India tensions over Sikh protests

[Cheetah786]

The Indian government is sending security reinforcements to the states of Punjab and Haryana amid signs of growing religious violence.
Thousands of Sikhs, many armed, have been staging protests, some violent, against a Hindu sect.

They accuse the Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) sect of insulting Sikhism.

Tensions began when the DSS leader appeared in an advert in which Sikhs said he was made to look like the last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh.

Swords and bricks

Tens of thousands of Sikhs and DSS supporters have been gathering in various places in Punjab and Haryana.

Some Sikhs have been armed with swords and bricks. They are reported to be surrounding a DSS campus near Salabetpura in the Punjab.

Tens of thousands of DSS supporters have gathered in Sirsa in Haryana, where the sect has its headquarters, to ward off any attack by Sikhs.

The central government has sent two battalions of the Rapid Action Force, a paramilitary force comprising commandoes, to Sirsa.

Indian Interior Minister Shivraj Patil presided over a security meeting in Delhi on Thursday evening.

The Punjab and Haryana governments have been asked by the federal government to ensure that law and order is maintained.

Punjab's Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, has asked the federal government to despatch 50 companies of paramilitary forces to ensure peace.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6667219.stm

 

[Introvert]

They accuse the Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) sect of insulting Sikhism.

I don't think JJ Singh will be happy with this

 

[Adux]

Dera Sacha Sauda is also a sikh sect, but they dont accept the last guru or something. This aint a place where if the Army Chief doesnt like something, He sends his troops. Wrong Country.

 

[Awesome]

Listen up guys, Bull pointed it out, and that's that. It doesn't give you the right to call him anything. You guys are dangerously close to crossing that line, in fact probably have...

Personally I think you guys owe him an apology since if you would've examined the news article he quoted them as it is, BBC just changed it!

They've now even removed Sikh sect and changed it to religious sect. Now has Bull been lying as well? Seriously, you guys owe him apology those weren't kind words at all that you guys unleashed. Don't be so knee-jerk trigger happy next time.

I'm letting you two fly because there was obviously much confusion created here, but trust me next time there's an issue, you point it out and come to us. Defence.pk will not be used to rant and rave by members against each other.

 

[Adux]

Well if that is the case,though I have my doubts. But still mY apologies. i will be editing it out.
PS: This is not the first time it has happened in the forum.
IF he has did, what was accused, he deserves everything i said. So dont care a damn on that part.

 

[Cheetah786]

<Clean up crew...>

My aim is same as yours.its OK to talk about Pakistan but you jump all over the place when its India. i posted whats BBC is reporting.if it happens in India its not to be discussed.

at least when i put up topics i have links attached to them.

 

[Awesome]

Think about it this way, do you seriously think Bull also lied and wrote "sikh sects" there when BBC had originally wrote "religious sects". BBC has crummy reporters. The use of "sects" is so foreign when it comes to Hinduism in the first place.

Somebody must've complaint that it's not a Hindu sect it's a sikh sect, then they changed it to that. Then they realized why are mainstream sikhs fighting with sikhs? so they wrote something vague like religious sects.

 

[Cheetah786]

Kids with Wild Imaginations can go anywhere.

What a an Idiot the Topic Starter is. Like i said, It not him the Topic Starter who needs to blame about his Country is actually messed Up like that.


After Jana another Idiot has Borned.

Wow i must have hit it right on INdians are jumping all over the place.before calling names why dont you indians wanna discuss it just as you are more then happy to discuss situation in pakistan and how pakistan have problems .but if its topic about india topic starter is idiot.


At least five people have been killed in a bomb explosion at a historic mosque in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, the authorities say.
Many more were hurt in the blast during Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid, one of India's biggest mosques.

Interior Minister Shivraj Patil said the explosion at the entrance to the mosque was caused by a "crude bomb".

Police say they also found and defused two live bombs near the mosque. It is not clear who carried out the attack.

"The situation is under control," YS Rajshekhar Reddyhe, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state of which Hyderabad is capital, told reporters in Delhi.

He said the bombing was an act of "intentional sabotage on the peace and tranquility in the country" and appealed for calm.

Injured

The blast took place as thousands of Muslims were wrapping up Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid.

Hyderabad is one of the biggest cities in southern India and has a large Muslim population, many of whom live in the congested old city where the mosque is located.

There was chaos and anger after the explosion. Ambulances ferried the injured to hospital.

Many in the congregation ran for cover, some covered in blood.

"I was very close to the spot of the blast," one man, Abdul Quader, who escaped with minor leg injuries, told the Associated Press.

"As soon as prayers ended, we were about to get up, there was a huge deafening blast sending bodies into the air," he said.

"People stated running helter-skelter, there was such confusion. People were bleeding, running around in a very bad condition."

Police and emergency services were quickly at the site which has been cordoned off.

Angry crowds gathered and began throwing stones at riot police who responded with tear gas.

There are fears that the number of dead could rise further. Police say some of the injured are in a serious condition.

Last year more than 35 people were killed after bomb attacks near a mosque in the western state of Maharashtra. It is still not clear who carried out those attacks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6668695.stm

 

[Cheetah786]

Security forces are on alert in northern India after Sikhs called for a general strike in protest at what they say is an insult to their religion.

They are demanding an apology after a leader of a religious sect appeared in an advert dressed like one of the Sikh religion's most important figures.

Last week, thousands took to the streets. One man was shot dead in clashes that followed.

Attempts to broker a settlement between the Sikhs and the sect have failed.

'Blasphemy'

Ahead of this strike, thousands of extra police and soldiers have been deployed across Punjab, one of India's most volatile states.
Fearing possible violence by outraged Sikhs, they have been building barricades around the headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) religious sect.

Perhaps 20,000 DSS followers live on or near the campus.

Sikh leaders have called for a total shutdown in Punjab on Tuesday to express Sikh anger.

They have also demanded that all campuses where sect members live be closed within a week.

The DSS's leader has refused to apologise for appearing in an advertisement dressed like one of the figures most revered by Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh.

The Sikhs called it blasphemy.

The sect claims it has 20 million members worldwide and says it is not a religion but a humanitarian organisation caring for its devotees.

India's government fears the dispute could trigger widespread unrest.

Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Punjab was the site of a violent insurgency by Sikhs who desired an independent homeland.

Indian security forces killed many Sikh militants after they seized the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikh religion's most important site.

In revenge, Sikh soldiers shot dead Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister.

India's current Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, has called for calm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6678795.stm