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The World has a great deal to learn from the Sikh legend Hari Singh Nalwa.” These were the words spoken by young 26-year old researcher, Jahandad Khan, at Guru Gobind Singh Foundation. Jahandad Khan was visiting the United States Department of Peace in Washington and he has studied marketing at the Islamabad University of Science and Technology. His native region is Hazara, a region in the North-Eastern part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located east of the Indus River and it borders with Afghanistan. He spoke on the Sikh rule in Hazara region and his connection to Sikh heritage.

He said, “My parents used to tell us that our home was built by a Sikh who was the commander of a great Sikh army. That led me to study more about Nalwa. My journey has taken me on an overlapping quest to connect with my own identity, and I learned that my own roots connected me with great legends like Hari Singh Nalwa and Maharaja Ranjit Singh, along with other Sikh heritage.”

In the early 1800s, Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled over this region from Lahore, as it known as Lahore Darbar. Ranjit Singh chose the bravest, most capable, and most competent commander, Hari Singh Nalwa to subdue the most volatile region, as this region has always been the most unruly area to govern as it is now.

Jahandad Khan’s ancestor and namesake Jahandad Khan was a contemporary of Hari Singh Nalwa – Khan’s father Painda Khan (mentioned in Umdat ut Tawarikh) had earlier fought with Nalwa but had to offer his son to the Lahore Darbar as a hostage in return for help against Ahmed Barelvi when he invaded this region. The young Jahandad Khan was raised by Nalwa for few years as a result of this settlement. When Sikh garrisons in Hazara were defeated by the British and they were being massacred in 1846, it was the same Jahandad Khan (by then a grown young man and a leader of the Tanoli clan) who spared the lives of all Lahore Darbar men stationed in this region in 22 mud forts and gave them a dignified exit (mentioned in Hazara Gazzetteers as well).

Dr. Rajwant Singh, Secretary of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and Co-Founder of the National Sikh Campaign, said, “We are pleased to see Jahandad Khan’s passion for Hari Singh Nalwa and his drive to create better understanding among Sikhs and the people of Pakistan, especially in the Hazara region. We feel that his work needs to supported by all Sikhs and by major Sikh institutions. Hari Singh Nalwa is a great role model for the youth and his life needs to be presented in a creative manner. Nations, especially India and Pakistan, and the people in the South Asia can take clues from Nalwa’s life to create a better environment in the entire region.”

“The key point is that contemporary literature has reduced Hari Singh Nalwa as just being a great commander and a warrior whereas my research through various sources and narratives from the local population in the region has shown me that he was a great administrator, a skillful diplomat and I would not shy away from calling him a great statesman”, said Khan.

He added, “Nalwa was governor of Hazara for 15 years. Jahanded’s ancestor, Jahandad Khan I, had a complex relationship with Nalwa in which they were enemies at times and were allies at times. Nalwa spent lot of time interacting with the local population to develop relationships with locals and the tribal chiefs. He built a city, Haripur, named after him, which has now become a big city. The entire irrigation system was set up by Nalwa and he standardized the weight system for trade. He did not just rule the area but also wanted to make sure that the local population thrived economically.”

He stated, “Haripur, which was totally barren, now has these orchards and that was totally introduced by Nalwa. Harkishan Garh, a fort built by Nalwa, has the remnants of these orchards and comprehensive irrigation system that was also introduced by Nalwa. This is still the backbone of local agriculture. In addition, 22 mud forts were built by Nalwa and some of them need preservation.”

He continued with, “Painda Khan, the most powerful chieftain, resisted Nalwa for years and Nalwa tried six times to have peace negotiations with Khan. It seems that our ancestors were far more pragmatic and practical than we are now. We have reduced them to ideological symbols, which is fine, but at the same time we need to study history with an open mind and read history from different sources.”

“Nalwa’s vision was to balance power with understanding the needs to the local population. Those are the lessons we all can learn from him, regardless of our religious backgrounds. We tend to look at history as binaries; that this is Sikh history, or this is Islamic history, whereas people like Nalwa cannot be boxed into one corner of our historical memory.”
He stated, “Sikh contact with the tribal region took place during Guru Nanak’s time. Elders narrate how Guru Nanak influenced the locals there and many local Muslim tribes converted to Sikhism. Last names of many Sikhs there represented their tribes.”

While shining light on the past Sikh rule, he added, “No other contact with foreign power, whether it was Abdali’s era, Mughal era or the colonial time, is seen by the locals as positively as they view Sikhs. The first political contact with our tribes was with Sikhs during the Ahmed Shah Abdali ‘s time. Sikh rule was the first experience of organized governance for this region. The tribal system was converted into social contract and tribalism to state craft. The Sikh period was not only Sikhs ruling; in fact, half of the army consisted of Muslims. There is a general impression that Sikhs are honest. Local women tell their children to buy things from Sikh shopkeepers as a Sikh shopkeeper would not sell anything impure or overpriced. This is the land where Sikhism started, however Sikh presence along the Indus has never been studied deeply.”

He said, “There is a perception that Sikh heritage in Pakistan is crumbling because it is not Muslim, but in fact no heritage is being preserved the way it should be.”

My message to the youth would be to understand history rationally. If we read history with bias, it might give us a chance to give ourselves a pat on the back with a lot of pride or a lot of sense of superiority, but then it would reduce our capacity to learn and grow. We need to broaden the canvas of history and understand it from all perspectives.

I would also like to appeal to Sikhs, particularly to youth, to come to these places. There is no substitute to interaction with the local population. The Sikh community only goes to Panja sahib or Nankana Sahib, the two most popular sites related to Guru Nanak, however Pakistan has layers and layers of history related to Sikh history. There are so many battlefields, forts and infra-structure set up and built by the Sikhs. They were not only fighters, but they were also builders. They were artists and open-minded, as shown by Hinduism and Islam also being represented in frescoes.

Currently, people don’t try to understand each other and instead just pass judgments. That is the greatest lesson rulers of South Asia can learn from Nalwa. He chose to understand the area, the people, their customs and their likes and dislikes. What sort of person will be so nice to the son of his own enemy?”

Inder Paul Singh Gadh, Chairman of GGSF, said, “We are grateful to Jahandad Khan for traveling so far to connect with the Sikh youth in America, and he has inspired many in the congregation today.”
Khan held an hour long interactive session with the 35 young members of the community.

Sri Patna Sahib became the most visited religious site in Bihar in the year of 2017 largely due to the celebration of the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib Ji

A leading tourism and booking site Trip Advisor ranked Sri Patna Sahib as the most visited and highest ranked site in all of Bihar. The influx of Sikh devotees wishing to visit the birth of place of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib Ji from throughout the world after Bihar Govt large scale celebration of the 350th Parkash Utsav has contributed to the drastic rise. The mega event drew over a million people from around India and the world to attend the event and created much needed awareness of the religious and historic site.

The Bihar Govt realized quickly that in order to increase tourism in the state, they needed to create better transportation and infrastructure needs of the devotees. The govt spent crores of rupees renovating around the historic city and provided much needed accommodations for the visitors.

The Bihar Govt has released plans to build museums related to Sikh history and create convenient ways for devotees to arrive in the city.

A Singh in a village of Punjab was devastated after his mother was diagnosed with last stage of cancer. He sought advice from various places and then came across a person with immense knowledge of herbal treatments. He took the advice and grew organic form of a special type of wheat.

The special wheat grass was grown with nontoxic soil at was cut at approximately 6 inches. The process is to next extract juice from the grass by beating it in a bowl or using a juicing machine.

The Singh says the juice extracted from the organic wheat grass cured his mother from the deadly cancer. He says the miracle plant also cures many other life threatening diseases.

He went onto say that the plant doesn’t have any side effects and should be used as an alternative form of medicine.

Wheatgrass juice is an effective healer because it contains all minerals known to man, and vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, l and K. It is extremely rich in protein, and contains 17 amino acids, the building blocks of protein. 3. Wheatgrass juice contains up to 70% chlorophyll, which is an important blood builder.

Among other things wheatgrass juice is particularly high in chlorophyll. Wheatgrass cleanses and builds the blood due to its high content of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the first product of light and therefore contains more healing properties than any other element. All life on this planet comes from the sun. Only green plants can transform the sun’s energy into chlorophyll through the process of photosynthesis. . Chlorophyll is known as the ‘life-blood’ of the plants. This important phytonutrient is what your cells need to heal and to thrive. Drinking wheatgrass juice is like drinking liquid sunshine.

Chlorophyll carries high levels of oxygen (among other things) which is especially powerful in assisting the body to restore abnormalities. The high content of oxygen in chlorophyll helps deliver more oxygen to the blood. We see red blood cell counts rise and blood oxygen levels rise very quickly with the regular drinking of wheatgrass juice and using wheatgrass juice implants. This marker is a key indicator of health recovery for abnormalities, ailments and disease. Oxygen is vital to many body processes, especially for the brain which uses 25% of the oxygen supply. This high oxygen helps support a healthy body.

The Cancer Tutor says:

“If we look at oxygen as a bullet to kill cancer cells, then we should look at wheatgrass as a shotgun blast at treating cancer. (1) The number of ways it deals with cancer is incredible. First of all, it contains chlorophyll, which has almost the same molecular structure as hemoglobin.

It’s a proud moment for Ludhiana and India as a whole as Karanvir Singh is set to leave for Davos, Switzerland as the youngest member of the Indian delegation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for participation in the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) meet.

Selected by the WEF to represent Youth at its influential annual meeting at Davos starting January 17, 2018, Karanvir Singh, the Founding Chairman of Visionum Group, a bridge between Government and People, told babushahi.com that he would speak on Public-Private Partnerships and its future in India.

Born and brought up at Ludhiana, this Youth Icon of India is a product of Guru Nanak International Public School, Model Town, here.”I look forward to meet the global icons in their respective fields at Devos. My meeting with Bill Gates has been confirmed. We will discuss on the issue of bringing Artificial Intelligence to India,” he said on the eve of his departure.

An alumni of IIM, Rohtak, a Ph.D scholar and international speaker, Karanvir is a member of 50 Global Shapers, an initiative of World Economic Forum, from across 150 countries, who got selected to represent the voice of young people at Davos. He has also done Masters in social work and mass communication.

The globe-trotting Karanvir will actively participate in high level dialogues with global and regional leaders to bring forward the opinions of the youth on issues such as the next industrial revolution, bridging income inequality, bridging gap between public and private partnership, sustainable development and overcoming fragmentation in societies

Among others, he is likely to interact with prominent global business personalities like Jack Ma, Tony Hayward, Michelle Rempel, Alexandra Lamont, Patty Hajdu, Brian Kingston, John Manley and Michael Moller. A PPP-Tech expert Karanvir Singh is on a mission to connect nations.

Along with PM Modi, two Chief Ministers and six Union Ministers, he will join over 100 Indian industry and 3000 global leaders at Davos.

When his own sons turned their back, How Bhai Lehna Ji was always available at Service for his master, Guru Nanak Dev Ji

ONce Guru Nanak Had collected three bundles of grass for his cows and Bufaaloes and He desired to have them taken home. The grass was wet and Muddy . Since no on was willing for the task, The guru asked his sons Sri Chand and Lakshmi Das to carry the Bundles. They too evaded the duty, saying that labourer could do the job. Lehna, Who had just arrived there bowed before the Guru and Said Most Humbly, “Consider me as you labourer and give this job to do.”

The Guru said he might take as many as his strength permitted. Lehna, gathering strength from his enthusisasm and Devotion to guruji, Picked up all the bundles and walked towards Guru Nanak’s House.

On Reaching home, The Guru’s Wife asked him : “Is it proper for you to impose such menial labour on a guest and soil his new Clothes ?”

See , From head to toe, he is dripping with muddy water !”

The Guru replied,”This is not mud but saffron of God’s Court which marketh the elect.” ON Looking again, the Guru’s wife observed that the mud on Lehna’s Clothes had really changed to saffron!

On another Occasion, Guru Nanak dev ji Sent for his sons at the dead of night and asked them to was his soiled clothes. His sons Protested in a chorus,” There is no water around. Even if we manage to wash your clothes. How are they ever going to dry at this unearthly hour ?”

Guru Nanak Dev ji Repeated his request. His sons replied Indifferently, “At the break of day, we shall have your lothes delivered to the washerman to was. Why don’t you wear a new set of clothes until then ?”

The Guru made the same request to Lehnaji. He at once set about doing the assigned task with all sincerity. Early next morning he presented his master with clean, washed and dried clothes,,.

One winter night it poured so heavily that a part of the wall of the Guru’s House collapsed. Around Midnight he asked his sons to repair it. They Said, “It is dark and bitterly cold. Besided , it is not our job to build or repair wall. Tommorrow morning we shall summon mason and Labourers to do the work. ”

the Guru said to his sons, “Since it is the Guru’s work.,it must only be don by his sikhs; and it must be done immediately without any further delay.”

Lehnaji, who happened to be standing next to the Guruji, offered his services. He started building the wall. when he was nearly half way through, the Guru said that the wall was not straight. He asked him to demolish the half built wall and build it again. Lehnaji obeyed his master and started rebuilding the wall with utmost care. But the Guru was still not satisfied. He had to putt it down once more. This carried on several times. The Guru’s own songs tried to discourage Lehnaji agains this task assigned to him. They Said, “You can never please him. Give up the work.”

But Lehnaji said,”A servant musd do his mater’s work. It is of the master to decide what work he should assign to his servant…….”

Guru Nanak Dev ji used to get up early every morning to bathe in the river Ravi. Lehnaji would go along with him and sit near the Guru’s Clothes while he bathed . By now Guru Nanak dev ji had become so fond of him that he had come to be known as Baba Lehna. Some of the Guru’s disciples had become jealous of baba Lehna, One day three of these jealous Sikhs decided to do what Baba Lehna was doing for the Guru. They Thought this would please their master.

It was a cold dark morning . The sky was overcast and Soon it began to hail. The Three sikhs could not bear the chill and returned home. But baba Lehna waited for the Guru to step out of the river. When Guru Nanak dev ji reached the bank of the river where Baba Lehna was sitting by himself, he said to him ,” the other sikhs deserted me on this chilly morning. Why didn’t you follow suit?”

On this Baba Lehna Bowed humbly to his Guru and Said, “A servant must never desert his master. How could i do that ?”

A Melbourne Sikh family has a favourable outcome against a Christian school that refused entry to their son because he wears a turban.

The decision came following a landmark decision of the Victorian Administrative and Civil Tribunal (VCAT) in September 2017 which found that Melton Christian School had breached the Equal Opportunity Act by discriminating against a five-year-old turban wearing boy, Sidhak Singh Arora.

VCAT had ordered that Sidhak’s parents and MCC attend a compulsory conference to determine what orders VCAT should make. Following the compulsory conference that was held in November, both parties issued the following joint statement:

“MCC, Sagardeep Singh Arora and Anureet Kaur Arora are pleased to have resolved the matter of the enrolment of the Aroras’ son, Sidhak Singh Arora, which was the subject of proceedings before the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic).

“MCC has made amendments to its uniform policy to allow exceptions where genuine medical or religious grounds exist, such that Sidhak will be able to start at MCC in the beginning of the 2018 school year.

“MCC is founded on Christian doctrine, and is committed to an inclusive school community partnering with families in excellent Christian education.

“MCC regrets the difficulties that took place with respect to the enrolment and the Arora family is grateful to the school for the amendments it has made to the uniform policy in order to welcome Sidhak to the school.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, which had intervened in the case, had said in a statement, “The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s decision in the Arora v Melton Christian College case was an important test for clarifying the exceptions in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010. This is the first time that these exceptions from discrimination have been considered in Victorian courts or tribunals.”

“I consider that MCC’s uniform policy in so far as it prohibits head gear of a non-Christian faith, could be described as ‘openly discriminatory,” said VCAT member, J Grainger, in a 50-page judgment. You may read the full judgment here.

“I was approached by UNITED SIKHS in January this year when they learnt that I did not have legal representation. They assisted me and arranged pro bono representation by Herbert Smith Freehills, a top law firm in Australia,” Sidhak Singh’s father, Sagardeep Singh, said after VCAT’s ruling.

Sagardeep Singh Arora told SBS Punjabi that VCAT has ruled MCC has breached the state’s Equal Opportunity Act by placing uniform conditions on his son’s enrolment.

“It is a great outcome. We are very pleased to hear this decision,” said Mr Arora.

“The case will set a precedent for everyone else who wants their children to practice their religion or faith and cannot do it because some schools’ uniform policy excludes them from enrolment due to their appearance or their religious beliefs.”

UNITED SIKHS provided legal representation to Singh family with the support of a local law firm the Herbert Smith Freehills.

Mejindarpal Kaur, International Legal Director from UNITED SIKHS told SBS Punjabi that their organization is raising this issue in the interests of all religious minorities.

“On behalf of Sikhs in Australia, and in Victoria in particular, we are very pleased that VCAT has upheld religious freedom in schools. We applaud Sidhak Singh’s parents who took a stand for their child that will benefit all faith communities,” said Mejindarpal Kaur.

The landmark case of Sidhak Singh Arora may have wide-ranging implications for schools and the uniform policies they set.

-sbs.com

She sits in a dimly-lit room, surrounded by scores of trophies covered with dust. The only thing shining in the dusky room is a heavy roll of white cloth, which she uses for cremating and burying bodies of the unknown and poor dying in the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

Amarjit Kaur Dhillon, 61, has dedicated her life to giving dignity to the dead.

At the last count in December 2005, she had conducted the last rites of 100 bodies. “I stopped counting after that,” she sighs, pointing to a big heap of files.

Born and bought up in Patiala, Dhillon moved to Chandigarh in 1980 when she got a job in the Punjab and Sind Bank. After working for 20 long years, she took voluntary retirement in 2000 to serve the needy.

First brush

Her journey of social service started in 1991, when she and her bank colleagues collected 2.5 lakh to fund the kidney transplant of a gunman’s son.

“It was then I realised the importance of money in saving human lives. In fund raising, I found a way to save lives,” says Dhillon.

She started raising funds for Red Cross, which used to organise medical camps. In 2000, she surprised everyone by arranging a lakh in less than a month.

Pointing to a cobweb-covered award, she says, “On May 8, 2000 I got my first state award by then Punjab health minister, who called me ‘Alladin ka Chirag’.”

She also started helping the poor patients at PGIMER. “It was in 1998 that I first visited PGIMER with my mother and found so many patients in need of help,” remembers Dhillon.

As she started dedicating more time to poor patients, work became a drag.

Raising funds

Finally, in 2000, she decided to quit her job to pay full attention to fund raising. Ask her if it is difficult to convince people to donate money and she says, “Many people want to help the poor, but don’t know how. Many want to donate money, but don’t know whom to trust. I am just a link between patients and donors,” she says, adding, “I have never faced any difficulty in arranging funds, it’s as if the divine is with me.”

On days, when she could not help people financially, she would lend them moral support.

How it started

Once, she found herself drawn to three children playing outside an operation theatre. “Their father from Bihar had undergone a heart surgery and their mother was inside looking after him,” recounts Dhillon, who started visiting them every day, bringing food and clothes.

“On May 3, 2000, a nurse came running to me for help, saying their father had passed away and their mother had lost consciousness.”

That was the first time she dealt with a body.

“I took the children to the gurudwara inside PGIMER and their mother to Red Cross for booking a funeral van,” she recounts.

The next morning, the two women cremated the body in Sector 25. Eighteen years on, she has lost count of the number of bodies she has cremated or buried.

“Kaam karne waalon ko sochnaa nahi padta, bas icha honi chahiye aur kaam aapko khud dhoondh lega (Those who really want to work don’t need to think much. All they need is a strong desire to do good),” ”she says.

Impressed by her services, Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited gave her some funds to which she added some more to purchase a mini-ambulance.

– Hindustan Times