A reflection on 'Remembrance: The Sikh Story'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vys5t

'Remembrance: The Sikh Story' narrated the sacrifices of the Sikh Khalsa Panth for the Sovereignty of Great Britain, and Europe by around 83, 000 lives of Singhs, and another 120, 000 Singhs who were wounded. It was a great program, and I really enjoyed it. It touched on some areas that I feel we need to reflect upon as a Qaum. On the whole the program was brilliantly made.'John' Deol and 'Tommy' Nagra have done a wonderful job.

Our nation is and was made of Saint-Soldiers and has always given lives for the truth and justice. I reluctantly ask the question, is that what the modern wars are about? Is Sadam Hussein's regime now on the shores of Britain? World war 1 and 2 were against a facist regime, that was attacking and colonialising other nations. This is clearly not the case now. As Sikhs is it Dharamic for us to get involved in wars that are clearly about oil? We believe in Dharam Yudh, not invasion. Sikhs have rarely attacked first, but defended themselves. Is taking out political regimes a part of our identity?

My second reflection is that the British colonial regime banned the Sri Sahib in Punjab, the colour blue, all symbols of the Khalsa, and disarmed the population. While at the same time, reinforcing the warrior ideal in the British regiments. Let us not lie to ourselves, the Sikh Panth suffered tremendously under colonialism. Jalliawala Bagh is just one example of this, which was only touched upon in the documentry. The Sikh identity was attacked via the meddling in Panthic affairs by the British administration of Punjab. Many Sikhs died in the Anglo-Sikhs wars, and many great Sikhs died in British prisons in Rangoon and other places. Our Royal King was brought to the UK and converted to Christianity and our Queen Mother Maharani Jindan Kaur died in exile from her homeland.

Many people are also unware that after the first Anglo-Sikh war 1845-46, the Nihang Singh priests at the Akal Takht sahib were killed in cold blood, by the British armies. This is supported by news articles. See the paragraph 'The Akalis Tower, Umritzir'.

http://www.archive.ukpha.org/archives/akalis-tower-at-umritzir-from-a-drawing-by-w-carpenter

The events of 1984 has scared the Panth with a deep rooted pain of the terrible attrocities the Government of India commited against the Sikh nation. Each year we remember the attack with tears in our eyes. How do we feel living in country that did exactly the same when it invaded the Punjab? Personally, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

If the British respected our Qaum, why was our country split into two? Even after we gave our lives. Look at the millions who died in the partition, while the colonialists sat back and watched - 1 million people died. Sikhs lost their most sacred shrines.

Still I am proud of being a British citizen and appreciate the positive aspects of this society, like multi-culturalism, etc. However we cannot lie, this country has the blood of literally millions of people on its hands. We as Sikhs need to exert our influence and should encourage the government of Great Britain to develop a real sense of fairness, justice and Dharam, rather than carry out illegal wars, based on 'WMD.' Did the Sikhs give a press release when the war started in Iraq? While Guru Nanak's protest to Babbar are still in Adi Guru Granth Sahib ji.

My other reflections are actually about the program, firstly it wasn't long enough, or should have been over two parts. With more time they could have narrated a battle sequence just to show how brave the Singhs were, who gave their lives for this country, in order to defeat the fascists. The other point was there was only one expert on the Anglo-Sikh wars, Amarpal Singh Sidhu.

These are just a few of my reflections, no offence meant to anybody.

Kamalroop Singh