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ਵੈਲੀ, ਕੈਲੀਫੋਰਨੀਆ ਦੀ ਸਿੱਖ ਕਾਉਂਸਿਲ ਵਲੋਂ ਅਪੀਲ

Dear Friends and Sikh Council Members,

As you know and most of you must have seen the TV coverage of Amritdhari Sikhs with small innocent children picketing the Gurdwaras, Singh Sabha Fresno, Selma and Caruthers, against Prof Darshan Singh's Kirtan. The protest was very boisterous and noisy and some indecent language slogans were used against some respectable members of the community. I defend the right of people to disagree with each other but don'nt appreciate the way they presented the Sikh image to the other communities of the valley and at the same time tried to disrupt other members of the Sikh community from listening to the Kirtan. It takes years to build your good image but takes only a day to destroy it.

Sikh Council was created mainly to prevent this kind of events from happening in the community and to promote a positive image of Sikhs to the outside world. Because of the inner contradictions in the minds of Council leadership, Sikh Council failed first time on the issue of Kala Afgana and this is the 2nd time with Ex. Jathedar Akal Takhat, Prof Darshan Singh Ji.

Beleive me this is not the end, it will happen many more times in future and there is a distinct possibility of some one getting physically assaulted or hurt. If you have any compassion or love for your community please stand up now and send out the message that we have no place for violence or intimidation in our Gurdwaras. Membership in the Sikh Council is voluntary and any Gurdwara who does not abide by its peaceful constitution & majority decision making should cease to be a member of this organisation. I appeal to the Council to pass a resolution in the next meeting to condemn the ugly events over the last weekend and that this kind of behavior causing damage to the Sikh image shalll not be repeated in future. The root cause of the problem appears to be the ignorance of the high ideals of Sikhism (Gurbani) which is pushing our youth into religious radicalism.

Sincerely,

Dr. Poonia