Ensaaf |

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

Painting "Khoon ke Athru" by Harjit Kaur Grewal.

Receive an original painting for sponsoring Ensaaf’s Appear for the Disappeared 5K walk

March 19, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

As mentioned last week, I will be participating in an event in Fremont, California, on April 6, called “Appear for the Disappeared“, a five-kilometer walk to raise funds for Ensaaf, a non-profit organization that is documenting and seeking justice for the thousands of victims of state-sponsored disappearances during the 1980s and 1990s in Punjab, India. During that time, innocent men and women — particularly Sikhs — were the victims of torture and extra-judicial killings in Punjab by state agencies and […]

Categories: 1984, Events • Tags: Appear for the Disappeared, California, Decade of Disappearances, Ensaaf, Fremont, Harjit Kaur

Appear for the Disappeared 5K Walk -- April 6, 2013. (source: Ensaaf Facebook page)

Support Ensaaf’s “Appear for the Disappeared” Fundraiser on April 6

March 14, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Ensaaf (meaning “justice”) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “end impunity and achieve justice for mass state crimes in India, with a focus on Punjab, by documenting abuses, bringing perpetrators to justice, and organizing survivors.” The organization’s work has been mentioned on this blog several times. On Saturday, April 6, Ensaaf is holding a fundraising event in Fremont, California, called “Appear for the Disappeared 5K Walk” in memory of the men and women who disappeared in Punjab, India […]

Categories: 1984, Events • Tags: Amritsar, Appear for the Disappeared, California, Ensaaf, Fremont, India, Jaila, Jarnail Singh, Punjab

Artwork by Khushboo Gulati for Ensaaf's Decade of Disappearances Art Contest (source: Ensaaf Facebook page)

2012 murder-suicide in Selma, CA, has origin in Kashmir human rights crimes

February 1, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An article in Guernica by Shubh Mathur tells the story behind last year’s murder-suicide in Selma, California, of Avtar Singh, who murdered his wife and three sons before turning his weapon on himself. Prior to his murderous act, Avtar Singh was being confronted about his dubious past as a major in the Indian army: The story of his crimes and the manner in which he evaded justice for sixteen years is a grim chronicle of Indian crimes against humanity in […]

Categories: 1984, Art, Civil Rights • Tags: Avtar Singh, California, Decade of Disappearances, Ensaaf, impunity, Kashmir, Selma

Decade of Disappearances Art Contest first place winner by Priya Handa (source: Ensaaf Facebook page)

Picture of the Day: Winning artwork from Ensaaf’s “Decade of Disappearances” contest

December 21, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Ensaaf, a human rights organization focusing on state crimes that were perpetrated in Punjab and India, has announced the winning entries into their “Decade of Disappearances” Art Contest. The evocative artwork above, by artist Priya Handa, was selected as the winning piece: This painting represents the disappearances and the injustice Sikhs have had to suffer. In this painting nothing is still or concrete. Everything is either moving or blurred, just like history and time. I use an infusion of my […]

Categories: 1984, Art, Civil Rights, Events • Tags: Decade of Disappearances, Ensaaf, Priya Handa

Ensaaf Decade of Disappearances Art Contest

Ensaaf’s “Decade of Disappearances” art contest

November 19, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Ensaaf (meaning justice) is a non-profit organization that works to document and bring justice to those involved in state-sponsored crimes perpetrated in India, particularly in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s when human rights violations were rampant as part of a counterinsurgency. To bring more awareness to this issue, Ensaaf is hosting the “Decade of Disappearances” art contest: We are calling on artists to create print media pieces that shed light on human rights abuses and state-sponsored disappearances in Punjab, […]

Categories: Art, Civil Rights, Events • Tags: Decade of Disappearances, Ensaaf

The incomprehensible New York Sikh International Film Festival

October 23, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In just over a week, Sikhs in the United States and around the world will be commemorating the 28th anniversary of the anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984 — quite often described as a genocide — in which thousands of Sikhs were pulled from their homes and butchered in the streets of India during the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. In the decades since, Sikhs and human rights organizations have attempted to […]

Categories: 1984, Events, TV/Movies • Tags: boycott, Canadian Sikh Coalition, Ensaaf, Film Festival, New York, Sikh International Film Festival, sikhchic, The Langar Hall

Ensaaf’s “Cascade of Voices”: giving voice to the survivors of 1984 and beyond

November 2, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Ensaaf (meaning “justice) – an organization that I mentioned in my last post, released a new advocacy video today about the survivors of abuses in Punjab during 1984 and beyond: Our powerful new advocacy video, produced by the New Media Advocacy Project, showcases survivors’ determination to learn the true fate of their loved ones, as well as the continuing emotional and financial impact these abuses have had on families. Kashmir Singh’s son, Harjit Singh, was just one of the thousands of […]

Categories: 1984, Profiles • Tags: Ensaaf

The morning when the sun set: November 1, 1984

November 1, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Once more I am the silent one who came out of the distance wrapped in cold rain and bells: I owe to earth’s pure death the will to sprout. Pablo Neruda (1904 – 1973) One morning, 27 years ago, I – a young lad living in the west – was walking to school. It was seasonably cool morning. There was a dusting of frost on the grass and a slight chill in the air, but a warming sun was rising. […]

Categories: 1984, Reflections • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Ensaaf, Harmandir Sahib, India, Indira Gandhi, Operation Blue Star, Operation Bluestar, Sikh genocide, Sikh Genocide Project, Sikhs for Justice

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: Ensaaf