anti-Sikh pogroms |

USCIRF 2015 Annual Report addresses religious freedom of Sikhs in India

July 9, 2015 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In its 2015 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) continued to express concern about the state of religious freedom in India, particularly after the election of current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Placing India in its “Tier 2” category (which the USCIRF defines as “countries where the violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are serious and are characterized by at least one of the elements of the ‘systematic, ongoing, and […]

Categories: 1984, Civil Rights, Politics • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, anti-Sikh genocide, anti-Sikh pogroms

1984 through Indian Eyes: Part VI — “My People’s Heart” by Preeti Kaur

December 4, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

1984 through Indian Eyes: Literary Accounts of Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms By Lori Way Part VI – “My People’s Heart” by Preeti Kaur In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar in Amritsar, India, in June, 1984, and the anti-Sikh pogroms that took place the following November in New Delhi, Lori Way concludes her six-installment review of works of literature focusing upon these events. Many thanks to Lori for providing to us insights and discussions as we […]

Categories: Literature • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, anti-Sikh pogroms, Lori Way, My People's Heart, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar, Preeti Kaur, Rabindranath Tagore

RETROSPECTIVE: “Sikhs Tortured for Religious Beliefs” by Ajit Mann (1986)

October 31, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

Sikhs Tortured for Religious Beliefs By Ajit Maan (Originally published on July 17, 1986) Cultural theorist Ajit Maan was an undergraduate student when she wrote her article for the Kansas State University newspaper, The Collegian. Nearly 30 years later, as we recognize the 30th anniversary of the anti-Sikh pogrom in India in which thousands of Sikhs were massacred in India in a matter of days, she shares that article with American Turban and reflects upon how the violence of 1984 affected […]

Categories: 1984 • Tags: 1984, Ajit Mann, anti-Sikh pogroms, anti-Sikh riots, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar

1984 through Indian Eyes: Part V — Helium by Jaspreet Singh

October 21, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

1984 through Indian Eyes: Literary Accounts of Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms By Lori Way Part V – Helium by Jaspreet Singh In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar in Amritsar, India, in June, 1984, and the anti-Sikh pogroms that took place the following November in New Delhi, Lori Way continues her series of essays discussing works of literature focusing upon these events. You can see her entire series here. A senior Congress leader, his Nehru-Gandhi khadi […]

Categories: Literature • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, anti-Sikh pogroms, Carbon, Congressional Briefing on the 1984 Anti-Sikh Pogroms in India, Helium, Jaspreet Singh, Lori Way, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar

1984 Through Indian Eyes: Part IV — Delhi: A Novel by Khushwant Singh

September 12, 2014 by American Turban Guest Contributor

1984 through Indian Eyes: Literary Accounts of Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Pogroms By Lori Way Part IV – Delhi: A Novel by Khushwant Singh In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar in Amritsar, India, in June, 1984, and the anti-Sikh pogroms that took place the following November in New Delhi, Lori Way continues her series of essays discussing works of literature focusing upon these events. You can see her entire series here. “A deep depression enters my […]

Categories: 1984, Literature • Tags: "Delhi: A Novel", 1984 anti-Sikh riots, 1984 Living History Project, anti-Sikh pogroms, Balwinder Kaur, Khushwant Singh, Lori Way

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill lay a wreath at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi on July 23. Gandhi's granddaughter, Tara Gandhi, is at right. (Source: Deccan Chronicle)

The Veep visits India

July 24, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

As Vice President Joe Biden visits India this week, I was reminded of President Barack Obama’s visit to India in late 2010, in which he avoided visiting the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, Punjab, a site which reportedly draws up to a hundred thousand of visitors per day, not including Presidents of the United States. For a well-known location which has such appeal to Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike and to residents of and visitors to India, it was noteworthy that […]

Categories: 1984, Politics • Tags: 1984, 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Amritsar, anti-Sikh pogroms, Barack Obama, Darbar Sahib, drug trade, drugs, Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Joe Biden, Mahatma Gandhi, November 1984, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, USCIRF, Vice President of the United States

"A witness of the 1984 pogrom. More than 10 members of her family were killed before her eyes. She testified in a court that the Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was present at the site of the killings in 1984. Her lawyer was shot at in the very first hearing. She withdrew the case. The aftermath of the violence has left her numb." (Credit: Gauri Gill | The New York Times)

A survivor of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom reflects

July 23, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In India Ink, The New York Times blog about India, a survivor of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom in New Delhi writes of the experience during the carnage, and of the attempts by the Indian state to erase the history of its own participation. Most recently, Jaspreet Singh describes the efforts by government officials to prevent Sikhs from raising a memorial in tribute to the victims of the pogrom: Such control over sites of traumatic memory suggests the state is deeply anxious about […]

Categories: 1984 • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, anti-Sikh pogroms, Delhi, Indira Gandhi, Jaspreet Singh, New Delhi, New York Times

A poster for the film "Sadda Haq" at an American movie theater.

Keeping the untold story untold

April 5, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Punjabi film “Sadda Haq” (loosely translated as “our rights”) — telling a story about the insurgency in Punjab, India, during the 1980s and 1990s — opens today around the world. Not so ironically, the film has just been banned by the Punjab government, the land in which the film is set. “The Punjab government has imposed ban on the screening of movie ‘Saada Haq’ till further orders. This step has been taken to maintain communal harmony in the state,” […]

Categories: 1984, TV/Movies • Tags: 1984, anti-Sikh pogroms, Ensaaf, Government of India, Sadda Haq, Sikh genocide petition, Sikhs for Justice, White House

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: anti-Sikh pogroms