Sikh terrorist shouldn't be anyone's hero

[raavan]

killing a hitler is heroic...or bhagat singh is a terrorist as well.....this guy beant singh had blood of so many innocents

 

[utraash]

Sikh terrorist shouldn't be anyone's hero


By Jonathan Kay, The Province March 29, 2012



Indian politicians stayed Wednesday the execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana, an unrepentant Sikh terrorist who masterminded the killing of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh - and 17 others - in 1995.

The suicide bomber who per-formed the deed was identified as Dilawar Singh, but Rajoana admits that he was the backup bomber. Rajoana has made no real effort to defend himself in court, admits his crimes and seems content to die as a martyr for the cause of his Sikh terrorist group Babbar Khalsa. His execution, which politicians fear would create massive disturbances in the Punjab, would be India's first since 2004.

Many Sikhs, including some here in Canada, have turned Rajoana into a hero figure - despite the facts that his target, Beant Singh, was himself a Sikh. Since Beant Singh was a Sikh moderate who took a leading role in suppressing radical Sikh insurgents, he's considered a blood traitor by radicals.

Sadly, this isn't an isolated case. As the Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan has reported, a militant minority of Sikhs have marred B.C. parades by displaying images of Air India mastermind (and Babbar Khalsa founder) Talwinder Singh Parmar; as well as Satwant Singh Bhaker, Indira Gandhi's assassin; and the killers of Indian Gen. Arunkumar Shridhar Vaidya. In many cases, naive Canadian politicians, unable to read the Punjabi descriptions, have stood idly by clapping their hands as images of these "martyrs" rolled past.

In the case of Rajoana, the facts are more complicated, because many activists say that they merely oppose his execution - on the grounds that the death penalty is inhumane.

This week, Jasbir Sandhu, NDP MP from Surrey North, reportedly got an ovation from parliamentary peers when he implored Stephen Harper to protest India's actions - citing opposition to the death penalty in general terms. Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh, arguing the same point, appeared to suggest that Ontario's trade relationship with India might be used as leverage. Former Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal also has taken up the cause, addressing a rally on March 25.

More disturbing than this are the grassroots Canadian Sikh groups that appear to be openly identifying with Rajoana's cause. A poster for a March 29 Toronto-area rally, for instance, is headlined "I am Rajoa-na." Sikh sources tell me that the organizers who bused Sikhs from Toronto, Hamilton, Brampton and Windsor, Ont., and Montreal to a major rally Wednesday in Ottawa today are promoting similar propaganda in Punjabi. (One of the Toronto-area rally organizers, whose name appears on a separate Punjabi flyer promoting the event, is a Sikh Youth leader who reportedly is close to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.)

A poster declaring "I am Merah" or "I am Yigal Amir" would rightly be seen as scandalous. Even Tamil extremists would have had a hard time getting away with "I am Prab-hakaran." So why do Sikh extremists often get a free pass in this country - even after Air India awakened us to the problem? Is it the banal fact that Eurocentric reporters and politicians simply have trouble telling one Singh from the next? Or do we regard the internal politics of the Indian state as too opaque for scrutiny?

It is true that the Indian government and military apparatus, of which Beant Singh was part, made some terrible mistakes in the battle against Sikh extremists in the 1980s - including mass killings that continue to scar the nation's conscience. The world shouldn't forget the innocent Sikh victims of government brutality who perished during that period. But such remembrances do not change the fact that terrorism is terrorism.

The campaign against violent creeds should be a universal one - not just confined to the fight against militant Islam. For it is all part of the same pathology. In the case of Sikh and Muslim terrorism, they even are headquartered in the same place: The leader of the Bab-bar Khalsa terrorist group (which is banned in Canada) is now at large in Pakistan, where he reportedly receives protection from that country's intelligence service, the ISI - just like many Taliban leaders and even, possibly, until last year, Osama bin Laden himself.

Even for those Rajoana activists who say they merely oppose the death penalty, the Sikh killer makes a strange figure of sympathy. Rajoana himself had no problem killing large numbers of innocent people in pursuit of his own warped version of justice. He deserves to die as much as any Jew-killing Jihadi or spree killer.

If we are to search for "martyrs" in this case, let us find them among the innocent bystanders who died on Aug. 31, 1995, at the hands of terrorists.

Jonathan Kay is managing editor for comment at the National Post, and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
© Copyright (c) The Province

Read more: Sikh terrorist shouldn't be anyone's hero

this article is about canadian sikhs but the views the author holds is correct. would not like to compare religions, but this kind of creating martyrs out of terrorists are common in many parts of the world including middle east.

Murders cant be not martyrs.... Unfortunately our people does not understand the cost they will have to pay if they keep declaring such Killers a hero...... We saw earlier a similar case in pakistan few months ago...

 

[utraash]

Why is that the Sikhs should display their understanding nature? What about the understanding of the 9 commissions set up by the govt to investigate the riots? Murderers and martyrs became heroes the day the state failed to act and instead became a murderer itself.

Knowing the complexity involved in our own system u feel there is only Sikh community which has suffered a lot..... I must say you are absolutely wrong ..... There has been many riots where we have similar situation now but does not mean you make a hero out of killer......
One more thing I have never seen such boil in Punjab for booking the culprits(tytlers, sajjan etc..) instead saving a killers life & showing him as hero... there are ways force your gov or center gov to get open all the cases if they dont come to streets we will also join you dear in no time......

 

[utraash]

Its a cycle as you say. And as you rightly pointed out HR violations are an integral part of it. If that had been realized in the 80s people like Rajaona wont have been elavated in status.

Do you still think HR violation does not happen in India.... Dear U all know how our Policia system works in all states....... N what you trying to justify, the mind set which just want to see one sideof the coin.....

I understand what you mean and would really wish this was so. But it isnt. Just assume for a second that the state had acted swiftly after the riots, arresting hundred, convicting another hundred and say life imprisoning (if not hanging) scores. Do you think the militancy and people like Rajona would have got any justification for their actions? No. They wouldnt have lost the faith in the state and its system.

Moists also say similar faith in our system, will you make them your hero though we know the condition of those area too........

Educated Sikhs like me are better informed than to take to the streets can support bandhs. They would express their protest via forums, blogs FB etc or perhaps discuss it with other folks. They arent into Khalistan. Thats an unreal possibility now.

But you know what, the pain doesnt go away. Its been 30 years but it still aches to remember it. The Abdalis invasions, massacres by the Mughals, those are still forgotten and may be remembered on religious fests. But this injustice that happened right here in our own capital, in front of the world's eyes isnt hard to forget. Especially when there was no redressal. And I would tell my children about it. It will be a part of their education, and I will tell them about both the sides of the story. Its a painful past but they have to know. The future generations have to know everything so that such incidents don't happen again.

Thats sad but true... I understand it completely.... I only can say now create some more Balwant who can kill Tytler Sajjan or those who opnenly killed indians be it Hindus muslim sikhs....

 

[Nalwa]

Knowing the complexity involved in our own system u feel there is only Sikh community which has suffered a lot..... I must say you are absolutely wrong ..... There has been many riots where we have similar situation now but does not mean you make a hero out of killer......
One more thing I have never seen such boil in Punjab for booking the culprits(tytlers, sajjan etc..) instead saving a killers life & showing him as hero... there are ways force your gov or center gov to get open all the cases if they dont come to streets we will also join you dear in no time......

Just because these things happen a lot in India, doesnt mean we should forget it when it happens to our dear ones. Its easy typng away siting in the safe environs of your home. Bet you've never ever met people affected by the riots. It aint easy explaining to them that HR violations are common in India.

 

[utraash]

giving some sort of autonomy to indian punjab and renaming it could be the first step towards confidence building...later on the people of indian punjab can decide if they really want to stay with india or not.



i hope ISI capitalizes on the current events taking place in occupied khalistan..

Thts the problem with u pakistani yar.... you save ur own land than wasting ur resource against INDIA...Read history how east was created........

 

[Moorkh]

Well most of the time people talk about how corrupt politician's should be shoot dead and look someone did that.Bean't was the Rajapaksa of Punjab.

From the start the demand was to pardon his death sentence because Beant was no Saint either.He had the blood of masses on his hands.People who think Beant Singh was chosen by the people of Punjab guess what 1992 elections were boycotted by SAD* and the voter turnout was 24%.
Then people linked this whole Rajoana issue to 84 riot's and eventually to Khalistan and somehow it will end up with people saying"Hey look the Sikhs are again on their separatist path".
This has been the case from 60's when ever Sikh's raised their voice for some genuine demand's they have been termed as Separatist's and Terrorists.Oh! and it's still going on.
I think too much of shi* has been collected under the carpet,time to start clearing it.The same goes for Kashmir and North East.

You claim that Beant was a murderer with the blood of hundreds of innocents on his hands. You however can not prove it in court. What does one take from this? That there is somehow hatred for Beant that has created such false accusations against him? You can not justify taking the law into your own hands. Whatever Beant did or did not do is irrelevant right now because he was not convicted by the courts. His killer on the other hand was tried and convicted. Now his sentence should be carried out.

The courts in our country are slow, no doubt about it. Justice for the riot victims is necessary. We however can not use it as a justification for committing more crimes. The fact that the courts have not found Tytler or whoever guilty does not mean they are complicit. It means that not enough credible evidence was gathered to convict them.

Please dont confuse the issue. On one hand e have a person who killed 17 people, was proven to have done so beyond doubt and has confessed to the same. On the other hand we have accusations against people. But those accusations do not have the backing of proofs.

Do army, policemen who kill innocents people of the law?

nope. If they do that, take htem to court and get them jailed.

 

[Moorkh]

killing a hitler is heroic...or bhagat singh is a terrorist as well.....this guy beant singh had blood of so many innocents

Bhagat Singh didnt become a hero for killing Saunders did he? He became a hero when he threw bombs into the parliament (without killing anyone) and then proceeded to continue his protest in jail. Please dont even compare bhagat singh with this terrorist. How many innocents did bhagat singh kill when he went after saunders? how many people did he kill when he threw bombs and pamphlets in the parliament? how many people other than Beant singh died because of rojaona?

 

[Manas]

But you know what, the pain doesnt go away. Its been 30 years but it still aches to remember it. The Abdalis invasions, massacres by the Mughals, those are still forgotten and may be remembered on religious fests. But this injustice that happened right here in our own capital, in front of the world's eyes isnt hard to forget. Especially when there was no redressal. And I would tell my children about it. It will be a part of their education, and I will tell them about both the sides of the story. Its a painful past but they have to know. The future generations have to know everything so that such incidents don't happen again.

I empathize with the sikh in their sense of injustice . I've stated this before.

But the picture is mixed . The sikhs must share some blame for it.

For starters i haven't seen a big agitation in Punjab to pressurize central govt accelerate the judicial process in the the riot cases. Sikhs come out seemingly more strongly aganist Baba Ram Rahim than for the sake of Delhi riot victims .

Only times i hear about sikhs riots on tv ,is a bjp leader making a counter point when he is cornered on the topic of Gujurat riots.

I didn't hear special courts,CBI investigations,judicial commissions working overtime on 84'riot cases like in the Gujurat riot cases.

I'm yet to see a ND tv docu on the 84'riots or any of its victim getting media limelight say E,g Jakia Jaffery of Gujurat riot fame.

My comparison of 84' riots with Gujurat riots is simply because in 84' riot at least three times more people were killed.

Why sikhs a strong affluent community have not been more vocal in their fight to secure justice for the 84'riots victims ??
I think one of the reason may be got do with the fact that narrative was hijacked by the khalistanis.This is what i fear happening in the case of Rajona hanging too. While you and many unsuspecting Sikhs link the plight of riot victims and HR violations in punjab with the death penalty ,the case,i'm afraid irrespective of the outcome will end up as victory for the sikh radicals. And that may assuage the ego of some sikhs , but its not going to help getting justice for the riot victims in anyway.

 

[utraash]

Just because these things happen a lot in India, doesnt mean we should forget it when it happens to our dear ones. Its easy typng away siting in the safe environs of your home. Bet you've never ever met people affected by the riots. It aint easy explaining to them that HR violations are common in India.

Dear now let me tell u about 84...there were some sikh family around our area(Rishikesh-Utrakhand)... When riot started Grurudwara was completely looted by congressi n some shope onwed by sikhs were also looted... Some sikh family came to my Nanaji for safe shelter becoz congressi were searching each house in that area n my nanaji collected some people to face these congressi, but it did not happen those sikh people lived with us for more than 20 days...
Second dear if you think that my concern is hollow then I should not argue with you anymore.... I have been every dist of Punjab I lived there for more than 2yr so I have many friends from punjab even my roommate is also punjabi sikh... I am not indifferent to your pain......
I understand your pain becoz when people of uttrakhand was fighting for creating uttrkahnd I lost my closed one n culprits has never been booked by UP state gov. & later uttrachal gov. decided to burry down all such cases but we never took wrong way to justify our loss & case is still in Nantial high court....

 

[livingdead]

We should not link this case with anti sikh riots they are different.
This person has been convicted by court and agreed the charges levelled against him.
If he wants to be martyr we should grant him his wishes, let his posters be used by khalistanis for propagating their ideas.

I wish one day we can have a referendum like scotland and sikhs can vote whether they want to be in India or want a separate country.

 

[Nalwa]

We should not link this case with anti sikh riots they are different.
This person has been convicted by court and agreed the charges levelled against him.
If he wants to be martyr we should grant him his wishes, let his posters be used by khalistanis for propagating their ideas.

I wish one day we can have a referendum like scotland and sikhs can vote whether they want to be in India or want a separate country.

They are deeply linked. People can try and think they arent, but they are.

 

[Nalwa]

I empathize with the sikh in their sense of injustice . I've stated this before.

But the picture is mixed . The sikhs must share some blame for it.

For starters i haven't seen a big agitation in Punjab to pressurize central govt accelerate the judicial process in the the riot cases. Sikhs come out seemingly more strongly aganist Baba Ram Rahim than for the sake of Delhi riot victims .

Only times i hear about sikhs riots on tv ,is a bjp leader making a counter point when he is cornered on the topic of Gujurat riots.

I didn't hear special courts,CBI investigations,judicial commissions working overtime on 84'riot cases like in the Gujurat riot cases.

I'm yet to see a ND tv docu on the 84'riots or any of its victim getting media limelight say E,g Jakia Jaffery of Gujurat riot fame.

My comparison of 84' riots with Gujurat riots is simply because in 84' riot at least three times more people were killed.

Why sikhs a strong affluent community have not been more vocal in their fight to secure justice for the 84'riots victims ??
I think one of the reason may be got do with the fact that narrative was hijacked by the khalistanis.This is what i fear happening in the case of Rajona hanging too. While you and many unsuspecting Sikhs link the plight of riot victims and HR violations in punjab with the death penalty ,the case,i'm afraid irrespective of the outcome will end up as victory for the sikh radicals. And that may assuage the ego of some sikhs , but its not going to help getting justice for the riot victims in anyway.

Its true we could have done more to put pressure on the govt. And the fact is that Sikhs arent even united. Congress came to power twice in Punjab after the 90s. Well the first time the Akalis boycotted it but Congress did win it the fair the second time.

But does that absolve the state?

 

[livingdead]

^^^ boycotting a specific party and allowing yourself to be used as a vote bank is not helpful for any community.
Sikhs have done the right thing in punjab, voted those who can solve their problem, not those who claim exclusive right to represent them.

 

[cloud_9]

You claim that Beant was a murderer with the blood of hundreds of innocents on his hands. You however can not prove it in court. What does one take from this? That there is somehow hatred for Beant that has created such false accusations against him? You can not justify taking the law into your own hands. Whatever Beant did or did not do is irrelevant right now because he was not convicted by the courts. His killer on the other hand was tried and convicted. Now his sentence should be carried out.

I think I had enough of You's for the day.We don't have any evidence because somehow after being picked up by the police they were never seen again.The funny thing is Police don't have any record of the arrest's..probably they were abducted by the Martian's or ferried away by the cab companies in US and Cannada

The fact that the courts have not found Tytler or whoever guilty does not mean they are complicit. It means that not enough credible evidence was gathered to convict them

Yeah! I'm pretty sure all those Sikh's in Delhi died after eating kher made from milk(synthetic milk) supplied by Tytler and Sajan Kumar Co. Because the statement "that the livestock would chew upon synthetic plastics during there daily troll in the street of Delhi" as recalled by the homeless people living on the streets of Old Delhi are not a credible evidence along with the fact that the milk was produced by the cows and their intention's are unclear.

Please dont confuse the issue. On one hand e have a person who killed 17 people, was proven to have done so beyond doubt and has confessed to the same. On the other hand we have accusations against people. But those accusations do not have the backing of proofs.nope. If they do that, take htem to court and get them jailed.

Thank's for showing us the light...we are such a confused bunch