Welsh School Going on racist!

Nearly 4,000 people have joined online petitions in support of a 14-year-old Sikh girl who has filed a legal challenge after being excluded by her school for wearing a kara.

Sarika Singh, a pupil at the Aberdare Girls' School in the Welsh town of Aberdare, has been excluded since Nov 5 and was forced to attend lessons in isolation for two months after the staff at the school first noticed her wearing the kara or bracelet.

Sarika, who is the only Sikh in her school, has refused to remove the kara, saying it should not be treated as jewellery. The school's uniform policy prohibits any jewelery other than a wristwatch and plain ear studs.

Liberty, the human rights group which has filed the challenge, is expected to argue the school has breached race relations and human rights laws, as well as a 25-year-old Law Lords' decision which allows Sikh children to wear items representing their faith - including turbans - to school.

The group is asking for the school to amend its uniform policy to comply with Britain's Race Relations Act, a major provincial newspaper, the Western Mail, reported Saturday.

The school's governing body must lodge its defence in the High Court by next Friday, before the court starts considering the case mid-January.

Meanwhile, United Sikhs, an international advocacy charity, will also apply to file a third party intervention, the paper said.

The Support Sarika group on social networking site Facebook has 2,366 members, from countries as far afield as Canada, Australia, India and the US.

The site also includes a link to an online petition signed by nearly 1,500 people at supportsarika.co.uk.

Frontline Punjabi Youth comments

So many attacks are being made on the sikh identity, all over the world. France make us take off our turban, no kirpans in denmark etc. All this is happening because the sikhs are a baseless people and have no homeland to fight for our rights and identity. This young girl said that she would cover the kara with cloth in P E lesson for safety reason, so why is she still being targeted. If you dont sign the petition you a skank!

Indians Despise Shaheedi Divas Celebrations for National Sikh Heroes

Picture of Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh & Satwant Singh Ji

New Delhi (KP) – In their latest attempt at direct interference into Sikh affairs, right-wing Hindu organizations and the mainstream Indian media have now criticized the commemoration of Shaheed Bhai Satwant Singh and Shaheed Bhai Kehar Singh by the Sikh Panth.

Not long after publicizing slanderous remarks about the portrait of Baba Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale at the Ajaib Ghar Museum in Amritsar Sahib, the Bharatiya Janata Party along with the Indian media have released more controversial words insulting the status of Akal Takht Sahib. This past week in Amritsar Sahib met with a clash of words between the BJP party and the ‘Akalis’ as the right-wing Hindu organization criticized the announcement of Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Kehar Singh as martyrs of the Sikh Faith.

A great surprise to many, the BJP received strong support from its chief rival, the Congress (I) party, in condemning the move by Akal Takht Sahib. In the past, both parties have shown strong disagreement over various issues. In fact, the BJP remains a big threat to the Congress ‘regime’--but the reality that both organizations joined together to interfere with the internal affairs of the Sikh Community raises eyebrows.

Speaking to the press, Jayanthi Nataranjan (Congress) joined with the BJP leadership and termed the 'equalizers' of Indira Gandhi, who pre-planned genocidal attacks against Sikhs, as “violent killers.” She further declared moves by the SGPC and Akal Takht Sahib as being in direct violation of the Indian Constitution. Rajiv Partar Rudi of the BJP also stated that the declaration of Bhai Satwant Singh was unacceptable to Indian Citizens.

Sikh leadership however, has taken a strong stance against the remarks by the BJP and the Congress party. A faction of Damdami Taksal from Mehta Chowk has asked the Indian Government to keep itself out of the internal affairs of the Sikhs. Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, who is close to the Shiromani Akal Dal (B), told the press that the execution of Indira Gandhi was a necessity of time and that her assassins were not killers, but martyrs of the Khalsa Panth. If she had not been stopped, there could have been a massive genocide against Sikhs, worse than that which actually did take place.

The function held at Akal Takht Sahib to commemorate the martyrdom of Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Kehar Singh was attended by various eminent organizations and individuals. The declaration, which is receiving criticism from the BJP and Congress parties, came from Akal Takht Sahib's appointed Jathedar himself.

Recently Panthic Weekly published pictures of many of these eminent leaders mingling with right-wing Hindu supremacists, including those belonging to the BJP hierarchy. These pictures were shot at the 2007 ‘Prerna’ Program which took place awhile after the BJP had taken a stand against the installation of Baba Jarnail Singh Ji’s portrait.

What is in common or in contrast between these organizations-- BJP, Congress, SGPC and SAD (B) - is yet to be discovered, but the Sikh Nation remembers which groups stood with and against it during Operation Bluestar and other Government organized pogroms. One thing certain is that the moves by the Hindutva organization needs special attention from Panthic ‘watchdogs’.