose-specified

comfort, convenience

and infotainment sys-

tems.

Fresh off of a redesign

for the 2011 model

year, for 2012 Chrysler

is adding the ultra per-

formance version of its

300C halo luxury

sedan. In keeping with

the car’s overall char-

acter, the SRT en-

hancements, while

amplifying the 300’s

performance potential

significantly, enhance

the luxury quotient of

the big sedan as well.

After all, exceptional

performance is just as

much of a luxury as an

electrically operated

multi-function heated

and cooled seat.

The roots of this car go

all the way back to the

highly vaunted

Chrysler “letter cars”

of the 1950’s and six-

ties. In 1955,

Chrysler’s C-300

swept away the com-

petition at Daytona

Beach. Chrysler’s

300B did the same in

’56. Additionally,

Chrysler 300s also

dominated NASCAR

in ‘55 and ‘56, giving

credence to the con-

cept of ultra-fast lux-

ury cars.

An entire series of let-

ter cars emanated from

Chrysler after that,

culminating in the 300

SRT8 we have today.

Boasting 470 horse-

power and 470 ft-lbs

of torque, the 2012

Chrysler 300 SRT8 is

one of the two hottest

full-size American

sedans available today

(Dodge’s Charger

SRT8 is the other one).

Delivering a unique

blend of perform-

ance and luxury, the

300 SRT8 will ferry

your family of four

anywhere you need

to go, while quietly

harboring the ability

to absolutely rip the

asphalt off of your

favorite canyon

road.

Romping on it relent-

lessly, with the five-

speed automatic

shifting for itself (in its

sport mode), we saw

sixty in just under five

seconds, quarters in

just over 12, and expe-

rienced an urgency of

acceleration conclu-

sively demonstrating

the viability of

Chrysler’s claim of a

175 top.

What is truly remark-

able is the manner in

which the 300 SRT8

so competently con-

tains opulence and

havoc within the same

vessel. If you’d like,

you can literally sit in

place while the 300’s

rear wheels spin their

tires’ treads away into

big fat cumulus clouds

of white smoke.

Throw it into a corner

and the SRT8 300

grips the pavement so

mightily the asphalt is

very likely to give

away before the tires

do.

And while you’d ex-

pect it to ride as

roughly as a racing car

crossing a set of rail-

road tracks, quite the

opposite is true; thanks

to the adaptive damp-

ing suspension system

Chrysler’s engineers

have fitted to the car.

Providing both a

smooth ride and amaz-

ing grip, this suspen-

sion system deserves a

spot in the automotive

hall of fame.

M e a n w h i l e ,

every luxury fea-

ture Chrysler of-

fers for its

flagship sedan is

present and ac-

counted for.

From the sophis-

tication of its ice-

blue illumination

for the instru-

ments, to the comfort

garnered from the

m u l t i - a d j u s t a b l e

heated and cooled

sport seats, to the

touch-sensitive multi-

function screen for its

secondary functions,

(not to mention an

audio system rivaling

the 6.4-liter HEMI for

power), the 300 SRT8

impresses at every in-

stance.

Speaking of that touch

sensitive monitor,

every performance pa-

rameter imaginable

can be registered and

recorded by it. Want to

know your zero to 60

and quarter mile times,

or how many G’s you

pulled on acceleration,

braking and corner-

ing? All can be duly

recorded and dis-

played by the unit.

The way the 300 SRT8

deftly combines high

performance with both

palatial luxury and cut-

ting edge technology

is truly a glorious thing

to behold.

Chrysler 300 SRT8 ReviewBy: Lyndon Conrad Bell

2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 ricing starts at $47,995

Phone Comes Closerto Driving Your Car

In the olden days, peo-

ple used maps for direc-

tions and yellow pages

to find restaurants, and

they didn't often use

their phones as

lightsabers.

But then came the next

best thing since sliced

bread -- the iPhone and

its numerous apps.

Users count calories,

listen to music, track

workouts via GPS,

browse Amazon, watch

videos, check e-mail,

find low gas prices,

pour animated beer and

knock on virtual wood.

Pretty soon, the iPhone

will be cooking our din-

ners and driving our

cars.

One new iPhone app,

the Viper SmartStart

from Directed Electron-

ics, allows users to start

their cars, unlock their

doors and change the

temperature in the

cabin -- and all without

a key fob.

Unlike some other apps

-- like the one that

measures how long you

can press a button -- the

Viper SmartStart app

proves useful, espe-

cially for people living

in cold climates. Those

who have downloaded

the app -- and installed

Viper SmartStart in

their vehicles -- can de-

frost their car and warm

up the cabin before they

step inside. But its po-

tential does not stop

there.

"Viper SmartStart has

many other capabilities

beyond remote start,"

says Mike Simmons,

executive vice presi-

dent of Directed Elec-

tronics. "Depending on

the installation, users

can also lock and un-

lock the doors, pop the

trunk, find their car in a

parking lot or arm their

security system. Users

can even control multi-

ple cars from one

iPhone."

Other remote start sys-

tems use a remote con-

trol attached to the key

fob, which can only

offer a limited range.

But the Viper Smart-

Start app will work

from any distance, so

long as the iPhone re-

ceives a signal. Experts

have recognized the in-

novation at work. The

Viper SmartStart will

be awarded Best of In-

novations Honors at the

2010 Consumer Elec-

tronics Show.

By: Christopher Jack-

son

Sanghera(Bar-

nala):It has been

months since octo-

genarian Amar

Kaur has slept

peacefully. Her 24-

year-old grandson

Sukhjyot Singh

was among the 17

Indians sentenced

to death by a Shar-

jah court killing

Pakistani National

Mishri Khan. The

plight of Sukhjyot’s

father Jagdev Singh

(51), an electrician,

and mother Man-

jeet Kaur (45) was

no different.How-

ever, with a blood

money deal sealed

with the victim’s

family, the youths

are likely to be re-

leased on Septem-

ber 20.This has

brought cheer back

into their lives.

Now Sukhjyot’s

grandmother par-

ents and brother

and the entire vil-

lage is eagerly

awaiting his return.

Amar Kaur said:

“My grandson,

who left for Dubai

in 2007, was work-

ing there as a car-

penter. He is too

gentle to harm any-

body. When he was

sentenced to death,

knew the Almighty

would protect him

and he would be

back.

“He likes saag and

makki ki roti. We

will prepare the

same for him when

he returns.”

Jagdev Singh said:

“ I thank SP Singh,

president of the

Punjabi Bhartiya

Relief Society, and

Suresh Aggarwal

for helping us. I am

also thankful to the

entire village for

the support it lent to

us all these

months”.

Remarked a neigh-

bour: “We are all

waiting to see

Sukhjyot a free

man and back

home with his near

and dear ones. He

is such a gentle per-

son.”

Kot Dunna

(Mansa-Barnala

border), August 2

One farmer was

killed and 15 others

sustained injuries

as the police lathi-

charged a large

group of farmers

protesting against

acquisition of land

for setting up 1350

MW thermal power

plant at Gobind-

pura village in

Mansa district.

The police action

came when over

1,000 farmers

wanted to move to-

wards Gobindpura

village in Mansa

district to reclaim

the land acquired

for the power proj-

ect. Seventeen

unions of farmers

from Faridkot, Fer-

ozepur, Moga, Lud-

hiana, Patiala,

Bathinda and

Mansa participated

in the protest.

Nearly 1,000 farm-

ers gathered at the

Kot Dunna village

gurdwara and re-

solved to reach

Gobindpura vil-

lage, around 30 km

away.

The farmers were,

however, restrained

by the police near

Kot Dunna. Bar-

nala Superinten-

dent of Police

Gurpreet Singh Tur

said one farmer

died and 10 farmers

and five policemen

were injured in the

lathi charge and the

clash that broke out

after the protesters

tried to break the

police cordon in

their bid to march

to the village. Buta

Singh, state presi-

dent of the BKU

(Dakaunda), one of

the leading farm-

ers’ organisations

against the acquisi-

tion, said Surjit

Singh, a farmer

from Hamidi vil-

lage in Barnala dis-

trict sustained

severe injuries dur-

ing the lathi charge

and his body was

later found in a

field.“We offered

arrest but the police

refused to listen

and rained lathis on

farmers sitting in

the vehicles.

10 August 04, 2011 Courageous Journalism

Patiala : Amidst

tension prevailing

in Mansa over the

acquisition of the

farmland for set-

ting up the coal-

based thermal

power project,

Punjab Pradesh

Congress Commit-

tee president and

former Punjab CM

Capt Amarinder

Singh here today

said in case, the

farmers were not

compensated ade-

quately, the next

Congress Govern-

ment in Punjab

would scrap the

Memorandum of

U n d e r s t a n d i n g

(MoU), signed be-

tween the Punjab

State Power Cor-

poration Limited

(PSPCL) and M/s

Indiabulls Power

Limited.

“I don’t know

what Akali’s got

from the M/s Indi-

abulls Power Lim-

ited, but it is totally

illegal to award the

power project to

Indiabulls without

t e n d e r i n g

process,” he said.

After interacting

with the people

from the Patiala

assembly con-

s t i t u e n c i e s ,

Amarinder, while

speaking to media-

persons, strongly

condemned the

lathicharge on the

agitating farmers

in Mansa.

Amarinder said the

farmers’ protest

was justified, as

they were being

given money far

less than the mar-

ket price of the

land being ac-

quired for setting

up of the thermal

power project.

Amarinder termed

the attack on the

Vice-Chancellor of

Sri Guru Granth

Sahib World Uni-

versity, Fatehgarh

Sahib, Jasbir Singh

Ahluwalia, as a sit-

uation of complete

“lawlessness” in

the state. He said it

was an extremely

serious matter that

a VC had been

shot at in broad

daylight.

“The incident re-

flects poorly on the

governance, as

how anybody can

take law into his

hands without any

fear,” he said,

adding that such

incidents must not

be allowed to hap-

pen, as these could

de-stabilise the

state once again.

Amarinder also ex-

pressed concern

over the recovery

of the weapons

from the house of

arrested SP(D)

Randhir Singh

Uppal. “It appears

that some forces

are trying to desta-

bilise the state and

unfortunately the

SAD-BJP Govern-

ment has miser-

ably failed to keep

the law-and-order

situation under

control,” said

Amarinder.

Terming Punjab

CM Parkash Singh

Badal as “moral

coward”, he said,

had Badal and

Gurcharan Singh

Tohra not betrayed

Sant Longowal,

Punjab would not

have seen the

bloodshed.

Fatehgarh Sahib, A day after the

Vice-Chancellor of Sri Guru

Granth Sahib World University at

Fatehgarh Sahib, Jasbir Singh

Ahluwalia, was shot at by an un-

known assailant, the police today

released a sketch of the suspect.

The police is working on various

theories.

It thinks it may be a hate

crime or an act of terrorism. The

sketch of the suspect has been

created following clues provided

by the taxi driver who drove him

to the university and those wit-

ness to the shootout. The assailant

is almost 6 ft tall and in his late-

thirties. Forensic experts say the

shots were fired from a .32 bore

revolver.

Senior police officers and a

counter-intelligence unit visited

the university premises and re-

constructed the scene of the crime

this afternoon. The suspect, it has

come to light, had hired a taxi

near the Sirhind octroi post and

consumed liquor before commit-

ting the crime. The assailant told

the taxi driver and the university

security personnel at the gate that

he was a dean with the university.

He was let in without checking,

Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Ranbir

Singh Khatra said. The police is

yet to identify the man who drove

away the attacker on his bike after

the crime. Onlookers said the as-

sailant raised slogans before es-

caping.

The VC had no police security

and he preferred to travel alone.

The attack occurred 100 metres

from the main entrance and the

security personnel deployed at the

gate failed to react after the shots

were fired at the VC.

There were no CCTV cameras at

the site of the attack. The as-

sailant entered the campus a few

minutes before the VC stepped

out of his office. “ This is either a

coincidence or the assailant had

some internal information,” the

police said, pointing out that a

few staff members of the univer-

sity were suspended recently.

SPCL-Indiabulls powerpact illegal: Capt

Sketch of Vice-Chancellor’s attacker released

Insider’s hand not ruled out, says police

Sangrur villagers wait for their ‘gentle’ Sukhjyot

Farmer dead in Mansaland acquisition stir

Police resorts to lathi charge to stop protestersfrom marching to thermal plant site

Oh hell… a

movie can be so

awesome that it can

result in headache,

and aching hands..

do you know that?

A film can be so

much genuinely

awesome that it can

make you jump in

your seats, make

you cry with laughs

and repeat every

single dialog right

when you are

watching it… and a

film can be so

much worth that

you keep repeating

those dialog even

after a month of

your watching the

film. I believe in

this, because in past

i have seen such

films, but never in a

Punjabi movie had

i experienced a

thing like that…

and last night.. oh

hell.. last night i did

experience that in

the movie Jine

Mera Dil Lutya…

I’m very honest

when i say that i

laughed so much

that after i got out

of cinema, i was

having a headache..

and my hands hurt

because i clapped

too much… even

now, in the morn-

ing, im still feeling

dizzy and writing

these words is tak-

ing a momentous

effort… Ok so.. the

film Jine Mera Dil

Lutya is a brilliant

Comedy, i wont

even call it Roman-

tic – Comedy, i

would go straight

on and say its an

outright – full to the

brim – comedy…

No… i will call it

Family Comedy..

yes, because the

film is clean and

can be enjoyed by

the families to-

gether. From the

very beginning, it

starts as a roller

coaster of laughs

and till the end it

keeps doing that to

you…

There are so many

things about this

movie that deserve

praise… but the

most important is

acting.. Diljit

Dosanjh and Gippy

Grewal have shown

their skill in full

colors. They both

complement each

other so much that

they really seem

like the best of

friends off screen

as well. They have

an arduous chem-

istry in the movie

and their characters

are so well defined

and lovable that

this film goes be-

yond an ordinary

comedy. You cant

decide who is bet-

ter, Gippy or Diljit?

They both are won-

derful and no one

wins the top spot

on acting

podium… Their

acting, their dialog

delivery, body lan-

guage and the way

they interact with

each other is plain

amazing.

The best part is

their versatility in

acting… most of

the time they are

being comic, but

then they get seri-

ous and both Gippy

and Diljit have

done those brief

emotional scenes

so well, that you lit-

erally feel like giv-

ing them a hug to

console them. Two

of them didnt leave

much for Neeru

Bajwa to do in the

film, but she has

done her part very

well in the movie.

The way Gippy and

Diljit overtook the

screen, there wasnt

much scope for the

female lead to do

anything, but she

has done her part

well and she will

also win accolades

for her act.. and

honestly i cant

imagine who else

could have re-

placed her.. Neeru

is the only female

actor who could

have played this

role well without

being under shad-

owed by the duo…

Kulraj Randhawa

seems the closest

contender…

Apart from the

triple lead of the

film, every other

actor, however big

or small, had done

their part amaz-

ingly well… the

top shiner has to be

Binnu Dhillon who

has once again

proved his worth as

a versatile actor.

Just look at the

background of this

guy… can you re-

call a single movie,

in which Binnu

Dhillon didnt prove

himself? Every

actor has a good or

bad films, but

Binnu is always

liked and appreci-

ated… and after

Jine Mera Dil

Lutya he will be-

come almost a star

in Punjabi

Movies… and

someone, without

whom, the film

wont be considered

successful. His di-

alogs and manner-

isms will be

remembered for-

ever… and you can

be serious about

that.

Next is the return of

the Punjabi theater

Veteran actor B. N.

Sharma… who

plays P K Palta in

the movie and who

shows what a true

actor can do. His

act, his dialogs and

his mannerisms

show the elite act-

ing he still holds in

himself. His man-

ner of raising his

hands above his

head while asking

for money is one

brilliant act of com-

edy and character

identity…

Next up are

Jaswinder Bhalla

and Rana Jung Ba-

hadur, who have

done fine comedy

in the movie, but

Jaswinder Bhalla

does tend to go to

his double meaning

comedy here and

there… should

avoid that. He has

enough acting and

comic skills to sur-

vive without that.

Another name that

made himself felt

in the film is

Karamjit Anmol

with his short and

witty dialoges. One

good actor doesnt

need a bigger role

to win the audience

and Karamjit

Anmol, did exactly

that.

The story of the

film isnt much, its

plot is nothing bril-

liant, but the way it

has been acted

upon, makes it an

amazing recipe.

The dialogs of the

film are a winner.

They are so natural

and so true to life

that you feel as if

your own friends

are playing roles in

the movie.. There

are takes by Diljit

and Gippy on one

another’s songs and

even on Davinder

Kohinoor in one

scene and that

makes the film

even more fun.

This is real comedy

where you play on

one another and

touch upon current

events. But i mostly

felt that the di-

aloges were im-

provisat ions…..

that Diljit and

Gippy had a big

role in providing

dialoges in the

movie. Or maybe

there were no dia-

logues in the film

and the actors sim-

ply improvised on

the situations…

The editing of the

film is a master-

work… the film

flows in one conti-

nuity and doesn’t

feel jerky at all…

one scene merges

to another and the

story progresses on

a linear scale. This

is one great plus

Jine Mera Dil lutya

has…. this is the

best for audience

who feel the film as

one whole.

Makeup, wardrobe

and locations all

come secondary in

a film like this

where you dont get

much time upon

pondering about

these details… the

fun in the movie

overtakes evry-

thing…but Neeru’s

dresses could have

been a tad longer.

And background

score…. maybe not

many people will

notice, but every

character has his

own score that

plays in the back-

ground when he or

she comes on the

screen.. and an-

other point to be

noticed that the

songs arent overkill

in the film… there

are song in the

movie, but they are

all shorter in dura-

tion as compared to

their real length, a

very wise move.

And finally a word

for the director

Mandeep Kumar…

i have met him a

longtime back

when he was an As-

sistance Director in

Tera Mera Ki

Rishta and i know

he will be reading

this article soon

enough. All i can

say to you Man-

deep is a huge big

Punjabi fat thanks

for making such a

film. You have bro-

ken all barriers with

this one. Your di-

rection was great,

the concept amaz-

ing and your under-

standing of Punjabi

and the people of

Punjab is full well..

do go to Hindi

films, but keep

making Punjabi

Films every now

and then… for we

need them direly.

I can write a lot

more about the

film.. a lot lot lot…

but i will stop

now… otherwise it

will be an overkill.

But i feel so happy

that finally we have

a great Punjabi film

for the year 2011

and after Munde

UK De, i have an-

other movie i can

highly recommend

to everyone.. That’s

it.. now i will try to

get some sleep yet

once again… and

dear readers.. DO

WATCH THIS

August 4, 2011 11Courageous Journalism

Film Review

12 August 04, 2011 Courageous Journalism

I woke up. I cannot sleep any more. I'm

sitting in the living room. Feeling grief,

anger, happiness, God, I do not know

what. There are too many emotions. There

are too many thoughts. I'm afraid. I react

to the slightest sound. I will write about

what happened on Utøya. What my eyes

saw, what I felt, and what I did. The words

come straight from the gut, but I will

anonymize many names out of respect for

my friends. We had a crisis meeting in the

main building after the explosions in Oslo.

After that there was a meeting for mem-

bers of Akershus [a county bordering the

capital] and Oslo. After the meetings there

were many, many people around and in-

side the main building. We consoled our-

selves that we were safe on an island. No

one knew that hell would break out with

us too.

I was standing in the main street

[of the island] when panic broke out. I

heard shots. I saw him shoot. Everyone

started to run.

The first thought was: "Why are

the police shooting us? What the hell? "I

ran into a little room. Everyone ran.

Screamed. I was scared. I managed to get

into one of the rooms at the back of the

building. There were many of us in there.

We all lay on the floor together. We heard

several shots. We became more afraid. I

cried. I knew nothing.

I saw my best friend through the

window and wondered if I should go out-

side and bring him to me. I did not. I saw

fear in his eyes. We were lying on the

floor inside the room for a few minutes.

We agreed not to move out in case the

killer came. We heard several shots and

decided to jump out the window. Panic

broke out among us. Everyone in the

room rushed to the window and tried to

jump out. I was the last and thought: "I am

the last to jump out the window. Now I'm

going to die. I'm sure, but it might be okay

and then I will know that the others are

safe."

I threw my bag out the window. I

tried to climb down, but lost my grip. I

landed hard on the left side of my body. A

boy helped me up. We ran into the woods.

I looked around. "Is he here? Is he shoot-

ing me? Can he see me?"

A girl had a broken ankle. Another

was severely injured. I tried to help a little

bit before I went down to the water.

I sought cover behind a sort of

brick wall. There were many of us. I

prayed, prayed, prayed. I hope that God

saw me. I called Mum and said that it was

not certain we would meet again, but that

I would do anything to stay safe.

I said several times that I loved

her. I heard fear in her voice. She cried. It

hurt. I sent a text message to my dad

telling him I loved him. I sent a text mes-

sage to another person I am very, very

close to. We had a little contact. I sent a

text message to my best friend. He did not

answer. We heard several shots.

We were snuggled together. We

did everything we could to keep warm.

There were so many thoughts. I was so

scared. My dad called me. I cried and said

I loved him. He said he and my brother

would go to welcome me when I reached

the mainland, or they would come to the

island. There were so many emotions. So

many thoughts. I told him everything I

could. It took some time. We switched to

texting for fear that the killer would hear

us.

I thought of my sister who is

away. How I would tell her how it went?

What happened to me. I updated Twitter

and Facebook to say I was still alive and

that I was "safe".

I wrote that I was waiting for the

police. People jumped into the water and

started swimming. I was lying down. I de-

cided that if he came, I would play dead.

I would not run or swim. I cannot describe

the fear that took over my mind, what I

felt.

A man came. "I'm from the po-

lice." I was lying there. Some shouted

back that he had to prove it. I do not re-

member exactly what he said, but the

killer started shooting. He charged. He

shot those around me. I was still lying

there. I thought: "Now it's over. He's here.

He's going to shoot me. I'm going to die."

People screamed. I heard that oth-

ers were shot. Others jumped into the

water. I was there. Holding the mobile

phone in my hand, I lay on top of a girl's

legs. Two others lay on my feet. I was still

lying there. The mobile phone rang sev-

eral times. I was still lying. I played dead.

I lay there for at least an hour. It was com-

pletely quiet. I gently turned her head to

see if I could see someone alive. I looked

like around. I saw blood. Fear. I decided

to get up. I had been lying on top of a dead

body. Two dead bodies lay on me. I had a

guardian angel.

I did not know if he would come

back again. I did not have the courage to

look at all those who had called and texted

me. I hurried down to the water. I took off

my sweater. It was large. I thought it

would be difficult to swim with it. I con-

sidered whether I should bring my mobile

phone or leave it again. I put it in my back

pocket and jumped into the water. I saw

several others in the water. They had

swum far. I saw that someone had gath-

ered around a floating lifeboat or some-

thing like that.

There were many who followed

those who swam out.

I swam, swam, and swam towards the in-

flatable boat. I screamed, wept. I was

calm. I thought of when I would drown. It

became harder and harder. I questioned

myself. I kept swimming.

My arms were tired. I decided just

to use my legs legs to swim.

I sank. I started to swim normally

again. After a little while I thought the

group who were clinging on to the dinghy

were moving away from me. I screamed.

Begged them to wait for me. I must have

seen visions. I swam at least a few hun-

dred metres before I reached them. We

talked a little together. Who we were,

where we came from. When the boats

passed us we started shouting for help, but

they picked up the others who were still

swimming.

A man in a boat came to us. He

threw out several life jackets. I got hold of

one. Got it on me. I held on to the dinghy

for a long time, until the same man came

back to pick us up. We all got into it. He

began to head towards the shore. After a

little while his boat started to take in

water. I did everything I could to get as

much water out as possible.

I used a bucket. I was exhausted.

Another girl in the boat took over. We

reached the shore. We were given blan-

kets. The tears would not stop. I cried

more. A woman hugged me. It was so

good. I wept aloud. I sobbed. A man lent

me his phone. I called my dad, "I'm alive.

I made it. Now I am safe."

I hung up. Cried more. We had to

walk a bit. Completely unknown people

took us into their cars and drove us to the

Sundvollen hotel. I ran in to see if I could

see my best friend. I could not find him

anywhere.

I saw a friend. I cried, loudly. We

hugged each other for a long time. It was

good. I walked around, looking for

friends. My heart pounded. I cried more.

I gave my details to the police, then

looked through all the lists. I did not know

if my best friend was alive. I looked

through all the lists. I could not find his

name anywhere. I was scared.

I got a duvet. I took off my wet

socks. I was half naked. Got a jacket. I

tried to phone some people. Contacted my

parents again. My dad and brother were

on their way to fetch me. I drank some

cocoa. I sat down. Thought. Wept. So

many friends. I hugged them. Wept.

I borrowed a computer. Updated

Facebook and Twit-

ter again to say that I

was safe. I was at the

hotel for several

hours before my

family came. I

looked for familiar

sights. I talked to a

priest. I told them

everything I had

seen. It was a good

conversation. A man

from the Red Cross

saw all my wounds.

Cleaned them.

Time passed.

I was with some of

my friends. We all

talked about the

same things: how we

survived and what

had happened. I

asked several if they

had seen my best

friend. No one had

seen him. I was

scared. I thought that

it was my fault be-

cause we had not

managed to stay to-

gether.

A friend got

the key to a hotel

room. We sat there,

looked at the news.

There was anger,

sorrow, so many

emotions. My dad

called, they had

come. I took the ele-

vator down. Ran out

to them. Hugged my

brother and my dad a

long time. I wept

aloud. My brother

was crying too. It

was a good moment.

I saw a boy who

looked like my best

friend. I shouted his

name. He turned

around. It was him.

We hugged each

other for a long time

. Both crying, we

asked each other

how we had man-

aged.

After a while, I spoke again to the

police and we drove home. Someone else

came with us. My best friend

was with me. His brother had

brought his best friend. Several

people had gathered at my home.

They would not leave until they

had seen that I was fine. We

talked a little bit. I drank juice.

Ate a yogurt. Talked some more

with my mum and my family. I

called my best friend. It was a

good conversation.

She said: "I was not sure if

I would ever get this phone call."

Tears started again. We talked a

little bit. After that I lay down. It

was 3am. Mum refused to let me

sleep alone, so we slept together.

It has now been several

hours since all this happened.

I'm still in shock. Everything has

not fallen into place.

I have seen the corpses of

my friends. Several of my friends

are missing. I am glad that I can swim. I

am glad that I am alive. God watched over

me. There are so many emotions, so many

thoughts. I think of all my family. Of all I

lost. Of the hell that is - and was - on the

island. This summer's most beautiful fairy

tale is transformed into Norway's worst

nightmare.

I thought I was going to die now!Norway shooting: A young Norwegian politician used her blogto describe being caught up in the Utoyamassacre. Prableen Kaur, 23, was one ofthe 650 people on the island as AndersBehring Breivik started shooting.

Prableen Kaur, 23, thought she was going to die

450g/1 lb hoki or other white

fish fillets, skinned 60 ml/4

tbsp fresh wholemeal bread-

crumbs 30 ml/2tbsp snipped

chives or spring onion

400g/14 oz can chopped

tomatoes 50g/2oz/ ¾ cup but-

ton mushrooms, sliced salt and

black pepper

This quick meal is a good choice for young children, as you

can guarantee no bones. If you like, add a dash of chilli sauce.

1.Cut the fish fillets into large chunks and place in a food

processor. Add the wholemeal breadcrumbs, chives or spring

onion. Season to taste with salt and pepper and process until

the fish is finely chopped, but still has some texture left.

2.Divide the fish mixture into about 16 even-sized pieces,

then mould them into balls with your hands.

3.Place the tomatoes and mushrooms in a wide saucepan and

cook over a medium heat until boiling. Add the fish balls,

cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, until cooked. Serve

hot.

Hoki is a good choice for this dish but if it’s not available,

use cod, haddock or whiting instead

HOKI BALLS INTOMATO SAUCE

Ingredients

Directions

Cook's Tip