1984 Delhi Massacre: Justice Denied
Guest Editorial
Riots like 1984 or Gujarat do not take place because Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs cannot live together. The arithmetic of polarized votes at the time of elections leads the politicians to create communal hatred among communities. The 1984 riots made it possible for Congress party to reap the benefits when they overwhelmingly won from almost every seat they contested in the national elections.

Painting in the Punjab Plains from 1847 to 1947
By Musarrat Hasan
Several artists like Sher Muhammad, Bishen Singh, Allah Buksh, Sri Ram, and Hussain Buksh had been painting in oil even in the 19th century. But these were scattered instances and the shift towards western style of painting had not really been a full-fledged art movement. It was launched after Amrita Sher Gill's blistering attack on the prevailing local art, plus Roop Krishna, Mary Roop Krishna, Sheikh Ahmad, Anna Molka Ahmad's arrival on the scene from Europe with a similar point of view.

Abdus Salam: Nobel Laureate Par Excellence
By Manbir Singh Chowdhary
Former editor of New Scientist, Nigel Calder, describes Professor Salam's life as, "A wonderfully romantic story of a young lad in a turban from a market town in the Punjab, that nobody had heard of, who became a leader of physics and faced up to politicians as a champion of the world's poor. He wore the same kind of turban as he had worn as a child, to collect his Nobel Prize from the King of Sweden."

An Anatomy of Censorship: Media Censorship as Misguided Fear
By Dalbir S. Sehmby
On December 18th, 2004, a protest at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre occurred, against Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s play Behzti (Dishonor). According to varying news reports, due to violence during the protest and due to the issuing of death threats by certain protestors, the play was cancelled, Bhatti has gone into hiding, and for the time being, censorship seems to have won.

Theater of the Absurd
By Preet Mohan Singh Ahluwalia
False information is justifiably offensive, and that is the way it should be. A work of fiction has its limits. Journalists, artists, and playwrights must ensure that sensitive material is factual before it is portrayed as art or published in the news media. This is commonsense. Creative impulse can be non-threatening; it can also be fraudulent and deceptive.

Intra-Muslim Rivalries in India and the Saudi Connection
By Yoginder Sikand
Its claim of representing Islamic ‘orthodoxy’ is the Saudi regime’s principal tool of seeking ideological legitimacy. Saudi Arabia prides itself on being, as it calls itself, the only ‘truly’ Islamic state in the world, although this claim is stiffly disputed by many Muslims. Official Saudi Islam, or what is commonly referred to as ‘Wahhabism’ by its opponents, is the outcome of the movement led by the eighteenth century puritan Muhammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab.

Maharajah Duleep Singh
By Hardev Singh Virk
Maharajah Duleep Singh traveled to St. Petersburg, the Russian capital, under a false identity as Mr. Patrick Casey, the Irish rebel. He was accompanied by a young pretty girl, Ada Wetherill, whom he married in Paris after his return from Russia. Mikhail Katkov, the editor of the Moscow Gazette and a staunch nationalist, had invited the Maharajah.

Bachittar Natak: A Strange Drama
By Baldev Singh
This article is prompted by a statement by Jaswant Singh Neki at a seminar sponsored by the Institute of Sikh Studies held in Chandigarh, September 2003, that those who question the authorship of the Dasam Granth should first read it. Hence, this article analyzes the central theme of BN in light of AGGS and Guru Gobind Singh’s nash doctrine.

Guru Granth Sahib and Unity of Minds
By N. Muthu Mohan
The present paper is an attempt to read the Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Sikhs, from the point of view of how it takes cognizance of the fact of religious and cultural multiplicity in and around the Indian subcontinent, and to probe into the ways Guru Granth Sahib offers to meet the problem, to construct a co-living of harmony and unity of minds.

State Tyranny in Orissa
By Angana Chatterji
On 1 December 2004, the Orissa Police attacked and critically injured 16 adivasis (tribals) in Kashipur, in Rayagada district. Many, disproportionately women, were arrested. More than 300 adivasis and Dalit (erstwhile ‘untouchable’ castes) were targeted for protesting the creation of a police station and barrack for armed police at D Karol village, in proximity to the proposed aluminium plant site of Utkal Alumina International Limited (a joint enterprise of Aditya Birla Group, and ALCAN, a Canadian company) at Doraguda.

Peeking Back to Move Forward
By Harbans Lal
Some look into the future and are discouraged when they compare it to our past. They see us being overtaken with niceties and ignore the essentials. They see us impressing them with ceremonial splendors and elaborate edifices which we use to decorate the gift of Guru’s teachings, but ignore the fact that many of these niceties impose restrictions on the message not being made available to overwhelming majority of the global faith communities.

Inter-State River Water Disputes: Lessons From Punjab
By M.S. Ahluwalia
The present day Punjab accounts for just 1.57% of India's territory and 2.39% of its population but it contributes more than 50% of the total food grains purchased for the central pool. Punjab's success in agricultural is due to the agriculture revolution since mid 1960s when India witnessed shortage of food. This success story of Punjab agriculture, which has recorded a growth rate of 5% per annum compared to all India growth rate of 2.71%, is due to its adoption of modern technology and optimum use of water resources.

Prosecution Suffers Blow in Estrada Trial
By Danny Chan
The state’s anti-graft trial against former president Joseph Estrada suffered a blow following the murder of a key informant. Marilyn Perez, the secretary to Ilocos Sur Governor Luis (Chavit) Singson, was found murdered, according to Dennis Villa-Ignacio, the state’s special prosecutor.

Martyrdom of Baba Dip Singh: A Historical Perspective
By Harbans Singh Noor
Seventy-five-year-old Baba Dip Singh of Damdamma Sahib (Talvandi Sabo) was head of one of the two Misls that had assumed responsibility for raakhi/protection of areas around the southern bank of the Satluj. Personally, the devoted scholar usually occupied himself with transcribing copies of the holy Guru Granth Sahib.

Conversing With Reverend Tony Zekveld: Soul
By G.B. Singh
Today we are looking on the subject of soul. Soul, like heaven, is an important biblical concept and for some unexplained reasons it has bypassed the critical scrutiny of many scholars. Earlier I requested Reverend Zekveld to write a comprehensive commentary on soul. He has been very gracious and his well-written article is posted here for the readers.

Concept of Reality: Its Physical, Metaphysical and Mystical Aspects
By Hardev Singh Virk
In the old picture of classical physics, it was assumed that the natural phenomena arise from the interplay of a large number of minute particles, so-called atoms (parmanus), which are the ultimate constituents of matter. The doors through which Nature imposes her presence on us are the senses. Their properties determine the extent of what is accessible to sensation or intuitive perception.

G.M. Syed on the Unity and Diversity of Religions
By Manbir Singh Chowdhary
In a garden, just as various flowers add to its beauty, so do variegated beliefs add to the luster of religion. The option should be given to the individual which particular flower to choose. Nobody should be allowed to monopolize the orchard i.e. religion. Nor should any one object to the choice of a flower by anyone.

Filipinos Continue To Enter War-torn Iraq
By Danny Chan
Statistics obtained by the DoLE indicate 226 Filipinos gained employment at two US military camps, Camp Anaconda and Camp Victory, in Baghdad. Migrante, a migrant-workers organization, stated that over 1,000 nationals slipped into Iraq via Turkey, Syria, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The organization added it was disappointed in the government’s inability to enforce the ban.

A Look to the Future
By K.P. Singh
Amidst this and other episodes of intense darkness, overwhelming tragedy, deprivations of many basic essentials for life and happiness; disregard for human dignity, rights, and justice; and ethnic conflicts and complex cultural and spiritual divides, there are countless testimonies of immense generosity, celebrations of human triumphs, and affirmations and miracles that strengthen our faith and determination to imagine and build a better world.

Nishkam: A Legacy of 1984
By Harmit Singh Kamboe
Twenty years ago we had an excuse to get angry but very few options and avenues to directly help those affected. Today that excuse will not do. We have the means to reach out and make a difference in someone’s life. Please reach out to your brothers and sisters who are living on a lot less and are not asking for a whole lot.

Discovering the Roots of Punjabi Culture in Uzbekistan
By Hardev Singh Virk
Delhi – Tashkent flight during a sunny day is a novel experience. You fly over snow-covered peaks of Hindukush, valleys of Fergana and Kirgyzstan and land in Tashkent after two and half hours. The temperature in Delhi was over 40 degree celsius but it was pleasantly cool at 15 degrees in Tashkent.

Book Review: Madrasas and Terrorism (Urdu)
By Yoginder Sikand
Madrasas, or Islamic schools, are today a much talked-about subject. Critics routinely brand them as dens of obscurantism and even as factories of terror. Defenders glorify them as vanguards of Islam and Muslim identity. The debate on the madrasa system continues to rage, raising much heat but shedding little light on what is a sorely neglected and little-understood subject.

Reflections on the Bhakti Movement in Tamil Nadu and Punjab
By M.S. Ahluwalia
It appears that one major problem in the history of socio-cultural and religious ideas, in our own times, is to study the inter-relationship between the Bhakti movement in the North and South of Vindhyas, particularly relating to the Tamil and the Sikh Bhakti movements. As pointed out by a number of scholars, the term Bhakti has been used as a blanket term to denote movements, which have different backgrounds and purposes.

Philippine Diplomat Among UN Hostages Freed
By Danny Chan
One source stated the British Special Air Service was closing in on the kidnappers’ hideout after tracing a telephone call which they allowed a hostage to make. An American military spokesperson in Kabul said the “effective pursuit of the kidnappers ... led directly to the release” of the hostages but declined to offer further details.

I Will Never Surrender: Abdullah Mehsud
By Mohammad Shehzad
Mehsud, whose real name is Noor Alam, is a Pashtun, the same ethnic group as the Taleban and belongs to the Mehsud tribe that inhabits South Waziristan on the Afghanistan border. His long hair and daredevil nature has made him a colorful character. Since his return from Guantanamo Bay, Mehsud has become a hero to anti-US fighters active in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.