Friday, 4 January 2008

Brothers killed in US; family says racial killing


Two brothers from Patiala were shot in the US on Friday night. According to their family here, Paramjit Singh Kalsi and Ravinder Singh Kalsi, 30, were shot in California by unidentified assailants.

The brothers owned a restaurant in the United States. The restaurant manager gave the details of the incident to deceased’s family. “Two people approached the restaurant door and shot Ravinder when he let them in.

They then chased Paramjit to the back of the restaurant and shot him before fleeing. The restaurant was not robbed,” the manager told the family over phone. The Kalsis, who live in Model Town, Patiala were in a state of shock. Paramjit and Ravinder’s mother, Gurbachan Kaur, could not even speak. “We just want the bodies of our brothers to be sent to us and the government should do something as we have no information about it,” said Balwinder Singh, the deceased’s brother.

The family claimed it is a case of racial killing. The family said Paramjit and Ravinder had shifted to the US in 1997. Five years later, the duo bought the Sahib Indian Restaurant in South Richmond. The deceased were also involved in the real estate business. One of the brothers was engaged and the duo was to come home for the wedding by month-end Relatives said for some initial years in the US, the brothers did construction work in Berkeley and saved money to buy a house. “They bought, renovated and sold or leased several houses over the years, eventually to open a restaurant and send money home,” they said.

Frontline Punjabi Youth Comments:
This is happening at an alarming rate all over the world but mainly in America. The American government does allow the right to self defense. I urge all Sikhs to obtain a gun licence and carry a concealed weapon for self defence.

The right to own a firearm is embedded in the American psyche like a splinter of flint, jagged and immovable.
It all goes back to the Founding Fathers who in 1791 amended the new American constitution with the following words: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Its better to shoot back instead of being a sitting duck. Sikhs are getting wacked day in day out because racists think we are Muslims. Which Sikh is next? Fight Back- Stay Strapped!