Sikhs Equated with Al Qaeda ‘Terrorist Cells’ in Recent Interview on PBS
Posted by Balvinder Singh S Bal
Sikhs Equated with Al Qaeda ‘Terrorist Cells’ in Recent Interview on PBS
Posted by Balvinder Singh S Bal on Sunday, 6/22/2003 7:29 PM MDT
| http://www.sikhmediawatch.org/press/pressdetail.asp?pressid=40 SMART Responding to Bharati Mukherjee’s Comments about Sikhs, Terrorism 5/5/2003 Contact: Preetmohan Singh (202-393-2700 / [email protected]) Sikhs Equated with Al Qaeda ‘Terrorist Cells’ in Recent Interview on PBS Washington, DC – In response to this weekend’s episode of a PBS program linking Sikhs to Al Qaeda terrorist cells, the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART) has begun addressing misrepresentations resulting from an interview with prominent Indian American novelist, Bharati Mukherjee. During this weekend’s broadcast of the program, “NOW with Bill Moyers,” Mukherjee stated that individuals responsible for the June, 1985 Air India bombing were “…people of Sikh religion, who used militant tactics, terrorist tactics, in order to establish in Punjab, the state of Punjab in India, religious theocratic state for the pure Sikhs, the re-baptized Sikhs.” Furthermore, she states, “Khalistanis…were able to, in temples, Gurdwaras, or later on with 9/11, I realized, in mosques, do fundraising at an enormous scale. Terrifying scale.” SMART has contacted the producers of “NOW with Bill Moyers” to address these and other potentially damaging statements in a comprehensive and visible manner. Therefore, at this time, we urge the community to follow this issue through our web site at www.sikhmmediawatch.org. If the program producers fail to meet our request, SMART will engage the community through an action alert in the near future. However, if you do write to the producers of NOW and/or Bharati Mukherjee, please send SMART a copy for our records. The transcript of Ms. Mukherjee's interview, is available at: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_mukherjee.html To view a partial list of SMART’s previous Media Watch efforts, click here: http://www.sikhmediawatch.org/mediawatch/media.asp ### END ### About SMART: SMART, founded in 1996, is the oldest national Sikh American advocacy group. Its mission is to protect the rights of Sikh Americans through legislative advocacy, public education, legal assistance and ensuring accurate portrayal of the Sikh religion. Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART) 1331 H Street, NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20005 Tel : 202-393-2700 / 877-91-SIKHS Fax : 202-318-4433 Email : [email protected] Web : http://www.sikhmediawatch.org |
 | Sikhs Equated with Al Qae... (Balvinder Singh S Bal - 22.Jun.03) |
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