Un-Canadian!
It has become commonplace in Sikh Gurdwaras, the temples where Canadians of Indian-Sikh origin gather to pray - that factions comprised of moderates and alternatively of fanatical religious separatists who use violence as their major tool of intimidating assent - are increasingly also becoming places of danger for those whose wish is to live in peace as devout Sikhs.
The violent minority, dedicated to founding an independent state for Sikhs called Khalistan, and carving it out of India's Punjab have become more fervently controlling and vicious as time goes on.
It was Indo-Canadian Sikhs in British Columbia who brought to Canada its first, and worst act of terror, in the blasts set by Babbar Khalsa Sikh militants, one of which brought down on June 1985, Air India Flight 182, killing all 329 aboard; 309 Canadians, along with the Indian crew. Relations between the vast majority of moderate Sikhs in Canada and the violence-eruptive militants has grown steadily uneasy since then.
Former British Columbia premier Ujjal Donsanjh, now a Liberal Member of Parliament, had been forthright in his denunciation of militant Sikhism, and he was once one of their beating victims. More latterly, Ujjal Dosanjh and B.C. MLA Dave Hayer, (Surrey), were informed by an organizer of the annual Surrey Sikh parade to celebrate the festival of Valsahki that they could spare themselves by non-attendance.
Attend, and organizers of the event would not guarantee their safety, according to Inderjit Singh Bains, in a radio interview - who later denied any suggestion of nefarious threats issued against the two critics of militant Sikh separatists. Despite having also added, quite clearly, that should they attend, they should be prepared to "bring their own security."
And despite the parade organizers assuring Surrey's mayor and the province's premier that nothing awry would appear during the event, a float celebrating their insistence on Sikh independence, displaying large-size portraits of "martyrs", including those of the assassins of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, along with one of the mastermind of the Air India bombings became part of the proceedings.
These incendiary provocations took place despite avowals that no controversy would erupt as a result of the parade in which many of Vancouver's Sikhs took part. These are Canadian citizens - whose involvement in a bitter, divisive and violent movement threatening the safety and security of other Canadian citizens, along with that of citizens of another country - mark them as supporters of terror.
And their penchant for terrorizing takes place also in the Sikh temples elsewhere in the country, Brampton, Ontario being just the latest venue of violence, where militant supporters used machetes, small axes and hammers to convince the moderate majority that they controlled the business of the Gurdwara, not those content to live as model citizens within Canada.
Just as the violence-prone militants insist on their right as Sikhs to foment for a separate Khalistan, so too do they insist that their rigidly fundamental views on temple conventions must take precedence over the wishes of the vast majority. The World Sikh Organization condemns them and their tactics, the Canadian Punjabi Post does as well.
"...they are everywhere. They are the troublemakers. Nobody wants to fight. The normal layperson who goes to work, does their job, comes back home, feed their kids and pay their mortgage off - they don't have time for all this", according to Jagdish Grewal editor of the Post and himself a victim of violence.
The point is, someone, some inner, concerned group, has to amass sufficient strength of purpose to foil the designs of these violence-prone militants to take over control of their temples. And they should also be making a concerted effort to bring Canadian law enforcement agencies into the picture, not only when they're called in to mop up a riot where people are injured and hospitalized.
Those facing charges of assault and possession of weapons for a dangerous purpose, in the latest temple disturbance that swept hundreds of people into the resulting riot, should not be dealt with lightly. And perhaps it's past time for a militant group operating with seeming impunity within Canada be named for what it represents - terror.
We do have a federally administered outlawed terror list do we not?
The violent minority, dedicated to founding an independent state for Sikhs called Khalistan, and carving it out of India's Punjab have become more fervently controlling and vicious as time goes on.
It was Indo-Canadian Sikhs in British Columbia who brought to Canada its first, and worst act of terror, in the blasts set by Babbar Khalsa Sikh militants, one of which brought down on June 1985, Air India Flight 182, killing all 329 aboard; 309 Canadians, along with the Indian crew. Relations between the vast majority of moderate Sikhs in Canada and the violence-eruptive militants has grown steadily uneasy since then.
Former British Columbia premier Ujjal Donsanjh, now a Liberal Member of Parliament, had been forthright in his denunciation of militant Sikhism, and he was once one of their beating victims. More latterly, Ujjal Dosanjh and B.C. MLA Dave Hayer, (Surrey), were informed by an organizer of the annual Surrey Sikh parade to celebrate the festival of Valsahki that they could spare themselves by non-attendance.
Attend, and organizers of the event would not guarantee their safety, according to Inderjit Singh Bains, in a radio interview - who later denied any suggestion of nefarious threats issued against the two critics of militant Sikh separatists. Despite having also added, quite clearly, that should they attend, they should be prepared to "bring their own security."
And despite the parade organizers assuring Surrey's mayor and the province's premier that nothing awry would appear during the event, a float celebrating their insistence on Sikh independence, displaying large-size portraits of "martyrs", including those of the assassins of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, along with one of the mastermind of the Air India bombings became part of the proceedings.
These incendiary provocations took place despite avowals that no controversy would erupt as a result of the parade in which many of Vancouver's Sikhs took part. These are Canadian citizens - whose involvement in a bitter, divisive and violent movement threatening the safety and security of other Canadian citizens, along with that of citizens of another country - mark them as supporters of terror.
And their penchant for terrorizing takes place also in the Sikh temples elsewhere in the country, Brampton, Ontario being just the latest venue of violence, where militant supporters used machetes, small axes and hammers to convince the moderate majority that they controlled the business of the Gurdwara, not those content to live as model citizens within Canada.
Just as the violence-prone militants insist on their right as Sikhs to foment for a separate Khalistan, so too do they insist that their rigidly fundamental views on temple conventions must take precedence over the wishes of the vast majority. The World Sikh Organization condemns them and their tactics, the Canadian Punjabi Post does as well.
"...they are everywhere. They are the troublemakers. Nobody wants to fight. The normal layperson who goes to work, does their job, comes back home, feed their kids and pay their mortgage off - they don't have time for all this", according to Jagdish Grewal editor of the Post and himself a victim of violence.
The point is, someone, some inner, concerned group, has to amass sufficient strength of purpose to foil the designs of these violence-prone militants to take over control of their temples. And they should also be making a concerted effort to bring Canadian law enforcement agencies into the picture, not only when they're called in to mop up a riot where people are injured and hospitalized.
Those facing charges of assault and possession of weapons for a dangerous purpose, in the latest temple disturbance that swept hundreds of people into the resulting riot, should not be dealt with lightly. And perhaps it's past time for a militant group operating with seeming impunity within Canada be named for what it represents - terror.
We do have a federally administered outlawed terror list do we not?
Labels: Canada, Conflict, Crisis Politics, Human Relations
posted by Pieface | 5:51 PM
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