Terrorism Watch

Sikh Sangat: A New Terrorist Group

2006-11-04T15:05:00.000-05:00

The global Sikh Sangat organization, active in Canada, the UK, the US, and India, is a new terrorist organization with roots in the banned International Sikh Youth Federation. Sikh Sangat supports terrorist acts against Hindus and the oppression of women. The Sikh Sangat should be actively monitored by security agencies as it is a security threat. Sikh terrorism is a major threat to global peace and prosperity, next only to Islamic terrorism.

Sikh Radicals and Terrorists Regrouping in India

2006-06-29T18:24:00.000-04:00

Punjab Newsline Network

Thursday, 29 June 2006

CHANDIGARH: The radical groups in punjab are trying to regroup to show their presence. This was stated here Thursday by Punjab Director General of Police S.S.Virk while presiding over the law and order meting of Punjab police officers here.

Virk described the Law & Order situation in the state fully under control though he added isolated efforts are being planned by some modules of radical elements to disturb the peace. Punjab had passed through a decade of terrorism during late eighties and early nineties when Sikh radicals had raised demand of Khalistan, an independent state for Sikhs.

Some of the former militants extradited by Punjab Police from USA and Canada have now joined political outfit Akali Dal Amritsar led by Simranjit Singh Mann. Harpal Singh Cheema, a militant, who was deported from the US few months ago, joined the Akali Dal (Mann) faction and designated its vice-president. Diljit Bittu and Daya Singh Lahoria are among other former militants who have joined active politics. Last week another militant Kulvir Singh Barapind has been extradited from USA. The Punjab police has sought extradition of about 12 militant leaders from USA including Mahesh Inder Singh and Gurprit Singh.

DGP said that Punjab Police was fully determined and geared up to dismantle their nefarious designs and plans. This will need more emphasis keeping in view the forthcoming general elections in the state.

Virk directed district police chiefs to sensitize the force in event of any stray incidents or violence by the vested interests. He claimed that the overall situation regarding the crime, is much better then the previous years but there have been some cases of robberies, snatchings etc. and the leads in such incidents have to be pursued professionally. The important crime cases must be worked out without any delay, he told officials.

Virk asked the senior police officers to personally visit the Sub Divisions and Police Stations to check the progress in crime detection and investigations of the cases and interact with lower level police officials to gather specific information. Regular pairvy of court cases and litigation works must be supervised and crime record of CIAs and police stations must be updated. He asked them that guilty should be punished in custodial death cases.

Taking the serious view of drug trafficking in the border state, DGP said that special efforts must be taken to nab such notorious drug traffickers and confiscate their properties as per new provisions. To check the human trafficking, he asked the field officers to track the illegal activities of unscrupulous travel agents and strict legal action has to be taken in such cases.

In order to bring out more improvement in the police functioning at the lower level, Virk suggested that improve carrier profile of lower officials and fill up their vacancies through promotions in time. Their genuine problems and constructive suggestions must be heard by their superiors regularly. He further added that the detectives and investigators in the important cases must be rewarded in order to boost their morale.

Air India Bombing Inquiry Finally Begins in Canada

2006-06-28T16:39:00.000-04:00

Canada opens full inquiry into Air India bombing

By David Ljunggren
Reuters
Wednesday, June 21, 2006; 2:16 PM

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Major flaws in Canada's criminal justice system were revealed by the bombing of an Air India airliner in 1985 that killed 329 people, the judge heading an official inquiry into the attack said on Wednesday as the inquiry opened.

Air India Flight 182, originating in Canada, blew up off the Atlantic coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, in what was the deadliest ever bombing of a passenger airliner. A bomb intended to bring down a second Air India flight exploded almost simultaneously at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing two people.

The initial Canadian criminal investigation into the attacks was marked by controversy, including charges that infighting between various branches of the justice system had led to the destruction of potentially key evidence.

Two men eventually went on trial for the bombings but were found not guilty last year after the judge ruled that prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

"To conclude only that the criminal justice system has to date failed the families of Air India victims falls short of the problem. It failed all Canadians. The system failed all Canadians," said retired Supreme Court justice John Major, who is leading the inquiry.

"The personal losses and unspeakable tragedies are the most immediate and visible aspect of our loss. The systemic weaknesses that have been identified are less visible, but potentially as fatal as what happened," he wrote in a opening statement.

Major will not be able to find guilt or say who he thinks was responsible for the blast. Investigators allege the bombings were carried out by Sikh separatists furious at the Indian government for its bloody 1984 storming of the Sikh Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar.

Representatives of about 80 families of victims attended the formal opening of the inquiry, which is being held in Ottawa's old city hall. Hearings will start on September 25 and Major is due to issue his final report in September 2007.

"I think we need some answers as to what went wrong. What were the procedures in place?" said Lata Pada, who lost her husband and two daughters when the plane went down.

"It is our hope that it will be viewed ... in fact as the world's worst case of aviation terrorism prior to (the) September 11 (suicide attacks). I think that was forgotten for a very long time," she told reporters.

The inquiry was launched by the Conservative government, which took power on January 23 this year. The previous Liberal administration -- which had held power since late 1993 -- said for years it was reluctant to open a full probe because it could interfere with the criminal investigation.

Major will examine whether security lapses that allowed the 1985 bombings have been fixed, and if the bad relations between police and Canada's spy agency at the time have improved.

He will also examine "the extent to which potential threats posed by Sikh terrorism prior to 1985 have been resolved" and "whether Canada's existing legal framework provides adequate constraints on terrorist financing."

Some relatives shed tears before entering the room. One man had a photo of a young woman pinned to his lapel.

Everyone present sat in silence for about eight minutes as the names of the 329 victims scrolled up on a screen.

"Many family members lobbied for 21 years for an inquiry and we're happy to see that it's finally occurring," said Susheel Gupta, who was 12 when his mother died.

"I don't know if any families will get closure. They've lost their loved ones. I grew up without a mother and I think about her every day."

© 2006 Reuters

Canadian Supreme Court Dagger Ruling Troublesome

2006-03-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

Canadian Sikhs rejoiced after the Supreme Court ruling that the Sikh dagger, the kirpan, should be allowed in schools and other public institutions. A relic of the days when Sikhs had to defend themselves against Muslim rulers, the kirpan does not belong in a modern society. The dagger is a potentially very dangerous weapon. While some daggers are small, blunt, and well sheathed, many are large, sharp, and only sheathed in a simple holster. Sikhs must abandon this practice and transform Sikhism into a tolerant and progressive religion. Sikhs must also focus on real issues such as religious fundamentalism in their community and the oppression of women and female infanticide, rather than dwelling on the past.

Lighten Up, Fellow Muslims

2006-02-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

This is the title of a nice piece by Irshad Manji, published in The Age:

Article

Full Text:

(Islam can take a joke, even a bad one, at
the prophet's expense, writes Irshad
Manji.)

At the World Economic Forum last month, I
observed something revealing. In a session about the US religious right, a cartoonist satirised
one of America's most influential Christian ministers, Pat Robertson. In the audience, chuckling
with the rest of us, was a prominent British Muslim. But his smile disappeared the moment we
were shown a cartoon that made fun of Muslim clerics.
Since then, a fierce fight has erupted over caricatures of the prophet Muhammad published by
the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. One showed Islam's messenger wearing, among other
things, a turban-turned-time bomb. Although the paper has apologised, the controversy has
metastasised. A Norwegian magazine and French paper recently reprinted the drawings, as have
other broadcasters and publications while covering this story.
In response, Muslim rioters torched Scandinavian missions in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Bomb
threats have hit the offices of more than one European newspaper. Various Arab countries have
recalled their ambassadors from Copenhagen. Boycotts of Danish products are sweeping across
supermarkets in the Arab world, and Muslims as far away as India and Indonesia are pouring
into the streets to burn Danish flags - which feature the cross, among the holiest of Christian
symbols. Last week, thousands of Palestinians shouted "Death to Denmark!" Copenhagen has
evacuated Danish citizens from the Gaza Strip and has sternly warned nationals in the West
Bank to get out as well. Muslims themselves are getting pummelled in the riots: four died in
Afghanistan on Monday alone.
Arab elites love such controversies, for they provide convenient opportunities to channel anger
away from local injustices. No wonder President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon insisted that his
country "cannot accept any insult to any religion". That's rich. Since the late 1970s, the
Lebanese Government has licensed Hezbollah-run satellite television station al-Manar, among
the most viciously anti-Semitic broadcasters on earth.
Similarly, the Justice Minister of the United Arab Emirates has said that the Danish cartoons
represent "cultural terrorism, not freedom of expression". This from a country that promotes its
capital as the "Las Vegas of the Gulf", yet blocks my website - muslim-refusenik.com - for
being "inconsistent with the moral values" of the UAE. Presumably, my site should be an online
casino.
Muslims have little integrity demanding respect for our faith if we don't show it for others. When
have we demonstrated against Saudi Arabia's policy to prevent Christians and Jews from
stepping on the soil of Mecca? They may come for rare business trips, but nothing more. As long
as Rome welcomes non-Christians and Jerusalem embraces non-Jews, we Muslims have more to
protest against than cartoons.
None of this is to dismiss the need to take my religion seriously. Hell, Muslims even take
seriously the need to be serious: Islam has a teaching against "excessive laughter". I'm not
joking. But does this mean that we should cry "blasphemy" over less-than-flattering depictions
of the prophet Muhammad? God, no.
For one thing, the Koran itself points out that there will always be non-believers, and that it's for Allah, not Muslims, to deal with them. More than that, the Koran says there is "no
compulsion in religion". Which suggests that nobody should be forced to treat Islamic norms as
sacred.
Fine, many Muslims will retort, but we're talking about the prophet Muhammad - Allah's final
and therefore perfect messenger. However, Islamic tradition holds that the prophet was a
human being who made mistakes. It's precisely because he wasn't perfect that we know about
the so-called Satanic Verses; a collection of passages that the prophet reportedly included in the
Koran. Only later did he realise that those verses glorified heathen idols rather than God.
According to Islamic legend, he retracted the idolatrous passages, blaming them on a trick
played by Satan.
When Muslims put the prophet on a pedestal, we're engaging in idolatry of our own. The point of
monotheism is to worship one God, not one of God's emissaries. Which is why humility requires
people of faith to mock themselves - and each other - every once in a while.

Irshad Manji is a visiting fellow at Yale University and author of The Trouble with Islam.
This comment first appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

Could This Happen in Canada?

2006-02-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

Muslim Demonstrators in Europe Demonstrate against Cartoons. Where has the sanity gone?

Islamic and Sikh Terrorists Planning Attacks for Independence Day

2005-08-14T16:52:00.000-04:00

Muslim and Sikh terrorist groups, with possible ties to terrorist cells in North America and Europe, are planning what appears to be attacks during Independence Day celebrations in India:

Times of India article

India needs help from countries such as the US, the UK, and Canada to combat Sikh and Muslim terrorists cells operating in their countries and which fund terrorism in India.

Salman Rushdie in His Own Words

2005-08-12T18:10:00.000-04:00

In an article written by himself, Rushdie criticizes Islam and the Muslim community in a very eloquent yet forceful fashion. He states:

Traditional Islam is a broad church that certainly includes millions of tolerant, civilized men and women. But it also encompasses many whose views on women's rights are antediluvian, who think of homosexuality as ungodly, who have little time for real freedom of expression, who routinely express anti-Semitic views, and who, in the case of the Muslim diaspora, are — it has to be said — in many ways at odds with the (Christian, Hindu, non-believing or Jewish) cultures among which they live.

What is needed is a move beyond tradition — nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of the closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air.

Rushdie also attacks Sir Iqbal Sacranie, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, who once said, "Death is perhaps too easy" for the author of The Satanic Verses. Sacranie's organization also boycotted a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in London commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz 60 years ago. "If Sacranie is the best Blair can offer in the way of a good Muslim, we have a problem", says Rushdie.

Read Rushdie's entire essay:

Toronto Star article

I'm glad Salman Rushdie is finally trying to reform Islam. But as I've said before, his message is likely to fall on deaf ears. Even many moderate Muslims do not wish to have their culture or religion criticized. Lets hope that progressive Muslims, including Muslim women, who wish to see reform, express themselves in the loudest of voices.

Members of Sikh Terrorist Group Babbar Khalsa Captured

2005-08-12T12:57:00.000-04:00

Two Sikh terrorists belonging to the Babbar Khalsa group were captured in India. The two brothers, Gurudev Singh and Devendra Singh, are suspected in the Delhi cinema bomb blasts of May 22. Read the following for more information:

Hindustan Times article

It would be interesting to know whether the terrorists had support from Babbar Khalsa members based in Canada. Members of Canada's large Sikh community heavily fund terrorist attacks in India at a time when Sikh extremism in India is waning.

Salman Rushdie calls for Muslim Reformation

2005-08-12T03:20:00.000-04:00

Salman Rushdie, who had a fatwa put on his head for writing the Satanic Verses, and who has now written Shalimar the Clown, a story of a Kashmiri boy who takes to terrorism, argues that The Koran should be looked upon as a historical document and not as divine. He states that by reforming Islam, it would finally leap out of the 7th century and into the 21st. Here are two articles:

Yahoo News article

The Guardian article

Despite Rushdie's comments, Islam is unlikely to undergo any real reformation. Muslim men have too much to lose and nothing to gain. Equality for women and non-Muslims in Muslim countries is not something that we will ever witness in our lifetime.

Canadian Exports Terrorism

2005-08-11T02:38:00.000-04:00

Naji Antoine Abi Khalil, a Lebanese-born Canadian, pleads guilty to shipping military equipment to Islamic terrorists. Read the following by Stewart Bell:

National Post article

Canada has unfortunately become a major terrorism-exporting nation. Sikh and Islamic terrorists operate freely and finance and sustain terrorism globally.

Pakistan Supporting Terrorism in Kashmir

2005-08-11T02:12:00.000-04:00

There is no sign that Pakistan has stopped its support for Muslim terrorists in Kashmir. Read the following by Chidanand Rajghatta:

Times of India article

Pakistan is unlikely to stop supporting terrorism as it seeks to benefit significantly from it. Pakistan wishes to claim all of Kashmir as its own and will massacre countless thousands of Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus to do so.

Sikh Terrorism and Government Apathy in Canada

2005-08-10T23:45:00.000-04:00

Key Conspirators in the Air India bombing of 1985. Clockwise from top left; Bagri, Malik, Parmar, Reyat:

Twenty years after the Air India bombing by Sikh extremists, targeting Hindus, Sucha Ollek examines why very little has been done by the government of Canada to bring the terrorists to justice:

Globe and Mail article

It is shameful that the Canadian government has ignored countless calls for a public enquiry into the whole Air India tragedy. Is there something it is hiding? It will be interesting to investigate the nexus of Sikh and Islamic terrorists. Note that one of the prime accused, Reyat, was on his way to Pakistan when he was caught. Why would a Sikh visit Pakistan? It is obvious that he was to meet his terrorist cronies there.