Browsing Tag: Balwant Singh Rajoana

Though Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh had appreciated the spirit of Bhai Rajona’s letter reportedly told Times of India on October 26, 2013: “We would maintain the maryada”.

The mantle falls upon political parties and individuals to voice the other side of the picture to counter nasty imaginary fears about dissenting opinion in Punjab, dubbed as “extremist” by veteran commentator Kuldip Nayar in his article published in the columns of The Tribune on 18th June titled ‘Akalis owe an explanation to the nation’.

The imagery of a convicted Sikh militant on death row in India, Balwant Singh Rajoana, dominated the annual Vaisakhi parade in Surrey. His pictures greeted visitors from different corners of the streets as the procession passed through the city Saturday.

I have just realized that our legacy is nothing without my Sikh brothers joining their hands and demanding their rights in a Nation that is well known not to respect Sikhs as valued citizens, the same Sikhs that don’t think twice before offering their lives again and again for a country that has 98% Non-Sikhs who just sit back and watch or cheer-on.

Sometimes I think Sikhs are a little like ink blots. What people see when they spot a bearded man in a turban says more about them than it does about members of my faith, which probably explains the number of media commentators anxious to revive the myth that Sikhs are extremists, after a recent rally in Ottawa.

What is fearlessness? Where does it come from? What is it about Sikhi that we have such glorious shaheeds? What examples and what teachings have inspired us? What is it about Balwant Singh Rajoana that inspired so many Sikhs to unite?

And so, today I’ve struggled with these developments as they affect my peace of mind. Our pursuit of justice that has been denied for decades now includes a media battle with national news outlets whose clear aim is to continue to tarnish our image as a people.

If we understand the answer to the above question, we will clearly grasp why Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana is on death row and probably about to become a shaheed. Do not demand justice from the Indian Government!

Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Washington based Sikh Council on Religion and Education, expressed his relief at the temporary stay of hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana due to presidential intervention.

We’ll have to learn to take care of our own for a start. The Singhs in jail, the widows, the orphans, the shaheed families, the drugged out youth, the farmers committing suicides, these are our own problems and we need to think long term about solving them.

The Indian government can’t possibly accept that a mob of people have stayed its hand. That way is loss of face and loss of power both. There is fear of becoming a laughing stock. Without respect a government may as well resign and retire to the wilderness.

Leaders and Members of Canadian Parliament crossing the party lines joined Sikhs in demanding India to abolish the death penalty. More than five thousand Sikhs from all over Canada gathered at Parliament Hill in solidarity with Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana who is on death row in India.

The two mercy petitions by Sikh organisations for former Punjab CM Beant Singh's killer Balwant Singh Rajoana could get derailed if the death row convict made a contradictory plea to the President seeking no clemency.

HUNDREDS of Sikhs have gathered in front of Parliament House in Canberra to oppose the planned execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana.

“Never be right or wrong, always be neutral. Speak not through the positive mind or the negative mind, but from the neutral mind. And whenever you have to confront a calamity or a pleasure, take the altitude. Adjust the attitude. Do not react right away.”

Sikhs around the world are protesting the hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana, however I welcome the hanging. Not because I think it's right to hang him, but because I don't think he needs to spend more years in jail.

As per information available from various sources the police today opened fire on Sikhs who had gathered at a Gurudwara Sahib in Gurdaspur to prevent right wing Hindu organization Shiv Sena from burning effigy of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana, a Sikh political prisoner who is on death row.

The Centre has stayed the hanging. Now it must commute the sentence.

Simply because the jailers and those designated to carry out the hanging see the political realities. To most Sikhs Balwant Singh is a man who has done no wrong; he is a hero to so many that it would be politically unwise to hang him. Many would like to give him a medal instead.

The Centre has stayed the hanging of Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was sentenced to death for the assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995.

The hanging of Sikh freedom fighter Balwant Singh Rajoana, assassin of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh - scheduled for Saturday, March 31, 2012 - was stayed today by the Indian Government, in response to growing unrest in Punjab and around the country over the issue, as well as mounting international pressure.

The day-long bandh called by various Sikh organizations to protest the scheduled execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the Beant Singh killing case, disrupted normal life in parts of Punjab on Wednesday.

Petitions in support of overturning the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana have appeared on the web with increasing frequency over the past few weeks. If like me, you have seen them and wonder who he is and what is going on, here are five important facts about the death sentence of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana...

The execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana must be halted and an official moratorium on capital punishment established in India, Amnesty International said today in an open letter to the country’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Rejecting Balwant Singh Rajoana’s appeal for reviewing the ‘zinda shaheed’ (living martyr) status, the Akal Takht said the title would stand against the name of the Babbar Khalsa militant.

Following the announcement in India to hang Balwant Singh Rajoana on 31 March 2012 few western politicians have issued statements condemning the death penalty in India.

Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana has shaken the Sikhs. From London to Ludhiana, from Surrey to San Francisco, Sikhs are showing that the spirit of the community is not dead. We are not so focused on elections, careers, wealth, and family to forget the soul of the nation.