PUNJAB POLICE HAVE ABDUCTED A BRITISH SIKH ACTIVIST

Scottish Sikh Jagtar (Jaggi) Singh Johal has been illegally abducted and detained in India without cause or access to legal representation since November 4, 2017. Today, he was presented in court and his legal council confirmed that he has been physically tortured. Jaggi was in Punjab for his wedding, and shortly after, police came in plain clothes and forcibly hooded him from behind and took him away in an unmarked vehicle to an undisclosed location.

The British High Commission failed to secure his release and he has been remanded until November 17th. His legal team has confirmed that he has been tortured and Jaspal Singh Manjhpur described the torture in a SikhSiyasat article: "Jaggi told me that he was tortured physically and mentally as his legs were forcibly stretched beyond limits and he was given electric shots on nipples, ears and genitals."

This is not something new, but a continuation of the history of abduction, torture, and disappearance of Sikh youth in India. There is a precedence of impunity and extra-judicial murder that has taken thousands of lives.

Jaswant Singh Khalra was a Human Rights advocate who exposed these crimes in the 80s & 90s, toured parliaments around the world and then returned to India where he was abducted, tortured and extra-judicially murdered by Indian officials in 1995. Twenty-two years after the illegal abduction and murder of Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra, Jagtar Singh Johal has been abducted and tortured for exposing Indian state violence and human rights abuses.

Speak out against this perpetuation of minority oppression in India. In the past, India benefited from media and power blackouts that hid the reality of their human rights violations. The internet can now challenge that darkness. Speaking openly about cases like these sheds light upon decades of stories that the Indian government attempted to hide.

Reblog this post, whether or not you are Sikh, and make your own posts with the hashtag #FreeJaggiNow. Your silence in this case will be violence.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." -Elie Wiesel

Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of the abduction, torture, and murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra at the hands of Punjab Police.

Jaswant Singh Khalra was an ordinary human being like you and me, but what made him extraordinary was his commitment to social justice. During the Sikh genocide of the 80s and 90s, several Sikh youth were being disappeared in mass numbers by the police, so Jaswant Singh decided to take matters into his own hands and do some investigation.

He went around his district and collected forensic evidence at makeshift cremation pyres that were hastily constructed. He found the remains of more than 25,000 Sikhs on one district alone (Punjab has 22 districts, so you can imagine the impact of generational trauma on our elders).

He took these findings internationally, from the UN, to Amnesty (FYI, Amnesty is now blocked from doing any work in Punjab). His last stop on his tour was Canada. He submitted his findings to the Chretiens, but alas nothing was done. During his stay here, Jaswant Singh received a secret message from Punjab police saying “we killed 25,000, we can kill 25,001.”

Despite the death threat he decided to go back to Punjab to do more searching so he could give families closure, many of whom still believed that their children would be coming back home.

On September 6, 1995, Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted in front of his house in Amritsar. He was tortured and killed by police, and his body was never returned to his family.

Jaswant Singh Khalra may have been martyred, but his activism still lives on. In April 2013 during their Montreal convention, the New Democratic Party of Canada unanimously voted to recognize Jaswant Singh as an international human rights advocate. Even to this day, Sikh youth remember his last speech that he made in Canada:

“There is a fable that when the Sun was setting for the first time, as it was completing its journey, light was decreasing and the signs of Darkness were appearing. It is said, lamentation was rife amongst the people that the Sun will set, Darkness will spread, no one will be able to see anything, and what will happen to us? Everybody was worried, but the Sun set. In order to show its strength, Darkness set its foot on the earth, but it is said thar far away, in some hut, one little Lamp lifted his head. It proclaimed, ‘I challenge the Darkness. If nothing else, then at least around myself, I will not let it settle. Around myself I will establish Light.’ And it is said, watching that one Lamp, in other huts other Lamps arose. And the world was amazed that these Lamps stopped Darkness from expanding, so that people could see. I believe, today when Darkness is trying to overwhelm Truth with full strength, a self-respecting Panjab, like a Lamp, is challenging this Darkness. And I pray to my Satguru, who identifies with Truth, to keep this light lit.”

Pranaam Shaheedan Nu ❤

I'm not crying, you're crying.

This day last year was a whirlwind of emotions. On this day, it was the same sunken feeling I felt the day the Oak Creek Gurdwara in Wisconsin was attacked by a neo-nazi. I could feel the hurt and pain in my community, and the mixture of disbelief, rage, exhaustion, and grief. On this day, the same Sikhs (men largely, if I am to be specific) who were raging about no one caring about the Oak Creek Gurdwara shooting were silent last year. They knew exactly what happened and they chose to be silent. On top of that, I heard a cousin of mine remark, with a look of disgust on her face, "It's sad what happened to those people, but they were....you know." On this day, I learned that to many people in my community, the death of people like me is no big deal. That queer blood being spilled is somehow okay to tolerate. On this day I learned that such people enable these monstrous acts. On this day, I saw white queer people taking up space and completely ignoring the fact that the victims were largely latinx and black. I saw vigils and memorials in which I heard only white voices speaking blanket statements that covered the beautiful layered identities of the souls the world lost on this day. On this day, I saw brown queer people being harassed by white queer people. I saw messages on gay apps in which white men said "so you looking up to shoot up a gay club here too?"

I saw the complacency amongst white queers, as they talked about how the victims were the subject of the oppression of religion. However, there was no talk about how white queers have oppressed QTIBPoC.

On this day, I saw queer people of colour, especially latinx and black people, being ignored and having to create alternative events to share their grief and rage.

On this day, the world was shown displays of unity, but all some folks could see was the continued covert non-physical violence that took place after the shooting- violence that has not been acknowledged to this day.

Day 7: Pilgrims Executed By the morning of June 7, except for a very few surviving snipers, the men who had held the Army at bay for three days, were all dead. The majority of the complex was under army control. The aftermath of the battle was horrific and ghastly, an eyewitness details how the army had treated the pilgrims who had survived the bombardment: “[The army] took off their turbans with which they tied their hands behind their backs. Then the Army men beat these Sikh boys with the butts of their rifles until they fell on the ground and were shot dead right in front of me.” Teenage girl’s eyewitness account as quoted in Oppression in Punjab: Citizens For Democracy Report, 1985. Commissioned by Justice Y.M. Tarkunde. Sikh Reference Library Torched: The Sikh Fighters had fought to protect their most valued shrine from harm, and the pilgrims from dishonour and death. Sadly after the resistance was broken, the army had free reign, apart from the rape and murder of pilgrims the most distressing and inexcusable act was the torching of the Sikh Reference Library. “Any army which wants to destroy a nation destroys its culture. That is why the Indian army burnt the [Sikh Reference] library.” Amritsar: Mrs. Gandhi’s Last Battle, Tully, Mark and Jacob, (New Delhi, 1985). “The Government wanted to destroy Sikh history. Otherwise, how do you explain the fire in the Sikh Reference Library? The archives were set on fire two days after the army action. It was a historical collection of ancient books, Khardas [manuscripts], handwritten historical birs [Guru Granth Sahibs], some of them were even written by the Gurus, Janam Sakhis (biographical sketches of Gurus), Hukumnamas [commandments of Akal Takhat] which were of the greatest importance as the Sikhs regularly referred to them for their research.” Giani Kirpal Singh, Jathedar Akat Takhat (at the time of Operation Bluestar and eyewitness) interview published in Surya, August, 1984. Soldiers Celebrate by Drinking and Smoking in the Sikh’s Holiest Shrine: “Although the Sri Harmandir Sahib was riddled with bullets, the Akaal Takhat destroyed with cannon fire, and thousands of pilgrims massacred, the army were celebrating, people were seen carrying buckets of beer to the main gates of the temple where they jubilantly served the soldiers. The soldiers freely drank and smoked inside the complex. They certainly had plenty to drink, a notification of the Government of Punjab’s Department of Excise and Taxation allowed for the provision of 700,000 quart bottles of rum, 30,000 quart bottles of whiskey, 60,000 quart bottles of brandy and 160,000 bottles of beer all for ‘consumption by the Armed Forces Personnel deployed in Operation Blue Star’;” Amritsar – Mrs. Gandhi’s Last Battle”, p203 (Ninth Ed. 1991). Caption from nsfy.org.uk

This February I was at Darbar Sahib and looking back at the pictures I took its hard to imagine that 33 years ago on this day this complex would have been unrecognizable. Where sangat throngs today, sangat would have been laying dead. Where the Nishaan Sahib stands, there some of the biggest leaders of our faith would be laying shaheed. The Akaal Takht that stands tall today proclaiming the political sovereignty Guru Hargobind Sahib gave unto us would have been reduced to rubble. This may be a scene that would have demoralized a people, but Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Khalsa has always been different in this sense. When the attacks began on Darbar Sahib, kirtan inside the Sanctum continued. Even when the Akaal Takht was reduced to rubble, that did not stop our qaum. Guru Granth Sahib Ji was Prakaash on the thharhaa (foundation platform) and the singing of the Lord's praises continued in defiance to the oppressive powers at hand. The Sikhi that was attempted to be stamped out flourished. Worldwide in Canada and the U.K. people received Amrit by the thousands and became new members of the Khalsa Panth. The Sikh community that had up until this point tried hard to assimilate to the West found pride in their identity and unapologetically took to the streets in the tens of thousands in protest. We became visible and began celebrating the creation of our nation on Vaisakhi out in the public, which today have become even bigger than some celebrations in Punjab. The faith they tried to suppress flourished and grew. The fact that we simply exist today is an act of resistance. This isn't the first time we have seen something like this and it likely won't be the last. However, what I do know is that the Guru's Panth will always remain resilient and will flourish. Guru Sahib Ji Khalsa Panth nu hameshaa chardi kala bakshan. ❤🙏🏽

Day 6: Continuing on from the night of the 5th June, moving into the early hours of the 6th June, the battle increased in ferocity. According to General K.S. Brar, on June 6, around 4-30 a.m., thirty soldiers managed to get into the Akal Takhat, the ‘Immortal Throne’ which represents the highest seat of Sikh spiritual and political sovereignty. The fighting in the early hours of the morning of the 6th was ferocious, and eyewitnesses including soldiers and General K.S. Brar, testify that although desperately outnumbered the Sikh Fighters fought bravely and “to the last man.” The army ordered their tanks to fire upon the Akaal Takhat and due to the repeated explosions, the Akaal Takhat was reduced to rubble and the Sikh fighters inside died defending it. “Photographs of the shattered shrine indicate quite clearly that the Vijayantas 105 mm main armaments pumped high-explosive squash-head shells into the Akal Takht. Those shells were designed for use against hard targets like armour and fortifications. When the shells hit their targets, their heads spread or squash on to the hard surface. Their fuses are arranged to allow a short delay between the impact and the shells igniting, so that a shock-wave passes through the target. Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora, who studied the front of the Akal Takht before it was repaired, reckoned that as many as eighty of these lethal shells, could have been fired into the shrine. The effect of this barrage on the Akal Takht was devastating. The whole of the front of the sacred shrine was destroyed, leaving hardly a pillar standing. Fires broke out in many of the different rooms blackening the marble walls and wrecking the delicate decorations dating from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s time. They included marble inlay, plaster and mirror work, and filigree partitions. The gold-plated dome of the Akal Takht was also badly damaged by artillery fire.” Excerpted from “Amritsar – Mrs. Gandhi’s Last Battle”, (Ninth Ed. 1991). Brahma Chellaney reported: “At about 9 p.m. on 6th June, entire city of 700,000 was plunged into darkness by a power outage. Half an hour later, Amritsar was shaken by powerful shelling, mortar explosion and machine-gun fire. The big battle had begun. Half the city was up on rooftops watching the battle. Tracer bullets and flares lit up the sky. The explosions at the Golden Temple rattled doors and windows miles away. While the battle was raging, the state-run radio claimed that the city was ‘calm’. Between 10.30 p.m. and midnight, we heard slogans from city outskirts of villagers trying to march to the Golden Temple from three different directions. The slogans-’Long live the Sikh religion’ and ‘Bhindranwale is our leader’-were heard on each occasion and were followed by rapid army machine gun fire and screams.” Samiuddin, Abida (ed.); The Punjab Crisis: Challenge and Response (Delhi, 1985), page 62. The Sikh Fighters fought desperately; one of the officers said, “Boy what a fight they gave us. If I had three Divisions like that I would fuck the hell out of Zia (the President of Pakistan) any day.” Another, “I have seen a lot of action, but I can tell you I have never seen anything like this. [They were] pretty committed. They should have realised that they could not win against the army. If one weapon failed we brought another. When that failed we brought another”. A third put it more succinctly. “The bloody fellows would not let us in’” Excerpted from “Amritsar – Mrs. Gandhi’s Last Battle”, (Ninth Ed. 1991). The testimony of one of the pilgrims, explains why the fighters fought so desperately; “Bhai Amrik Singh (leading Sikh fighter) sent her a message urging her to leave the Temple Complex at once with her group in order to escape being dishonoured [raped] or being shot dead as ‘terrorists’ by the Army personnel, and also to survive to tell the true story of what happened inside the Golden Temple to the world outside.” She recalls the scenes that she saw when she stepped out of the room, where she and others were trying to survive the firing and bombing; “what did I see but piles of dead bodies, all stacked one over the other. At first I instinctively felt that I wouldn’t manage to go out. All I could see was a ceaseless mound of dead bodies. It seemed that all the persons who were staying in the Parikrama, not one of them had survived.” Source; Citizens for Democracy; Report to the Nation: Oppression in Punjab (Bombay, 1985). Unfortunately, the fears of the fighters came true, and when the resistance from the defenders had been overcome, the army killed with vengeance hundreds of pilgrims; “Grenades and poisonous gas shells were thrown at the men, women and children, who had locked themselves in the rooms, bathrooms and toilets of Guru Nanak Niwas, Guru Ram Das serai and Taja Singh Samundri Hall. Those who tried to come out were pierced with bayonets and shot dead. Some soldiers caught hold of small babies and children by their feet, lifted them up in the air and then smashed them against the walls thus breaking their skulls.” Harminder Kaur; Blue Star Over Amritsar (Delhi, 1990). “The civilians who died, about 1500 of them, were piled in trolleys and carried away. A lot of them were thrown into the rivers. The battle was a tragic one. I couldn’t eat anything. Food made me sick. I used to just drink lots of rum and go to sleep.” The account of a Naik (Corporal) of Kumaon Regiment who participated in Blue Star as quoted in Probe India, August, 1984. “The army stormed Teja Singh Samundri hall and the rooms in the Parkarma and behaved liked savages, they raped women, looted, killed children, burnt people alive, set the rooms on fire and tied the hands of devotees behind their backs and shot them.” Eyewitness account of Bibi Pritam Kaur, whose husband and 18 month baby was shot dead. Video interview (available online), interview transcript, reprinted in Punjab Times. “It was a virtual massacre. A large number of women, children and pilgrims were gunned down.” As reported by The Guardian on 13th June 1984. Caption from nsyf.org.uk

Day 5: In contradiction of the Government White Paper issued on July 10th 1984 which claims that “the troops exercised great restrain and refrained from directing any fire at Harmandir Sahib” (paragraph 10), Citizens for Democracy records the evidence of Harcharan Singh Ragi, who witnessed his guardian and mentor – the old, completely blind, Head Ragi of Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), Amrik Singh being shot by an army bullet and dying inside the Harmandir Sahib at about 6.30 a.m. One young college girl, who was one of the thousands of pilgrims who were trapped, gives her account of the Army entering the Complex in the following words: “They continued the firing till the evening of June 5th and then it was about 8.30 p.m. It was completely dark when they entered [Army into the Temple Complex] accompanied by very heavy firing. The blasting was so severe that I thought that I had reached some other world. We were 40-50 persons huddled together in the room, including women and children. The upper portion of the Akal Takhat had been fired at by the Army… Pieces of the Guru Granth Sahib were flying in the air… The place seemed to have been transformed into a haunted house…There were some among us who were frantic for some water, they came out in the open. In the morning I saw the dead bodies lying in the Parikarma. This was the worst kind of treachery.” Giani Puran Singh, a priest at the Harmandir Sahib and also an eye-witness remembers: “At 10.00 p.m. the tanks started entering the complex and the barrage of shooting became more intense as heavy artillery began to be used. At this stage an armoured carrier entered and stood beside the Sarovar. The lights on this carrier, when switched on, bathed the whole complex in bright light. We were viewing all this perched in the main dome of Harmandar Sahib and thought that probably the fire brigade had come to get water for extinguishing fires raging throughout the city. But we were proved wrong when this vehicle came down to the Parikarma and started firing. From both sides the tanks started closing in; from the clock tower to the Brahm Buta the tanks fired upon and set fire to all rooms, while desperate people collected water from the Sarovar to extinguish the fires. Loud cries and wails of both women and children rented the air.” In Devinder Singh Duggal’s words, “The night between the 5th and 6th was terrible. The tanks and armoured carriers had entered the Golden Temple Complex. The firing was such, that its ferocity cannot be described. All through the night we heard the heart rending cries of the dying persons.” Source; Citizens for Democracy; Report to the Nation: Oppression in Punjab (Bombay, 1985) (This report was made by an investigation team lead by Justice V. M. Tarkunde who was a prominent Indian lawyer, civil rights activist, and a distinguished judge. A day after publication of the report it was banned and confiscated, the authors were arrested and charged with “sedition” (incitement of rebellion against a government); http://www.pucl.org/admin/know_pucl.pdf. Eyewitness Subhash Kirpekar writes that in total there were approximately “a dozen tanks and a dozen APCs in all” (Armoured Personal Carriers); “Operation Bluestar, an Eyewitness Account” (published in The Punjab Story). Giani Puran Singh recounts how “a vigorous battle ensued between the Army and the 40-50 youth who had been holding the forces fought bravely through the night, until they either they were killed or their ammunition was exhausted”. Caption from nsyf.org.uk

Day 4: "The 4th of June, 1984, was wrongly chosen by the Army for an attack on inmates of the Golden Temple because, the 3rd of June being gurpurab (a religious festival), a large number of pilgrims, nearly 10,000 in number, had come to stay in the Golden Temple. Many of them appear to have been killed in the Army action." Eyewitness Accounts: Devinder Singh Duggal - In charge of the Sikh Reference Library located inside the Golden Temple complex. Duggal is an acknowledged authority on Sikh history. Duggal's recollections are vivid, almost photographic: "At abut 4 a.m. in the early hours of the morning of June 4, the regular Army attack on the temple started with a 25-pounder which fell in the ramparts of the Deori to the left of Akal Takht Sahib with such a thunder that for a few moments I thought that the whole complex had collapsed... Thereafter, every second the ferocity of firing increased…" Apart from heavy firing from Light and Medium Machine Guns (high calibre guns), the army troops also threw mortar shells and poisonous gas canisters inside the Akal Takhat and other buildings in the Complex. Meanwhile, according to Duggal, "the helicopter hovered above and continued to fire from above. Some of these helicopters also guided the firing squads of the Army by making circle of light around the targets. Immediately after these circles, the cannon ball would land causing havoc. We saw a large number of boys blown to pieces." Source; Citizens for Democracy; Report to the Nation: Oppression in Punjab (Bombay, 1985) (This report was made by an investigation team lead by Justice V. M. Tarkunde who was a prominent Indian lawyer, civil rights activist, and a distinguished judge. A day after publication of the report it was banned and confiscated, the authors were arrested and charged with "sedition" (incitement of rebellion against a government) http://www.pucl.org/admin/know_pucl.pdf Caption from nsyf.org.uk

Day 3: Curfews were put in place through Punjab to hide the atrocities being committed by the Indian government, much like curfews are placed on Kashmir today. My mother's friends were among the people trapped in Darbar Sahib during Operation Bluestar. The weather was unrelentingly hot, and tensions were high. When I had the blessed opportunity to visit Darbar Sahib this February it was hard to fathom that the state of India had turned our sanctuary into a battleground for our qaum's existence. "The army went into Darbar Sahib not to eliminate a political figure or a political movement but to suppress the culture of a people, to attack their heart, to strike a blow at their spirit and self-confidence." -Joyce Pettigrew

Day 2: Indira Gandhi makes an address for peace to the nation, in the full knowledge that on her orders tens of thousands of army troops are planning to launch a full scale war against a mass of unarmed civilian targets inside and around the Complex. As she makes the address, those Sikhs murdered on the 1st June (Bhai Mengha Singh pictured) by soldiers on her command, are cremated. The telephone connections of the Golden Temple Complex are disconnected. The few armed Sikhs we see make up only a fraction of the population of Punjab. The Government also cuts off the entire Punjab State to the outside world, ensuring there are minimal witnesses to the carnage which is about to be unleashed upon it population. Caption from NSYF.org.uk

There’s a tidbit of a talk I did not too long ago in which I talked about Sikh allyship to the Black Lives Matter movement. I feel the need to share with you folks.

Just a few days ago, KPS Gill passed away and while Sikhs remembered the atrocities he committed through the Punjab police, people across India praised the man in their tearful obituaries for a “job well done.”

Sikhs activists across the globe speak out against the blatant genocidal murder at the hands of the Punjab police, but why do they speak out against (or worse, stay silent about) Black Lives Matter?

You would think that the manner in which we were dehumanized and our very identity was criminalized would teach us to be allies of people who face the same thing?

You would think that hearing your innocent uncles and aunts murdered by the Punjab police, only to be labeled as terrorists post-mortem would teach us to speak up when murdered black youth are called “thugs” and criminals.

You would think that seeing over 200,000 Sikhs being murdered or disappeared by the Punjab police would teach us to speak up about the mass incarceration and murder of black people.

You would think that the manner in which it stung to hear people defend KPS Gill as a good man and not a criminal against humanity would teach us not to defend the police personnel that used excessive force and racial aggression to end a black person’s life.

You would think that we could draw parallels from our oppression and be allies to our black siblings, but such does not seem to be the case. We let our anti-blackness dehumanize their struggles, allowing us to distance ourselves- the exact same way non-Sikh Indians sat hand-on-hand as the Indian government launched a genocide against the Sikh people.

We need to do better, Sikh siblings. Rise up to the plate.

#BlackLivesMatter

Sikhs, through the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, made a demand for the protection of the Punjabi language, farmer's rights, and the end of the unfair distribution of water which put Punjab's farmers in destitute. Indira Gandhi and the Indian army answered these demands by surrounding some of Sikhi's holiest places of worship, and launching a genocide.

Someone taped this to the door of Rutherford Library at the University of Alberta today.

Reminder that Canada is just as racist as the US, if not more- since the racism here is more insidious due to its covert and microaggressive nature.

I will forever adore this ad.

“Anti-blackness has soaked through our minds and practices as the same systems that oppress and harm Black communities also oppress and harm ours, while working overtime to divide and conquer us. We recognize that while our Brown familias are also murdered by the police, that the context of our oppression is very different from that of Black people, and that our freedom depends on Black liberation. Unlearning anti-Blackness and relearning the praxis of of liberation is part of our process as Brown people to decolonize ourselves, our minds, and our communities in order to collectively heal from and resist the racial regimes that violate the dignity and humanity of our Black comrades.” -Monica Trinidad

Some lady at Save On Foods wished me Eid Mubarak...

Glad to see something positive come out after a gorah mixes up Sikhs and Muslims. :P

May all my Muslim friends have a joyous and blessed one. <3