While there are fewer Sikh ac­tivists and bod­ies talk­ing about peace or tak­ing sides in the Is­rael-Pales­tine war which is en­dan­ger­ing world peace, the stand of the Global Sikh Coun­cil in mak­ing an ap­peal for an im­me­di­ate truce in the on­go­ing Is­rael-Pales­tine con­flict dur­ing its re­cently held an­nual gen­eral meet­ing con­vened on­line is likely to re­ver­ber­ate among the Di­as­pora Sikh com­mu­ni­ties and even through in­ter­na­tional hu­man­i­tar­ian cor­ri­dors. WSN re­ports.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Sikh or­ga­ni­za­tions and ac­tivists from across 31 coun­tries, dur­ing the re­cent Global Sikh Coun­cil dig­i­tal sum­mit, passed a res­o­lu­tion im­plor­ing the United Na­tions Se­cu­rity Coun­cil to spear­head ef­forts for a cease­fire in the Gaza re­gion. This call comes amidst es­ca­lat­ing ten­sions that have seen nu­mer­ous civil­ian ca­su­al­ties, in­clud­ing women and chil­dren. The Global Sikh Coun­cil’s voice adds a sig­nif­i­cant moral weight to the global out­cry for peace and hu­man­i­tar­ian aid in this be­lea­guered zone.

Echo­ing the coun­cil’s com­mit­ment to global hu­man­i­tar­ian causes, tran­scend­ing ge­o­graphic and cul­tural bound­aries, she stated, “Our heart goes out to those suf­fer­ing in this con­flict. It’s high time for a peace­ful res­o­lu­tion, and the UN must step in with both aid and diplo­macy.”

The Global Sikh Coun­cil re­solved that “The re­ports of deaths and in­juries to thou­sands of women and chil­dren are deeply dis­tress­ing. While every na­tion has the right to safe­guard its coun­try from any for­eign ag­gres­sion killing in­no­cent women and chil­dren is a crime against hu­man­ity. Global Sikh Coun­cil calls upon the world lead­ers and the United Na­tions to put an end to this mis­ery of the peo­ple in Gaza and work for a peace­ful set­tle­ment.”

Lady Singh of Wim­ble­don, Dr. Kan­waljit Kaur -wife of the il­lus­tri­ous Lord Singh of Wim­ble­don In­dar­jit Singh and Pres­i­dent of the Global Sikh Coun­cil, de­liv­ered a res­olute mes­sage, con­demn­ing the air strikes rav­aging Gaza.

In a poignant in­ter­ven­tion, the meet­ing which saw the par­tic­i­pa­tion of le­gal, re­li­gious, ju­di­cial, and so­cial stal­warts from many coun­tries, also re­solved to ap­plaud Cana­dian Prime Min­is­ter Justin Trudeau’s ini­tia­tive to in­ves­ti­gate the mur­der of Bhai Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar, a Cana­dian Sikh and called upon In­dia to ac­tively par­tic­i­pate in in­ter­na­tional in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

The res­o­lu­tion in this con­text passed by the Global Sikh Coun­cil reads, “While the Global Sikh Coun­cil con­demns all sorts of vi­o­lence and acts against any coun­try on for­eign soil, the killing of Ni­j­jar al­legedly by agents of a third coun­try has shocked the Sikh world. We urge the Cana­dian gov­ern­ment to ex­pe­dite the in­ves­ti­ga­tion into this case so that the fam­ily of Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar can get clo­sure. We also call upon In­dia to ac­tively par­tic­i­pate in the in­ter­na­tional in­ves­ti­ga­tion into the mur­der of Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar.”

We urge the Cana­dian gov­ern­ment to ex­pe­dite the in­ves­ti­ga­tion into this case so that the fam­ily of Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar can get clo­sure. We also call upon In­dia to ac­tively par­tic­i­pate in the in­ter­na­tional in­ves­ti­ga­tion into the mur­der of Hard­eep Singh Ni­j­jar.

Turn­ing its gaze in­wards, the Global Sikh Coun­cil urged Sikhs in Pun­jab to proac­tively en­gage in the forth­com­ing elec­tions for the Sikh Par­lia­ment -the Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee (SGPC). In an im­pas­sioned plea, Lady Singh urged, “I call upon every Sikh to ex­er­cise their right to vote. Your par­tic­i­pa­tion is cru­cial in shap­ing the fu­ture of our com­mu­nity.”

The keynote ad­dress by Ad­vo­cate Jee­wan Singh from Tamil Nadu sparked a di­a­logue on caste is­sues within the Sikh com­mu­nity, ad­vo­cat­ing for an egal­i­tar­ian so­ci­ety that echoes the found­ing prin­ci­ples of the Khalsa. Jee­van Singh dwelt on the caste is­sue at length and em­pha­sized the need for ur­gent steps to undo the dam­age done to the Sikh ethos and the Sikh way of life by a ma­jor­ity of the Sikhs -both in the home­land and else­where by su­per­im­pos­ing caste in so­cial, re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal spheres. He said, “The fu­ture of Sikhism can be se­cured by an­ni­hi­lat­ing the caste sys­tem which de­spite the Gu­ru’s dic­tum has per­co­lated into Sikh so­ci­ety.”

“The fu­ture of Sikhism can be se­cured by an­ni­hi­lat­ing the caste sys­tem which de­spite the Gu­ru’s dic­tum has per­co­lated into Sikh so­ci­ety.”

Gi­ani Ke­wal Singh, for­mer Jathedar Takht Damdama Sahib, who com­pleted an ex­ten­sive tour of the coun­try to high­light the con­tri­bu­tion of the Singh Sabha move­ment as part of the 150 years of the Singh Sabha ap­pealed for the re­li­gious and spir­i­tual up­lift­ment of Sikh char­ac­ter to bring the Sikhs out of the rut, they are in. He re­peated ad nau­seam the ur­gent need to join hands, hearts, and minds for the Chardikala of the Khalsa Panth.

Gi­ani Ke­wal Singh em­pha­sized the ur­gent need to join hands, hearts, and minds for the Chardikala of the Khalsa Panth.

Ed­i­tor of the World Sikh News Jag­mo­han Singh, giv­ing graphic de­tails of state in­ter­ven­tion through la­cu­nae in the var­i­ous leg­is­la­tions gov­ern­ing the man­age­ment of his­tor­i­cal Gur­d­waras ap­pealed for work­ing for re­form through ad­vo­cacy and le­gal out­reach.

Ki­ran­jot Kaur high­lighted the piv­otal role of the Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee (SGPC) as the rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of Sikhs not only in Pun­jab but across In­dia, with pro­vi­sions for nom­i­nated mem­bers from other re­gions. How­ever, she noted the ab­sence of a sys­tem for in­clud­ing Sikhs liv­ing abroad and urged them to con­nect with the SGPC to voice com­mu­nity con­cerns, es­pe­cially since they face fewer me­dia re­stric­tions and can thus serve as the com­mu­ni­ty’s eyes and ears.

SGPC mem­ber Ki­ran­jot Kaur noted the ab­sence of a sys­tem in the SGPC for in­clud­ing Sikhs liv­ing abroad and urged them to con­nect with the SGPC to voice com­mu­nity con­cerns.

Ad­dress­ing the sen­si­tive is­sue of gen­der flu­id­ity and the re­cent con­tro­versy over a same-sex Anand Karaj cer­e­mony, she called for open dis­cus­sions out­side In­dia due to the lim­ited ac­cept­abil­ity of such de­bates within the coun­try. She also re­sponded to S. Jag­mo­han Singh’s query re­gard­ing caste in voter lists, ex­plain­ing that it’s nec­es­sary for iden­ti­fy­ing those el­i­gi­ble for gov­ern­ment ben­e­fits.

Oth­ers who par­tic­i­pated in the Zoom con­fer­ence in­cluded Har­bir Singh Bha­tia from Aus­tralia, Ja­gir Singh from Malaysia, Dr Kar­min­der Singh, Gur­dial Singh of France, Karan­bir Singh of Canada, Ra­jin­der Singh, Har­jeet Singh, Sat­nam Singh and Par­m­jeet Singh.

Har­sim­ran Singh, con­tin­u­ing from his pre­vi­ous dis­course at the GSC, ex­pressed con­cern over the ma­nip­u­la­tion of sen­ti­ments by a mi­nor­ity amongst the ma­jor­ity, with their anti-Sikh agenda, em­pha­siz­ing that in­ter­nal strife is more alarm­ing than ex­ter­nal threats. On the is­sue of lead­er­ship, he said it is said the time has come for col­lec­tive de­ci­sion-mak­ing in­stead of look­ing for an il­lu­sory per­fect lead­er­ship which will prob­a­bly never hap­pen.

Sikh re­searcher and ide­o­logue, Singh called for a uni­fied and mul­ti­lin­gual prop­a­ga­tion of the Gu­ru’s teach­ings to en­sure that the Sikh per­spec­tive is ef­fec­tively com­mu­ni­cated to the global au­di­ence.

On the is­sue of lead­er­ship, Sikh re­searcher and ide­o­logue Har­sim­ran Singh said the time has come for col­lec­tive de­ci­sion-mak­ing in­stead of look­ing for an il­lu­sory per­fect lead­er­ship which will prob­a­bly never hap­pen.

Retd. Col Jag­tar Singh Mul­tani pro­vided an up­date on the ini­tia­tives un­der­taken by the ISC and the Kendriya Singh Sabha. He went on to de­scribe pro­jects fo­cused on the Sik­li­gar and Van­jara com­mu­ni­ties in Telan­gana and Ma­ha­rash­tra. Em­pha­siz­ing the im­por­tance of ed­u­ca­tion in na­tion-build­ing, he called upon the GSC to al­lo­cate re­sources to­wards ed­u­ca­tional ini­tia­tives.

Em­pha­siz­ing the im­por­tance of ed­u­ca­tion in na­tion-build­ing, Col Jag­tar Singh Mul­tani called upon the GSC to al­lo­cate re­sources to­wards ed­u­ca­tional ini­tia­tives.

Ad­di­tion­ally, he shared in­sights from their na­tion­wide ya­tra cel­e­brat­ing 150 years of the Singh Sabha move­ment, along with Gi­ani Ke­wal Singh, Khushal Singh, and oth­ers, which broad­ened their ex­po­sure to di­verse Sikh philoso­phies, par­tic­u­larly not­ing the growth of Sikhism in west­ern and south­ern In­dia.

Harsaran Singh from Pondicherry made ap­pro­pri­ate in­ter­ven­tions and co­or­di­nated the meet.

The Global Sikh Coun­cil has taken ap­pro­pri­ate steps in the right di­rec­tion from time to time, may be it will do well to hold reg­u­lar meet­ings with fo­cussed pro­jects for max­i­mum im­pact in the cho­sen area of do­main.