Sikh Politics worldwide should be aware of USA and UK
31 Jan. Morichjhanpi Day. Mass demo. In front of GjandhiMurti.Park St.Kolkata.From 12 noon .
31 January Morichjhanpi Day. Mass demonstration in front of Gandhi Murti, Park St.Kolkata.12 noon to 6 pm. The Morichjhanpi incident is one of the darkest episode of CPI(M) led Government of West Bengal.The Refugees who were raped by the CPI(M) were betrayed after the Elections.The settlement established by Refugees in the Morichjhapi island of Sundarban was dealt with iron fists by the Left front Govt. of West Bengal who deemed it " illegal ". Subsequently they were brutally evicted by the Police and hired Mercenaries who butchered the Resisting People ,fired and killed Refugees, raped the Women,burnt down entire settlements. Please come and join. Thanks. Prof.Sunanda Sanyal, Prof.Ashokendu Sengupta, Dhiraj Sengupta ( sec APDR),Jagadishchandra Mondal(Researcher),Sibnath Chowdhury(Writer), Dr.Subodh Biswas (Refugee leader, Maharashtra),Nemai Sarkar ( Odisha ), Prasen Raftan ( Refugee leader, Karnatak ), Dr.Sanmathanath Ghosh ( Great Refugee leader), Nalini Mandal (Refugee leader,W.B.),Radhikaranjan Biswas (Refugee leader, Morichjhanpi),Debabrata Biswas (Refugee leader, Morichjhanpi), Narayan Mondal ( Refugee leader, Morocjjhanpi ),Mrityunjoy Mallik ( Respected Refugee leader), Tushar Bhattacharjee ( Journalist, Docu.film maker).
New US rules on beards, turbans for Sikh, Muslim soldiers
Requests for wearing items of one's faith by Sikhs, Muslims and other religious-minority service members will be decided on a case by case basis
AP
Washington: The US defence department has clarified rules allowing Sikhs, Muslims and other religious-minority service members to wear a turban, scarf or beard as long as the practices do not interfere with military discipline, order or readiness.
However, requests for wearing items of one's faith by way of religious accommodation will still be decided on a case by case basis, but will generally be denied only if the item poses a safety hazard, interferes with wearing a uniform, a helmet or other military gear or "impairs the accomplishment of the military mission", Pentagon said.
"The new policy states that military departments will accommodate religious requests of service members unless a request would have an adverse effect on military readiness, mission accomplishment, unit cohesion and good order and discipline," Pentagon spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nathan J. Christensen announced on Wednesday.
Immediate commanders may resolve religious accommodation requests that don't require a waiver of military department or service policies that address wearing of military uniforms and religious apparel, grooming, appearance or body-art standards, he said.
The spokesman said department officials believe the new instruction will enhance commanders' and supervisors' ability to promote the climate needed to maintain good order and discipline, and will reduce the instances and perception of discrimination toward those whose religious expressions are less familiar to the command.
The Defense Department "places a high value on the rights of members of the military services to observe the tenets of their respective religions and the rights of others to their own religious beliefs", "including the right to hold no beliefs", the spokesman said.
Sikh American organisations criticised the new rules for not going far enough, but acknowledged they were a "stepping stone" in a long process of prodding the Pentagon to ease restrictions on wearing or showing their "articles of faith".
The Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF) called the rules an expansion of current policies rather than a meaningful overall change in policy. "Unfortunately, this continues to make us have to choose between our faith and serving our country," said SALDEF executive director Jasjit Singh.
"This is an expansion of the waiver policy that is decided person by person. It does not open doors and say you can apply as a Sikh American and serve your country fully," he said.
Responding to new Pentagon rules that permit limited religious accommodation, Democratic House member Joe Crowley, reiterated his call for an end to the presumptive ban on Sikh articles of faith, including turbans and beards, in the US military.
Crowley, vice chair of the Democratic Caucus and a leader on Sikh American issues in Congress, is currently spearheading a bipartisan letter signed by 20 members of Congress on both sides of the aisle requesting that the US Armed Forces update their appearance regulations to allow Sikh Americans to serve while abiding by their articles of faith.
"Depending on how they are implemented, some aspects of the new Department of Defense rules may be a step in the right direction," said Crowley.
"But more needs to be done to end the underlying presumptive ban on service by patriotic Sikh Americans. Sikh Americans love this country and want a fair chance to serve in our nation's military."
Probe ordered into Thatcher link to Operation Bluestar
Explanations have been sought after recent documents stated that SAS officials had been dispatched to help in Operation Bluestar
Reuters
London: British Prime Minister David Cameron has directed his Cabinet Secretary to establish the facts behind claims that Margaret Thatcher's government may have helped Indira Gandhi plan Operation Bluestar in 1984.
Labour MP Tom Watson and Lord Indarjit Singh had demanded an explanation after recently declassified documents indicated that Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) officials had been dispatched to help India on the planning on the raid of the Golden Temple to flush out militants from the shrine, an operation left more than 1,000 people dead.
"These events led to a tragic loss of life and we understand the very legitimate concerns that these papers will raise. The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to look into this case urgently and establish the facts," a UK government spokesperson said in a statement issued here yesterday night.
"The PM and the Foreign Secretary were unaware of these papers prior to publication. Any requests today for advice from foreign governments are always evaluated carefully with full Ministerial oversight and appropriate legal advice," he added.
The documents being referenced were released by the National Archives in London under the 30-year declassification rule as part of a series over the New Year. A letter marked "top secret and personal" dated February 23, 1984, nearly four months before the incident in Amritsar, titled 'Sikh Community', reads: "The Indian authorities recently sought British advice over a plan to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
"The Foreign Secretary decided to respond favourably to the Indian request and, with the Prime Minister's agreement, an SAD (sic) officer has visited India and drawn up a plan which has been approved by Mrs Gandhi. The Foreign Secretary believes that the Indian Government may put the plan into operation shortly."
"These documents prove what Sikhs have suspected all along, that plans to invade the Golden Temple went back months even though the Indian government was claiming even weeks before that there were no such plans," Lord Singh, also the director of the Network of Sikh Organisations in the UK, told PTI.
"I have already approached the Indian government through the High Commission of India for the need of an independent international enquiry to establish the exact facts. I will now raise the issue in the House of Lords," he added.
Some of the documents have been reproduced on the 'Stop Deportations' blog which focuses on Britain's immigration policy and claim Thatcher sent SAS officials to advise Mrs Gandhi on the operation.
"I've only seen the documents this morning (Monday) and am told there are others that have been withheld. This is not good enough. It is not unreasonable to ask for an explanation about the extent of British military collusion with the government of Indira Gandhi," Watson, an MP for West Bromwich East, said.
He has written to UK foreign secretary William Hague and plans to raise the issue in the House of Commons.
"I think British Sikhs and all those concerned about human rights will want to know exactly the extent of Britain's collusion with this period and this episode and will expect some answers from the Foreign Secretary.
"But trying to hide what we did, not coming clean, I think would be a very grave error and I very much hope that the foreign secretary will...Reveal the documents that exist and give us an explanation to the House of Commons and to the country about the role of Britain at that very difficult time for Sikhism and Sikhs," he added.
Five months after Operation Bluestar, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in retaliation for the raid on the Golden Temple.
'Thatcher colluded with Indira for Operation Bluestar'
Documents released under Britain's 30-year rule included papers from Thatcher authorising the SAS to collude with the Indian government on the planning on the raid of the Golden Temple 
Reuters
London: A British MP today claimed that top secret documents suggested Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government helped Indira Gandhi plan the storming of the Golden Temple in 1984 to flush out militants from the shrine, an operation that left more than 1,000 people dead.
Tom Watson, the Labour lawmaker from West Bromwich East, said the documents released under Britain's 30-year rule included "papers from Mrs Thatcher authorising the SAS (Special Air Service) to collude with the Indian government on the planning on the raid of the Golden Temple".
The government apparently "held back" some more documents and "I don't think that's going to wash", he told BBC Asian Network.
"I think British Sikhs and all those concerned about human rights will want to know exactly the extent of Britain's collusion with this period and this episode and will expect some answers from the Foreign Secretary," Watson said.
He wrote on his website that he would write to the Foreign Secretary and raise the issue in the House of Commons to get a "full explanation".
Man who led Operation Bluestar trashes talk of UK help
Lt Gen (retd) K S Brar, who led offensive in 1984, says it was planned and executed by Indian commanders
Reuters
Mumbai: Amid the raging row over claims that Margaret Thatcher's government had aided India in the Operation Bluestar to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in 1984, Lt Gen (retd) K S Brar, who led the offensive, on Tuesday said it was planned and executed by Indian military commanders.
"I am quite dumbfounded because the operation was planned and executed by military commanders in India. There is no question ... we never saw anyone from UK coming in here and telling us how to plan the operation," Brar told a TV news channel.
Maintaining that there was no involvement of British agencies in the operation that left over 1000 dead and led to the revenge assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he said the authenticity of the documents that have surfaced suggesting England's assistance should be checked.
"I am not a politician. I don't know what are the political motives of these letters coming out. I am a straightforward soldier and therefore cannot give any view besides the soldier's view.
"I conducted the operation and no aid came in. This is the first time I am hearing all this. It is obviously some mischief at some stage or the other. There was no aid given to us, no advice given to us, there was no representative from the UK government who came and met us to help us plan the operation," the 79-year-old former general said.
A controversy has broken out after a British MP claimed he had seen declassified documents suggesting Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) officials had been despatched to help India plan the military offensive at the Golden Temple.
Labour MP Tom Watson and Lord Indarjit Singh had on Monday demanded an explanation from British government after the documents, declassified under Britain's 30-year rule, said Thatcher had authorised SAS to collude with Indian government to plan the operation.
There was a murderous attack on Brar by a group of Sikhs in London in 2012.
Three Sikh men and a woman were last year convicted of carrying out the revenge attack on Brar and sentenced to undergo imprisonment from 10 and half years to 14 years by a British court.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has directed his Cabinet Secretary to establish the facts behind claims that Thatcher's government may have helped Indira Gandhi plan Operation Bluestar.
'British help' for Operation Blue Star stirs Punjab parties
Dal Khalsa wrote to British PM David Cameroon expressing 'pain, concern and anguish' over the revelations that British govt under Margaret Thatcher helped Indian govt attack Golden Temple
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AP
Chandigarh: Radical Sikh organizations as well as Punjab's ruling Akali Dal on Tuesday came out against revelations that Britain had helped the Indian government in plans to launch Operation Blue Star on the Golden Temple complex, home to the holiest of Sikh shrines Harmandar Sahib, in June 1984.
Radical Sikh organization Dal Khalsa on Tuesday shot off a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameroon through the British high commission in India expressing its "pain, concern and anguish over the startling revelations as to how the then British government under Margaret Thatcher helped Indian government to attack the Golden Temple in June 1984".
Another radical body, the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) will hold a rally outside British high commissioner's office in New Delhi January 17, its president Karnail Singh Peermohammed told IANS.
"The aim of the rally is to demand that British Parliament should immediately pass a resolution that action of PM Margret Thatcher of colluding with Indira Gandhi to attack the holiest Sikh shrine was wrong," he said.
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh, quoting the letter, said: "The news report about the secret document from British National Archives revealing the UK government collaborating with Indian government to plan the attack has shattered the Sikhs from within. The Sikh diaspora is deeply hurt and the news has left them numbed."
He said the document revealed that India sought support and the British government obliged.
"However it is silent as to what extent and in what shape the support and succour was provided," the letter said, seeking these details.
Britain is home to tens of thousands of Sikhs who have settled there in the past nearly 100 years.
The controversy erupted after documents of that period went public in Britain and Liberal MP Tom Watson procured documents showing that Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) was involved in planning the attack on the Golden Temple.
The Akali Dal in Punjab on Tuesday blamed the Congress party for its "nefarious designs against the Sikh community".
In a statement here, Akali Dal spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said that the top secret British documents had exposed the real conspiracy behind Operation Blue Star.
"The media reports published today (Tuesday) have unearthed a major conspiracy of the Congress party which even went to the extent of compromising the national sovereignty for its political gains," he said.
Terming it shocking to see that to solve an issue of internal security of Punjab state, Mrs Gandhi took the services of British forces, he said the Congress-led union government must come clean on the "unknown compulsions under which it had to take the help of forces from such a country against whom the nation had fought a battle of freedom for more than 200 years".
Cheema said that the only justification of colluding with British forces could be that they had the expertise to kill thousands of freedom fighters as in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Heavily armed terrorists, led by separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, were flushed out by the Indian Army in its Operation Blue Star on the Golden Temple complex in June 1984. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had ordered the Army operation in which hundreds were killed.
Punjab had witnessed a bloody phase of terrorism between 1981 to 1992 as separatists demanded a separate Sikh homeland — Khalistan (land of the pure). The terrorism phase left over 25,000 people dead, including hundreds of security force personnel.
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