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02/22/2008

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WSN Bureau 


VANCOUVER: A British Sikh leader, Dabinderjit Singh, a former member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, is currently on a Canadian speaking tour to gather support for a new lobby group for the larger Sikh cause and is trying to forge some sort of understanding with Canadian politicians. Media reports said most of the agenda is “about issues affecting Sikhs in their countries of residence, such as increased political representation, government funding for Sikh schools and groups and in Canada, working with police to tackle the gang and drug problems.” 

His efforts also include a review of the ban on Babbar Khalsa and the ISYF but he recognizes that the issue could trigger controversy and is going rather low profile on this one. 

Dabinderjit Singh, a UK citizen and an adviser to the Sikh Federation (U.K.), had hit headlines when he once met the Queen wearing an ISYF jacket. He is working with like-minded Canadian Sikhs to put forward a political platform that advances the human rights of Sikhs around the world. Earlier this month, on February 9, he spoke at Surrey’s Dasmesh Darbar gurdwara, an event which the Vancouver Sun reported but not without its typical anti-Sikh bias as it noted that the gurdwara “has several former ISYF leaders on its board.”  

Know Dabinderjit Singh  In its efforts to run down Dabinderjit Singh, the Vancouver Sun did not care to mention why he had met the Queen. Dabinderjit Singh has worked at the UK’s National Audit Office for nearly two decades and since January 2006 has been Director in the Department of Health & Arms Length Bodies. In March 2004 he was also appointed the first Chair of the EU College of External Auditors for the European Defence Agency. With almost 20 year experience in the audit sector, Dabinderjit Singh was awarded an OBE in 2000 for work for the National Audit Office, promotion of Equal Opportunities, services to the public and contribution in representing the British Sikh community.

To quote from the Sun’s report: “The forum, held at the Grand Taj banquet hall, drew interested Sikhs from the U.S., Australia, Edmonton and Calgary. A day later, he spoke at the Dasmesh Darbar (gurdwara), where he said that politicians should have to commit to supporting some of the Sikh Agenda before getting to speak at (gurdwaras) or events like the coming Vaisakhi parade. “What you need to do is sit down with politicians in advance of giving them time on the stage and say, ‘Look, we have an agenda,’” Singh explained. “In Canada, everyone turns up to Vaisakhi.”  

Singh said his U.K. group came out with its Sikh Agenda after the ISYF was banned there in 2001 and has continued to lobby politicians on several fronts. His efforts are in response to a perceived desire of Sikhs in Canada to develop the same approach by having a more organized platform to put to politicians. Dabinderjit Singh said the Canadian Sikh Agenda will be formally released at the end of March and part of the efforts are also directed at opening two Sikh resource centres - one in B.C. and one in Ontario - with government funding if possible. He was in Canada for three weeks. The Vancauver Sun typically jumped the gun and tried to negate something which even Dabinderjit Singh did not claim: “Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he has not been approached by anyone lobbying to delist the banned groups,” the newspaper reported, without mentioning, of course, that Dabinderjit Singh had not even made that claim.

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