#sikh news punjab

[prophetic-style]

Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi

[head-post]

PM Modi: India to look into US allegations of assassination attempt

India will look into US allegations that a New Delhi official was involved in a foiled assassination attempt on a Sikh separatist leader living in America, the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

The prime minister claimed the Indian government was “committed to the rule of law”.

Earlier this month, New Delhi set up an enquiry committee to investigate US allegations of a foiled plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen who is the chief lawyer of the separatist group Sikhs for Justice. US prosecutors have accused an unidentified Indian official of directing Nikhil Gupta, an Indian citizen, to organise the killing of the Sikh activist in June.

A Sikh American who was the target of an alleged assassination plot orchestrated by an Indian government official said he continues to receive hundreds of threats a day even as India said it is investigating a murder-for-hire plot.

Read more HERE

[onlinesikhstore]

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[meherya]

crazy that it's been now proven (again) that india has been actively targeting sikhs in the diaspora... if people in our community aren't even safe abroad to what measure are we safe within that country

[delhiboyashish]

Early Morning Golden temple🕌 #waheguru #khalsa #anandpursahib #satnamwaheguruੴ #amritsar #gurunanakdevji #sikhtemple #waheguruji🙏 #darbarsahib #harmandirsahib #darbarsahib #harmandirsahib #sridarbarsahib #goldentemple #singh #kaur #punjab #punjabi #new #sikh #delhiboyashish (at Golden Temple, Amritsar) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmqCh4UBnce/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[writingwithcolor]

Would it be problematic for me to have a black girl convert to sikhi over the course of the story with the assistance of her Sikh friend & the friend’s family and then get married to said friend in the future? I don’t want it to seem like she did it simply to be with her friend so I thought that maybe if I showed how she enjoys hearing things about the religion (for example how sikhi emphasizes treating everyone equally and also the protection of those facing injustice) from her friend that it could seem more natural but could that be seen as fetishizing? The black girl has been friends with the family for 10+ years (aka since she was 8) and also wasn’t raised following any religion (but not as an atheist either) so I feel the conversion would be somewhat easy for her but if any of what I’ve wrote is problematic I’ll change it! I’m still doing research so if I messed anything up I’m extremely sorry. Thank you in advance!

Black woman converts to become Sikh - Is this problematic?

If SK thinks these circumstances are okay from the Sikhism standpoint, then absolutely it is fine. Black people are all individual and different people throughout the diaspora. We are not some collective monolith with a build-in set of interests, beliefs and rules on what we can and cannot do! The real question to me is if someone can convert to Sikhism and if so, how being Black factors into the lifestyle.

On that note, I will hand the mic to SK and also welcome Black Sikh followers to chime in.

-Colette

Sikhi accept converts

Short answer: No, it is not problematic. Sikhi accepts converts. There’s nothing wrong with being drawn to a faith because of certain aspects and then looking deeper and choosing to convert.

Longer answer: Conversion into a completely new faith is rarely easy. I would say Sikhi is a harder faith to convert to because there are few resources in other languages and many Sikhs are unaccustomed to converts. As in most, if not all, religions, there is a gap between what is said and how it’s practiced.

Despite the messages about fighting injustice and treating others equally, many Sikh converts, especially Black Sikhs, deal with prejudice. This is not even unique to converts - Afghan & Kashmiri Sikhs have also faced ignorant comments from Punjabi Sikhs who aren’t aware of Sikh communities outside Punjab. The 1980’s-1990’s Sikh genocide disconnected many Sikhs in Punjab from the revolutionary messages of justice and equality laid out in Sikh holy texts.

A challenge unique to Black Sikhs is that the way kesdhari Sikhs take care of their hair and tie it in turbans can be a challenge for someone with Black hair. I would recommend Gurpreet Kaur’s writing.

Resources

Being Black & Sikh

Articles by Gurpreet Kaur

I would also suggest checking out The Black Sikh Collective on Tumblr, Instagram & Facebook for more perspectives of Black Sikhs.

-SK If this answer was helpful, SK accepts tips here: https://ko-fi.com/skaur | Venmo & Cashapp: skaur1699

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Canadian news organizations and federal political leaders are having their accounts blocked by Twitter after tweeting about the Indian government’s suppression of civil liberties in Punjab.

The Indian government has taken draconian measures to suppress “anti-national sentiments” in the state of Punjab, including cutting Internet access for millions, banning group gatherings and invoking colonial-era laws that give police the power to detain people for up to 12 months without charges, as they search for Amritpal Singh, a popular but controversial Sikh activist and separatist figure.

Police in Punjab justify their self-described “mega crackdown” as a way to stop the spread of “fake news,” but critics say authorities are silencing dissent and helping the government spread disinformation.

The crackdown has also impacted the ability of Canadian journalists and politicians to provide accurate information or voice concerns. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[krsnaradhika]

hii i saw your amazing post on the ram mandir thing and i had to know your thoughts on this. i post about hinduphobia a lot, genuinely to spread awareness, and its a serious thing. i just saw a post by this person called tiredguyswag talking about how hinduphobia isn't real. its a real longass rant. i wanted to know what your thoughts were on it, and if you could debunk anything they were saying as false. ty!

Thank you so much for the appreciation <3 Every supporter counts. We will fight against this Hinduphobia, and we will emerge victorious!

I did go through the blog of this guy and honestly, this hellsite is exhausting. So are the hinduphobes and leftists. I might just exit someday because they do not deserve my energy.

To all the ones saying Hinduphobia does not exist— what was the Godhara train arson? What happened to the Kashmiri Hindus? What happened to the Brahmins of Pune post MK Gandhi's assassination? What happened to the Sikhs of Punjab after Indira Gandhi's killing? What was the emergency prior to that incident? What was that which happened to the 9 and 7 year old boys of Guru Gobind Singh ji? What happened to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj? What was the destroying of temples and deracination of our Gurukulas? What was all that money and artifacts stolen from our country, has it not robbed the golden sparrow? What was the voluntary faulty translation of the Vedas and Puranas so that Hindus themselves believe that their culture is maligned? THERE'S NO HINDUPHOBIA? LOOK AT PAKISTANI HINDU GIRLS BEING FORCIBLY CONVERTED AND RAPED! The Mughal India holocaust! The ncert has the fucking guts to teach little minds that Aurangzeb protected and built new temples! And what's their source? They have none. No files. Nothing at all to support their claim, and yet they have been teaching it for god knows how much time. But we do have Babur himself writing in his book that he hated Hindus, called us pigs and what not. We have evidences that they raped our women, murdered our men, the children weren't foreign to their brutality. The invaders looted the Somanatha multiple times, broke the floating Shivalinga. They took away Ayodhya, Mathura, Kashi and so many other temples. Some shitheads have their asses in fire when they're seeing us celebrate the Rama temple. Y'all wouldn't be having a meltdown had the other side won the case. Y'all should rot in hell. You have no concept of country and social harmony, no global brotherhood, all your liberalism reduces to ashes when you see Hindus being happy for once. We have been killed for being idol-worshippers, and our fault is that we don't cease to exist.

They say we blame invasions for everything bad that has happened to us, but remember that we were the golden sparrow without them.

[divinum-pacis]

February 2024: A Nihang - a Sikh warrior - rests on a makeshift barricade of sandbags at a protest site during the march towards New Delhi to push for better crop prices promised to them in 2021, at the Shambhu barrier, the border between Punjab and Haryana states, India. [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]

[aelloposchrysopterus]

HEY DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ASSASSINATION OF A PROMINENT SIKH LEADER IN CANADA AND WHY THIS MATTERS?

I generally don't like to write current events-y stuff here, but since I'm not seeing any people talking about this in my corner of this hellsite, I figured I might as well.

DISCLAIMER: For the record, I'm part Punjabi, raised culturally Sikh in the United States, I don't actively practice Sikhism, and I'm writing this assuming a non-Sikh, non-Desi audience that knows little to nothing about Indian politics. I am trying to be as factually accurate as possible but if certain information is incorrect, I will correct this post because a) this is an ongoing issue so the information I have right now may not turn out to be correct and b) my memory is fallible and while I did try to fact-check the background information I remembered, many of these historical events have accounts that differ drastically from each other, so it is difficult to establish a definite truth. This post was written and last updated 25 September 2023.

So, the basic facts of what happened:

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed on 18 June 2023. He was a proponent of the Khalistan movement. In the past week or so, Canadian government officials have accused India of orchestrating his assassination.

Khalistan? What's That and Why Does It Matter?

Like quite a few things in Desi politics, the idea of Khalistan can be traced back to the Partition. At the heart of the Partition, the idea was that Pakistan is for the Muslims and India is for the Hindus.

However, India is not exclusively populated by Hindus, no matter how hard Modi and the BJP* try to make it a Hindu-only nation through their Hindu nationalist policies. Among other religious minority groups, many Sikhs had to made the new India their home, because of the religious persecution they would face in Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line (the line of partition) runs right through Punjab, the ancestral homeland of, among others, most Sikhs. In Punjab, during the Partition, Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims carried out sectarian violence against each other.

What this means is that a lot of Sikhs were displace from their homeland and subjected to discrimination and violence based on their religion in both Pakistan and India. As a result, some members of the Sikh community started calling for a new nation to be carved out of the Punjab regions in Pakistan and India. This new nation was to be a Sikh nation, much like Pakistan for the Muslims and India for the Hindus, and it was to be called Khalistan.

(Little bit of anecdotal trivia: apparently identifying as Punjabi first and Indian second when describing ethnic background is more common among Punjabi Sikhs, due to Sikh efforts to show their connection to Punjabi in an attempt to make Khalistan a Sikh nation in the Punjabi region.)

Needless to say, the Indian government did not and does not like the idea of a Sikh nation and sees the idea of it as a terrorist threat.

*Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu nationalist party currently ruling over most of India.

Operation Blue Star and Indira Gandhi

As part of this rising call for a Sikh nation, Sikh militant groups sprung up. Indira Gandhi's government wanted to arrest one of the most prominent leaders of a Sikh militant movement. However, he and his supporters were holed up in the holiest site in Sikhism, the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

On one of the holiest days in Sikhism, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, the Indian military began their attack on the Golden Temple, known as Operation Blue Star. Long story short, Sikh pilgrims were killed during both the fighting and in extrajudicial killings by the military afterwards.

In anger at how Gandhi's government had carried out Operation Blue Star, two of her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her. Anti-Sikh pogroms then occurred, with independent estimates of the number of Sikhs killed ranging from 8,000 to 17,000.

This only made tensions between the Sikh community and the Indian government worse; I see this as a defining moment in how the government of India responds to the Khalistan movement and both Sikh extremist violence and peaceful support.

Oh and did I mention yet that the Indian government has outlawed the Khalistan movement?

The law that does this dates back to 1967, by the way.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar

And so now we come to the story of the recently-assassinated Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Due to Khalistani activism being outlawed in India, many Khalistani activists have settled abroad. This includes Nijjar, who became a Canadian citizen in 2007 and had first come to Canada to apply for asylum after having been arrested by the Indian police in connection with his pro-Khalistan stance. He continued his Sikh and Khalistani activism in Canada until he was killed in the parking lot of the gurdwara he belonged to by two masked gunmen.

The Canadian government recently alleged that the Indian government war involved in the killing of Nijjar, but has not yet provided firm evidence.

Why Does This Matter?

Obviously, as a culturally Sikh person, it matters to me because this assassination is part of a legacy of violence targeting my community due to perceived associations with terrorism. (Yes, there are some Sikh extremists and terrorists, but the overwhelming majority of Sikhs are neither extremists nor terrorists.)

But this has ramifications that everyone should care about.

Canada and India have recently done tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions due to the Canadian government's allegations

The US may also get dragged into this because Canada alleged that American intelligence gave them some information necessary to prove the involvement of the India government

The UK may also get dragged into this because they, too, have a sizeable Punjabi Sikh community that includes multiple MPs and the government has historically had strong relationships with both Canada and India

Despite the BJP's involvement in anti-Muslim violence, Modi and his government still enjoy a cozy relationship with many Western nations; this may start to change, although change is unlikely as Western governments see being allied with India as key to countering Chinese influence

If India is proven to be behind the assassination, this could be bad for other Khalistani activists in the Sikh diaspora because it means the Indian government could potentially target and kill them, too

This is important. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and this isn't an isolated incident. I know I probably didn't do a great job explaining this, but it's hard to summarize about 550 years of oppression and violence and politics and culture and how that has manifested over the past 80 years, leading to the murder of a prominent leader in the Sikh diaspora.

For further reading on this, I'd suggest this BBC article, which includes information on some other Khalistani activists recently killed.

Anyhow, I'll keep trying to follow the news on this and update this post as needed, likely through reblogs.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Water is essential for all life on Earth. But one-third of the world’s population do not have access to a supply of safe drinking water (a situation that is worsening). A third of all deaths in the world are the results of water-borne diseases. Water is a limited but endlessly renewed resource; its pollution, mismanagement and overuse by corporations, governments and people (turned into ‘consumers’ in a world that is not of their making) threaten to turn a global crisis into a long-term planetary disaster. The Vice-President of the World Bank, Ismail Seregeldin, stated in 1995 that “the wars of the next century will be over water… by the year 2025, the amount of water available to each person in the Middle East and North Africa will have dropped by 80% in a single lifetime”.

Disputes and Wars

40% of the world’s population depend on water from a neighbouring country. Over 200 large rivers are shared by two or more countries. In modern times the existence of vast cities, irrigated agriculture and the demand for hydro-electric power have led countries to claim or steal water resources once used by others. The cutting up of river systems by state boundaries has aggravated the problems of responding to floods. The political and engineering structures that bring economic power and political control to national and international elites also threaten lives and livelihoods. One reason for Turkey’s refusal to grant autonomy to the Kurds is the importance of water resources in eastern Turkey. Attempts to divert the sources of the River Jordan in South Lebanon and the Golan Heights provoked the Israeli-Arab War of 1967. Following this, Israel began to appropriate water supplies to support new settlements and supply towns and industry in Israel proper: Israel annually pumps 600 million cubic metres of water (over 30% of its supply) from aquifers that lie wholly or partly under the West Bank. 115 million cubic metres are allocated to the 1.4m West Bank Palestinians and 30m to 130,000 Jewish settlers; the rest (455 million cubic metres) goes to Israel. West Bank Palestinians have been barred from digging new wells or renovating old ones since 1967. Egypt offered Israel 400m cubic metres of fresh water a year to settle its conflict and assist the Palestinians; but there is still no agreement over water for the West Bank. There is a continuous threat of water wars in South Asia between India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Large-scale deforestation upstream results in increasingly widespread flood disasters below. Punjab water was an important contributory factor to the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war. Hindu nationalism has been fuelled by the unfair distribution of India’s water to the Sikh Punjab and led to the storming of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.

Modern wars depend on the destruction of the civilian population’s means of life and livelihood. In 1991 in Iraq, for example, the deliberate destruction of power supplies by bombing and war created a huge health problem. Over 90% of sewage treatment plants were disabled with huge amounts of untreated domestic and industrial sewage being pumped into rivers, creating an increase in water-borne diseases. Agricultural production was slashed by the breakdown of the electrically powered irrigation network. Before the Gulf War Iraq produced 30% of its food. Prior to the US-UK assault on Iraq in 2003, the figure was 10–15%.

[imperfectorange]

Diwali: Pan-Indian in its Truest Sense!

One of the biggest festivals in India, Diwali knows no foundation of the North and South as it is celebrated with great zeal across the country. Diwali falls on the 15th day in the month of Kartik according to the Hindu calendar. Celebrated as a cumulation of various festivals spread over a period of five days, the rituals of Diwali take place on the third day.

The first day of the festivities is celebrated as Dhanteras. It is believed that on this day Lord Dhanwantari came out of the ocean and bestowed Ayurveda to mankind. The second day is celebrated as Choti Diwali/Narak Chaturdasi, the day when Lord Krishna killed the demon Narakasur. On the third day, Diwali rituals are fulfilled and Lakshmi Puja takes place. The puja is done to seek blessings for wealth and prosperity. The fourth day is celebrated as Govardhan puja, attributed to Lord Krishna. The fifth day is dedicated to all sisters as it is Bhai Dooj. It is believed that Lord Yama visited his sister Yamuna on this day and granted her a boon that whosoever visits her banks on this day will be liberated from all of their sins.

The legend behind the culmination of the festival is well-known in the entire region of India. Diwali is associated with the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya after vanquishing the demon king, Raavan. It is said that the entire city of Ayodhya was lit up with candles and diyas, so much so that the night appeared to be as bright as day. The tradition of lighting diyas roots in the same legend. The festival is also associated with Goddess Lakshmi’s marriage to Lord Vishnu and also Lakshmi’s birth. Diwali also signifies the harvest festival. As it occurs at the end of a cropping season, it is also believed that Diwali originated as a harvest festival. Following the same notion, many households in urban and rural areas prepare the dish of Poha from freshly cropped rice.

Although the zest of Diwali is unsurmountable and is perhaps one of the most awaited festivals in the country, the rituals differ from region to region. While gurudwaras in Punjab are lit up with candles and fairy lights even though Sikhs are not directly a part of this festival, Goddess Kali is worshipped in Bengal. In Eastern India, in addition to diya and candle lighting, doors are kept open by people to allow entry to Goddess Lakshmi. Western Indian regions mainly associate Diwali with business and trade and the time is considered auspicious to invest in new ventures, land and businesses. In Gujarat, a diya is left burning for the entire night and in the morning the residual material is collected to make kajal and is used by women, which signifies prosperity for a whole year. In Tamil Nadu, Naraka Chaturdasi is the main day of celebration, where the oven is cleaned, smeared with lime, and religious symbols are drawn on it, filled with water, and used on the main day for an oil bath. There is a musical act of Hari performed in Andhra Pradesh where there is a common belief that Krishna’s spouse, Satyabhama actually killed Narakasur.

The varied interpretation of the same festival across different states provides a detailed insight into the diversity contained in India. People from different regions, communities, religions, and classes celebrate this festival to the best of their abilities is further proof that Diwali is not restricted to one section of society. The handicraft market booms around this time as diyas, decorative items, and firecrackers (although hazardous) sell like hotcakes, providing employment and some financial stability to the families involved in the same.

- Ananya.

[collapsedsquid]

As Sikhs settled into their new lives abroad, the Khalistani cause went quiet until a new generation of activists —whose leaders included Pannun and Nijjar — sought to rekindle the movement with unofficial referendums on Sikh statehood and with protests that at times have seemed to glorify violence. A parade in Canada last year included a float depicting Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and Khalistan supporters have stormed and defaced Indian diplomatic facilities in Western cities. The effort has seemed to gain little traction beyond a minority within the diaspora community. Even so, it has been portrayed as a resurgent menace by Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Indian officials have accused Canada and the United States of harboring Sikh separatists who they say have plotted attacks and smuggled weapons into India. Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi and an expert on the insurgency in Punjab, said BJP depictions of the Sikh threat are “far in excess of what actually exists.” Officials have political incentive to exaggerate, he said, “because it is useful to polarize and to keep a threat alive so the state can present itself as a guarantor of security to 80 percent of the country — the Hindus — who are supposedly in danger.”

Yeah I was wondering how much of a threat "Sikh extremists" are right now to the government of India

[beardedmrbean]

India has urged its citizens travelling to or living in Canada to "exercise utmost caution".

The advisory comes a day after tensions escalated between the countries with each expelling a diplomat from the other side.

Canada said it was investigating "credible allegations" linking the Indian state with the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

India strongly denied this, calling the allegations "absurd".

Analysts say relations between the countries, which have been strained for months, are now at an all-time low.

How India-Canada ties descended into a public feud

Why Western nations fear India-Canada row

On Wednesday, India's foreign ministry said it issued the advisory "in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada".

The Indian government has often reacted sharply to demands by Sikh separatists in Western countries for Khalistan, or a separate Sikh homeland.

The Khalistan movement peaked in India in the 1980s with a violent insurgency centred in Sikh-majority Punjab state.

It was quelled by force and has little resonance in India now, but is still popular among some in the Sikh diaspora in countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK.

Canada has the highest number of Sikhs outside Punjab and has seen several pro-Khalistan protests and demonstrations. In June, reports said India had raised a "formal complaint" with Canada about the safety of its diplomats there.

In Wednesday's statement, Delhi said that some recent threats were directed at its diplomats and some Indians "who oppose the anti-India agenda".

"Indian nationals are, therefore, advised to avoid travelling to regions and potential venues in Canada that have seen such incidents," it said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that intelligence agencies were investigating whether "agents of the government of India" were involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen - India had designated him a terrorist in 2020.

Nijjar was shot dead in his vehicle by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in British Columbia.

"Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," Mr Trudeau told the Canadian parliament on Monday.

India reacted strongly, saying that Canada was trying to "shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists" who had been given shelter there.

Some Indian media reports claimed the statement from Delhi followed a similar Canadian advisory for its citizens travelling to India. Canada's government confirmed its travel advice for India had been updated on Monday but said it had been "as part of pre-scheduled and routine maintenance in the section on travel health information".

"No new risk information has been added to the India TAA [Travel Advice and Advisories] page," a spokesperson told the BBC. Ottawa's advisory asks its citizens to "exercise a high degree of caution" because of the "risk of terrorist attacks throughout" India.

[lazypotato10]

Mughal India - The biggest holocaust in world history

The world is all ears to the sob stories of Muslims. There is sympathy for their plight, there are worldwide protests and rampant Hinduphobia in the media if their interests are even slightly threatened and oftentimes, its the Muslims who are suffering the retribution over something which they instigated in the first place and then the blame game begins and the Hindus are held accountable for retaliation and being intolerant to the atrocious nature of this so called 'peaceful minority'.

The genocide suffered by the Hindus of India at the hands of Arab, Turkish, Mughal and Afghan occupying forces for a period of 800 years is as yet formally unrecognized by the world.

With the invasion of India by Mahmud Ghazni about 1000 A.D., began the Muslim invasions into the Indian subcontinent and they lasted for several centuries. Nadir Shah made a mountain of the skulls of the Hindus he killed in Delhi alone. Babur raised towers of Hindu skulls at Khanua when he defeated Rana Sanga in 1527 and later he repeated the same horrors after capturing the fort of Chanderi. Akbar ordered a general massacre of 30,000 Rajputs after he captured Chittorgarh in 1568. The Bahamani Sultans had an annual agenda of killing a minimum of 100,000 Hindus every year.

The history of medieval India is full of such instances. The holocaust of the Hindus in India continued for 800 years, till the brutal regimes were effectively overpowered in a life and death struggle by the Sikhs in Punjab and the Hindu Maratha armies in other parts of India in the late 1700’s.

We have elaborate literary evidence of the world’s biggest holocaust from existing historical contemporary eyewitness accounts. The historians and biographers of the invading armies and subsequent rulers of India have left quite detailed records of the atrocities they committed in their day-to-day encounters with India’s Hindus.

These contemporary records boasted about and glorified the crimes that were committed and the genocide of tens of millions of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains, mass rapes of women and the destruction of thousands of ancient Hindu/Buddhist temples and libraries have been well documented and provide solid proof of the world’s biggest holocaust.

**Quotes from modern historians**

Dr. Koenraad Elst in his article “Was There an Islamic Genocide of Hindus?” states:

“There is no official estimate of the total death toll of Hindus at the hands of Islam. A first glance at important testimonies by Muslim chroniclers suggests that over 13 centuries and a territory as vast as the subcontinent, Muslim holy warriors easily killed more Hindus than the 6 million of the holocaust. Ferishtha lists several occasions when the Bahmani sultans in central India (1347-1528) killed a hundred thousand Hindus, which they set as a minimum goal whenever they felt like punishing the Hindus; and they were only a third-rank provincial dynasty.

The biggest slaughters took place during the raids of Mahmud Ghaznavi (ca. 1000 CE) during the actual conquest of North India by Mohammed Ghori and his lieutenants (1192 ff.) and under the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526).“

He also writes in his book “Negation in India”:

“The Muslim conquests, down to the 16th century, were for the Hindus a pure struggle of life and death. Entire cities were burnt down and the populations massacred, with hundreds of thousands killed in every campaign, and similar numbers deported as slaves. Every new invader made (often literally) his hills of Hindus skulls. Thus, the conquest of Afghanistan in the year 1000 was followed by the annihilation of the Hindu population; the region is still called the Hindu Kush, i.e. Hindu slaughter.”

Will Durant argued in his 1935 book “The Story of Civilisation: Our Oriental Heritage” (page 459):

“The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride the slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD. Millions of Hindus were converted to Islam by sword during this period.”

Francois Gautier in his book ‘Rewriting Indian History’ (1996) wrote:

“The massacres perpetuated by Muslims in India are unparalleled in history, bigger than the holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis, or the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, more extensive even than the slaughter of the South American native populations by the invading Spanish and Portuguese.”

Alain Danielou in his book, Histoire de l’ Inde writes:

“From the time Muslims started arriving, around 632 AD, the history of India becomes a long, monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoliations, and destructions. It is, as usual, in the name of ‘a holy war’ of their faith, of their sole God, that the barbarians have destroyed civilizations, wiped out entire races.”

Irfan Husain in his article “Demons from the Past” observes:

“While historical events should be judged in the context of their times, it cannot be denied that even in that bloody period of history, no mercy was shown to the Hindus unfortunate enough to be in the path of either the Arab conquerors of Sindh and south Punjab or the Central Asians who swept in from Afghanistan. The Muslim heroes who figure larger than life in our history books committed some dreadful crimes. Mahmud of Ghazni, Qutb-ud-Din Aibak, Balban, Mohammed bin Qasim, and Sultan Mohammad Tughlak, all have blood-stained hands that the passage of years has not cleansed. Seen through Hindu eyes, the Muslim invasion of their homeland was an unmitigated disaster.

“Their temples were razed, their idols smashed, their women raped, their men killed or taken slaves. When Mahmud of Ghazni entered Somnath on one of his annual raids, he slaughtered all 50,000 inhabitants. Aibak killed and enslaved hundreds of thousands. The list of horrors is long and painful. These conquerors justified their deeds by claiming it was their religious duty to smite non-believers. Cloaking themselves in the banner of Islam, they claimed they were fighting for their faith when, in reality, they were indulging in straightforward slaughter and pillage…”

A sample of contemporary eyewitness accounts of the invaders and rulers, during the Indian conquests

The Afghan ruler Mahmud al-Ghazni invaded India no less than seventeen times between 1001 – 1026 AD. The book ‘Tarikh-i-Yamini’ – written by his secretary documents several episodes of his bloody military campaigns: “The blood of the infidels flowed so copiously at the Indian city of Thanesar that the stream was discolored, notwithstanding its purity, and people were unable to drink it. The infidels deserted the fort and tried to cross the foaming river but many of them were slain, taken or drowned. Nearly fifty thousand men were killed.”

In the contemporary record – ‘ Taj-ul-Ma’asir’ by Hassn Nizam-i-Naishapuri, it is stated that when Qutb-ul- Din Aibak (of Turko – Afghan origin and the First Sultan of Delhi 1194 – 1210 AD) conquered Meerut, he demolished all the Hindu temples of the city and erected mosques on their sites. In the city of Aligarh, he converted Hindu inhabitants to Islam by the sword and beheaded all those who adhered to their own religion.

The Persian historian Wassaf writes in his book ‘Tazjiyat-ul-Amsar wa Tajriyat ul Asar’ that when the Alaul-Din Khilji (an Afghan of Turkish origin and second ruler of the Khilji Dynasty in India 1295-1316 AD) captured the city of Kambayat at the head of the Gulf of Cambay, he killed the adult male Hindu inhabitants for the glory of Islam, set flowing rivers of blood, sent the women of the country with all their gold, silver, and jewels, to his own home, and made about twenty thousand Hindu maidens his private slaves.

This ruler once asked his spiritual advisor (or ‘Qazi’) as to what was the Islamic law prescribed for the Hindus. The Qazi replied:

*“Hindus are like the mud, if silver is demanded from them, they must with the greatest humility offer gold. If a Mohammadan desires to spit into a Hindu’s mouth, the Hindu should open it wide for the purpose. God created the Hindus to be slaves of the Mohammadans. The Prophet hath ordained that, if the Hindus do not accept Islam, they should be imprisoned, tortured, finally put to death, and their property confiscated.”*

Timur was a Turkic conqueror and founder of the Timurid Dynasty. Timur’s Indian campaign (1398 – 1399 AD) was recorded in his memoirs, collectively known as ‘Tuzk-i-Timuri.’ In them, he vividly described probably the greatest gruesome act in the entire history of the world – where 100,000 Hindu prisoners of war in his camp were executed in a very short space of time. Timur after taking advice from his entourage says in his memoirs :

*“they said that on the great day of battle these 100,000 prisoners could not be left with the baggage and that it would be entirely opposed to the rules of war to set these idolaters and foes of Islam at liberty."*

*“In fact, no other course remained but that of making them all food for the sword"*

Timur thereupon resolved to put them to death. He proclaimed :

*“throughout the camp that every man who has infidel prisoners was to put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death. 100,000 infidels, impious idolaters, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasir-ud-din Umar, a counselor and a man of learning, who, in all his life had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives“.*

During his campaign in India – Timur describes the scene when his army conquered the Indian city of Delhi :

*“In a short space of time all the people in the Delhi fort were put to the sword, and in the course of one hour, the heads of 10,000 infidels were cut off. The sword of Islam was washed in the blood of the infidels, and all the goods and effects, the treasure and the grain which for many a long year had been stored in the fort became the spoil of my soldiers.*

*“They set fire to the houses and reduced them to ashes, and they razed the buildings and the fort to the ground. All these infidel Hindus were slain, their women and children, and their property and goods became the spoil of the victors. I proclaimed throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners should put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death.”*

The Mughal emperor Babur (who ruled India from 1526 -1530 AD) writing in his memoirs called the ‘Baburnama’ – wrote: ” In AH 934 (2538 C.E.) I attacked Chanderi and by the grace of Allah captured it in a few hours. We got the infidels slaughtered and the place which had been Daru’l-Harb (nation of non-muslims) for years was made into a Daru’l-Islam (a Muslim nation).”

In Babur’s own words in a poem about killing Hindus (From the ‘Baburnama’ ), he wrote :

*“For the sake of Islam, I became a wanderer, I battled infidels and Hindus, I determined to become a martyr. Thank God I became a killer of Non-Muslims!”*

The atrocities of the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan (who ruled India between 1628 – 1658 AD) are mentioned in the contemporary record called: ‘Badshah Nama, Qazinivi & Badshah Nama, Lahori’ and goes on to state: “When Shuja was appointed as governor of Kabul he carried on a ruthless war in the Hindu territory beyond Indus…The sword of Islam yielded a rich crop of converts. Most of the women (to save their honor) burnt themselves to death. Those captured were distributed among Muslim Mansabdars (Noblemen)”

The Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali attacked India in 1757 AD and made his way to the holy Hindu city of Mathura, the Bethlehem of the Hindus and birthplace of Krishna.

The atrocities that followed are recorded in the contemporary chronicle called: ‘Tarikh-I-Alamgiri’ :

*“Abdali’s soldiers would be paid 5 Rupees (a sizeable amount at the time) for every enemy head brought in. Every horseman had loaded up all his horses with the plundered property, and atop of it rode the girl-captives and the slaves. The severed heads were tied up in rugs like bundles of grain and placed on the heads of the captives. Then the heads were stuck upon lances and taken to the gate of the chief minister for payment.*

*“It was an extraordinary display! Daily did this manner of slaughter and plundering proceed. And at night the shrieks of the women captives who were being raped deafened the ears of the people. All those heads that had been cut off were built into pillars, and the captive men upon whose heads those bloody bundles had been brought in, were made to grind corn, and then their heads too were cut off. These things went on all the way to the city of Agra, nor was any part of the country spared.”*

Banda Singh Bahadur was tortured to death after being imprisoned for 3 months. The heart of Banda Singh’s son was put in his mouth in an attempt to humiliate him

Why we should remember?

The biggest holocaust in world history has been whitewashed from history.

When we hear the word 'holocaust', most of us think immediately of the Jewish holocaust. Today, with increased awareness and countless cinema films and television documentaries, many of us are also aware of the holocaust of the Native American people, the genocide of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire, and the millions of African lives lost during the Atlantic slave trade.

Europe and America produced at least a few thousand films highlighting the human misery caused by Hitler and his army. The films expose the horrors of the Nazi regime and reinforce the beliefs and attitude of the present day generation towards the evils of the Nazi dictatorship.

In contrast, look at India. There is hardly any awareness among the Indians of today of what happened to their ancestors in the past because a great majority of historians are reluctant to touch this sensitive subject.

**The world seems to either ignore or just does not seem to care about the many millions of lives lost during the 800 years long holocaust of Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists in India.**

The Indian historian Professor K.S. Lal estimates that the Hindu population in India decreased by 80 million between 1000 AD and 1525 AD, an extermination unparalleled in world history. This slaughter of millions of people occurred over regular periods during many centuries of Arab, Afghan, Turkish and Mughal rule in India.

Many Indian heroes emerged during these dark times, including the 10th Sikh Guru – Guru Gobind Singh and also the Hindu Maratha king – Shivaji Maharaj, who led the resistance against this tyranny and eventually led to its defeat by the late 1700s after centuries of death and destruction.

The modern world today is facing a global threat from organizations and groups of terrorists such as ISIS, Taliban, and Al-Qaeda whose ideology is chillingly similar to that of the perpetrators of the world’s biggest holocaust in India.

Let us hope that the bloody lessons of the past are learned so that history does not even have the remotest chance of repeating itself.

Never forgive. Never forget. Rise up.

[tellingittash]

Religious Studies Term Of The Day: Singh

Hey everyone. Happy Saturday. Today I wanted to look at the last name “Singh” and it’s spiritual importance to the Sikh people. Singh is an Indian last name best translated as “Lion.” Many people in India or of Indian inherit this last name from their parents. Sikhs, a religion originally from the Punjab region of India, will have this last name more than any other group because they attach spiritual significance to the last name. In fact, typically, any male child born into the Sikh faith will be given the last name Singh. This was a tradition that Guru Gobind Singh, who called forward the panj piare, the Lovely Five, and started the Khalsa with many new distinctive factors, including changing his own name and the names of the panj piare to Singh. This was to emphasize their loyalty to the guru and their willingness to fight as lions to protect him, or it as the current Guru stands. The implies that faith is so important to the Sikh people, so much so that it is their identity through and through, but of course individual tastes may vary in this communal tradition. Anyway, I hope that you all are safe out there and have a great day.