The three million strong diaspora Sikhs, unlike their 21 million compatriots captive in India, are free and prosperous and they are determined - as they believe it is their destiny and pray for it every day; "Raj Karayga Khalsa; (Sikhs will rule) Aaaqi Rahaya nah Koyay: Khawar hoiyey Sab Milaingay; Bachay Sharan Joh Hoyay; DILLI Takht Par Bahay Gee; Aap Guru Kee Fauj; Chattar Chulayn gay Sis Par; Barri Karaygee Mauj." - to create a sovereign, democratic, egalitarian Sikh buffer state of KHALISTAN in South Asia, stretching from the Jumna river on the East, to the Pakistan border on the West, China on the Northeast and Kashmir on the North, playing its God-given role of a granary for countries of Central Asia and acting as a 'bridge of prosperity' and commerce between Central and South Asia.

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Washington DC: October 08, 2003: As if the Durgiana Hindu Temple in Amritsar - which is an exact architectural duplicate of the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) with Hindu stone idols inside - was not enough of a provocation to every Sikh, the extremist Hindu-fundamentalist, BJP regime in Delhi has further tested Sikh patience - this time in Calcutta (Kolkata) - by another act of 'in-your-eye' incitement which has caused grave resentment and anger among the three million strong Sikh diaspora who live FREE abroad. An architectural copy of the holiest shrine in Sikhism the Darbar Sahib - also widely known as the Golden Temple - was desecrtated when it was converted into a Durga Puja pandal in the Eastern Indian city of Kolkata on September 30, 2003.

Our well-informed sources in India tell us that the Indian Home (Interior) ministry, (presided over by none other than the over-ambitious Indian deputy Prime minister, L. K. Advani, who proudly wears a 'Hiler mustache' and is wanted in Pakistan under an arrest warrant for a 1948 attempted murder charge) overruled the objections of the Kolkata police, and gave a 'wink and a nod' to BJP apparatchiks in that city to erect a highly objectionable Durga Puja pandal - a copy of the Darbar Sahib - complete with blood-curdling statues of the multi-armed Hindu goddesses inside. This Durga Puja pandal, a replica of the Darbar Sahib, was erected at College Square of central Kolkata, India, on September 30, 2003 for the duration of the Durga-puja. A coloured photograph of that very objectionable, and highly provocative, Durga Puja pandal - a duplicate of the Darbar Sahib - was carried in the NATION section of the Chandigarh-based English language newspaper TRIBUNE (October 01, 2003 issue) and can be seen by clicking at: > http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031001/nation.htm <

Last week the Indian propaganda machinery went one step further and even had the chutzpah to broadcast the live TV images (to the whole world including the United States) of that very objectionable Darbar Sahib look-alike Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata - full of chanting/ praying/dancing Hindu devotees. The producers made it a point to provoke the Sikh audience by making sure that only one on-site interview was aired in that UNI news programme shown on the International channel of US Television. Guess what? They showed a sheepish-looking man being interviewed, who looked like a Sikh with a turban, who talked of Shanti and common (bhagwans) gods etc, as if nothing was wrong when there was so much wrong.

In another example of the mind-set of the genocidal anti-Sikh Hindutva-fundamentalist Indian rulers one Sikh, retired Major General, Sirdar Himmat Singh Gill, has very eloquently focused attention on the missing Sikh heritage Reference Library, thousands of artifacts from where were removed from the Darbar Sahib complex, Amritsar, in June 1984, by the minions of the Indian government, during the Indian Army attack. The library (which was established in 1946 (vide resolution number 822 dated October 27, 1946, of the SGPC) had a rich treasure of rare documents and manuscripts pertaining to the Sikh religion, Sikh /Punjab history and culture. It also had a number of handwritten manuscripts of the Guru Granth Sahib and Hukmnamas, some bearing signatures of revered Sikh Gurus. It also contained rare documents about India's independence struggle which showed how the Sikhs were cheated out of an independent Sikh state by the Nehru/Gandhi/Patel trio despite the fact that the departing pro-Sikh British were inclined in that direction.

In a very sober and well-researched article on the Editorial page of the (October 04, 2003) Chandigrah-based, English language TRIBUNE newspaper, headlined, "Mystery over Sikh Reference Library - People are entitled to know the fate of precious books", retired General, Sirdar Himmat Singh Gill, writes that, "few Sikhs will rest until the true facts of what happened then are brought before the public gaze, and all the books, scriptures, photos or paintings, manuscripts and other artifacts, believed lost in the fire are fully accounted for, and all the material that was believed to have been pulled out of the building before it took fire, returned to its original abode soon, through the SGPC, (Shromani Gurdwara Pranbandhik Committee) Amritsar." (To read General Gill's full article please click at: > http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031004/edit.htm#7 <

We endorse wholeheartedly the demand of the retired Sikh General. He wrote that,"The Centre or the state government should stop dilly-dallying with the feelings and ethos of millions of Sikhs and other Punjabis to whom the Sikh faith is as dear as their own religion. They should tell us where the precious religious and historical treasure lost in the fire has gone, when will it be relocated within the Golden Temple premises, and who will be held responsible for this ugly deed. Most officials, be they from the Centre, state, the Army, or the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) are still around and can be summoned by a statutory body or commission to shed some light on the subject. How much of the material was finally returned (and to whom), and where is the rest of the material today. It should not be too difficult to find out the balance that is still unaccounted for. Reports say, Ranjit Singh Nanda, a former CBI official has confirmed that he was there at the time and did handle some of this material, and so he would be able to shed further light on this matter, provided a fresh effort is made to do so. It is pointless the MOD (Ministry of Defence) or others trying to wish away, or support the official position of a former Government, when something very unnecessary like the gutting of the SRL (Sikh Reference Library) has taken place." End quote. Bravo General Himmat Singh Gill!

According to Chandigarh-datelined media reports the matter of the missing Sikh Reference Library is currently sub judice. On August 21, 2003, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Mr Justice B.K. Roy and Mr Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, issued a notice of motion to the state of Punjab and other respondents and fixed Monday, October 20, 2003, as the next date of hearing in the matter. The court was acting on a petition (by one, Satnam Singh of Tarn Taran) seeking directions for the return of 'all manuscripts, religious books, and other articles' allegedly removed during "Operation Bluestar" from the Sikh Reference Library at Golden Temple in Amritsar. Satnam Singh had earlier claimed that 16, 000 articles were removed from the Sikh Reference Library by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before taking them to Delhi during "Operation Bluestar" in June 1984. The petitioner, the report said, has claimed that, "the articles, as per Defence Minister George Fernandes, were in CBI’s (Central Bureau of Investigation's) custody." The petitioner, also quoted newspaper reports, which have asserted that, "two CBI officers, part of a team involved in the alleged removal of the articles, had confirmed the action."

In another ominous development, our sources also report that the thugish BJP's Mody government in Gujarat state is planning a similar move to cow and denigrate the one hundred and twelve million strong Muslim minority in India. The Gujarat BJP leadership has been discussing a plan to build a temple which would be identical in architecture to the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia - Islam's holiest site. To us Sikhs, desecrating, by action, or gesture, or word any place of worship, of any religion, by anyone is abhorrent and a NO NO. It seems the blood-lust of the BJP Neo-Nazi thugs in Gujarat has NOT been quenched yet, even by the blood of two thousand innocent Muslim men, women and children (and one Sikh POTA prisoner killed inside a judicial lockup) they murdered during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, in retaliation for a trumped up socalled February 27, 2002, Godhra 'incident' that never was? For a backgrounder on the phony Godhra incident please click at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc03202002.htm < The proposed Gujarat temple, a copy of the great Mosque in Mecca Sharif, Saudi Arabia, may be built in Ahmedabad and most likely will then be used to ambush the Muslim minority when they protest, as they will.

Khalistan Calling weekly newsletter (and its archives) can be viewed on the South Asia Tribune site at:

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It can also be seen by clicking at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc10082003.htm <.

The above newsletter has been published in the leading Punjabi-English newspaper of the Sikh diaspora, Surrey Canada-based CHARHDI KALA, - Issue of October 08-14, 2003 :: Vol. 19 : No. 40. Last week's Khalistan Calling is available on the Khalistan Affairs Centre website at: (> http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc10012003.htm <) The Khalistan Calling newsletter was also published in the second week of October 2003, in the Vancouver-based PUNJAB GUARDIAN, and AKAL GUARDIAN, Toronto-based SANJH SAVERA, Calgary-based SIKH VIRSA and numerous other Punjabi/English weekly and monthly publications which cater to the three million strong Sikh diaspora in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

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