Issue 60 Vol III, March 31, 2008

T H I S  O U R  N O R T H  A M E R I C A

Canada at odds with itself in Afghanistan

Canada’s two leading political parties have joined those forces and committed Canada to another three years of military intervention in support of a puppet Afghan government. Everyone knows that practices torture. This indeed  a curious development, since most Canadians like all civilized people around the world  abhor torture  as it is utterly at odds with their values.

Yet the barbaric practice has achieved post-9/11 acceptability in some circles in the so-called advanced world, in the guise of being a necessary tool to fight terror. It's been a prominent feature of the Afghan war, which has spawned Guantanamo Bay, among other horrific prisons. All this does not disturb Stephen Harper's Conservative government or Stéphane Dion's Liberals and they have moved together to extend Canada's involvement in that war until 2011.

 Ruling conservatives and their main opposition in house of commons are focusing exclusively on the pro-war narrative presented by the government-appointed Manley panel and; laying emphasis on the mission's good intentions.  But what is the truth? Are Canadian troops not over are over there to support a government that has its hand on the electric prod.  Have they not read a front-page story in the Globe and Mail that reported allegations that the notoriously brutal Governor Khalid, the top Afghan official in Kandahar, with whom the Canadian military closely collaborates, has personally administered torture at his private prisons? Yet there are powerful people, justices and all in America and elsewhere supporting torture in the name of fighting terrorism.

Such flippant approach to torture is in sharp contrast to the enlightened position taken by Canadian justice Dennis O'Connor, who investigated the torture of Maher Arar. He wrote: "The infliction of torture, for any purpose, is so fundamental a violation of human dignity that it can never be legally justified." O'Connor cited former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan: "Let us be clear: torture can never be an instrument to fight terror, for torture is an instrument of terror."

This moral position against torture is far sure not shared by the Canadian government or military. Indeed, attempts by human rights advocates over the past two years to create protections for detainees transferred from Canadian to Afghan custody have been mostly resisted by Canadian officials.

An initial set of safeguards, signed by Gen. Rick Hillier in December 2005, provided almost no protection. It was only after media investigations followed by an uproar in Parliament and a court action by Amnesty International that Harper reluctantly toughened the safeguards last May.

Yet even these are increasing proving ineffective. Last November, Canadian officials visiting a Kanawha jail encountered a detainee who was able to show them where the equipment used to torture him was hidden in the room. For several months after that, Canada stopped transferring detainees. But it resumed the transfers in February 2008, with fresh assurances that there will be adequate monitoring. But can anyone rely on Afghan authorities.  Why this double standard?

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Afghanistan: long on promise and short on performance

Canada promised Afghanistan $1.3 billion in aid, and by and large it has been delivering. Yet sadly, the same can not be said for the broader $25 billion promised international aid. Donors have come up $10 billion (U.S.) short on pledges, and the programme is in an ineffective mess that has undercut prospects for peace in a nation struggling to recover from 30 years of Soviet occupation, civil war and Taliban misrule now under constant attack by the American lead NATO forces. Clearly the powerful countries of the world have hurled more bombs than provided food and medicines to the Afghans.

This grim verdict in Falling Short, an eye-opening report is from Oxfam, Save the Children and more than 90 other aid groups. It categorically asserts "much aid to Afghanistan is wasted." It also strengthens the case for giving the United Nations' new aid envoy, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, the strong hand he needs to co-ordinate development work by Afghan officials, donor countries, banks and the military, to improve aid delivery and quality. The present arrangement is reeking with corrupting and a sheer wasteful exercise.

The report should be under serious discussion when leaders from key donor countries, Canada included, meet in Bucharest for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit. Canada's status as a credible and effective donor could help demand better from our partners. Would they oblige?

Of the $25 billion that Kabul was promised since 2001 under the Afghan Compact, only $15 billion has been delivered. Afghans got just $9 billion, as $6 billion went back to donor countries in salaries, security, transportation and housing for foreign development consultants, and in purchases of goods and services at inflated prices. This is exactly happening in most of donations to Iraq and other developing countries. The donors not only cheat in terms of volume, they also dictate policies. World Bank is classic case. In the end these are the corporates from the donor countries that get fat.

Washington pledged $10.4 billion but has delivered only $5 billion. While America gets credit as the largest Afghan donor, the report holds it responsible for half the international shortfall. America left it doldrums when Soviets left and came to attack it with bombs and napalm gas.

It is true that Afghanistan’s poor security hampers aid delivery. So does government corruption and the country's inability to absorb aid. And yet the picture is not entirely bleak as some life goes on and the economy and infrastructure must be helped to improve. This is the only way to fight the Talibans.  But why pledge help, only to claw it back before it reaches the poor? That just demoralizes Afghans and feeds the insurgency.

Major donors should increase aid and deliver as promised. This Oxfam report urged they should also channel more help through the Afghan government to build up its credibility, redirect aid from urban centres to poorer rural areas and zero in on reducing poverty and building local capacity. There is very little time to waste. Already the battles are getting lost.

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Make peace not war

Protesters who took to Toronto streets in early March in unison with anti-war activists in 20 other Canadian cities spoke courageously against Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan. Protesters called for an end to the combat mission, the recall of the 2,500 Canadian troops stationed in Kandahar, and the adoption instead of a nation-building role with Canadians as peacekeepers. More than 1,000 demonstrators then marched a couple kilometres through busy stretches of the city.

Thousands of protesters filled streets across the country to  assert against Canada's military mission in Afghanistan and to mark the upcoming five-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.Rallies were organized in 20 communities countrywide in a joint call for the federal government to recall its troops from Afghanistan and instead adopt a peacekeeping role, which protesters said is Canada's true calling.

“The majority of Canadians want the troops to come home now – shame on Parliament,” said Diane Alexopoulos at a rally on the front lawn of the Ontario legislature in Toronto.

Hundreds of protesters across sent a strong message to the two parties, the ruling Conservatives and the opposition party, the Liberals to desist from being a senseless supporter of the American imperial games

Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the dastardly Iraq invasion, the rallies were organized by the Canadian Peace Alliance to condemn the lack of political debate surrounding Parliament's recent decision to extend the country's Afghan mission.

Among the protesters was Abdul Rahman Karim, a 24-year old Afghan Canadian who said he initially supported the NATO campaign in Afghanistan but, like many of his fellow Afghans, grew disillusioned as the combat mission dragged on. "I don't see any future for Afghanistan under these present conditions," he said. "There's a role for Canada to play in Afghanistan. However, a security-centric approach will not achieve our aims."

James Clark, 31, of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, said many Canadians are "angry at the vote to extend the mission to 2011.”In 2003, very small demonstrations led to large-scale marches that stopped the Canadian government's support for the invasion of Iraq," he said. "Now we're calling on a mass mobilization of Canadians to bring about the safe and immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops in Afghanistan."

Clark and other organizers estimated that more than 3,000 protesters demonstrated at Queen's Park yesterday. More than a thousand of them then marched a few kilometres through busy downtown streets to a Bloor St. church to conclude their three-hour demonstration.

Protesters, young and old – some with family connections to Afghanistan, others with no more than a political disgust for the war – carried their message above their heads on banners and placards that read "Bring the Troops Home" and "End it, Don't Extend it."

In Ottawa, where snow was falling from grey skies, several hundred people trudged through slush-covered Sussex Dr. for a protest on the lawn of Parliament Hill.

In Montreal, protesters waved flags and sang as they marched through the city's downtown core, clogging several city blocks. In downtown Halifax, several dozen people turned out. In Calgary, what began as an anti-seal hunt protest quickly transformed into a rally against Canada's troops being in Afghanistan.

Fifteen minutes before the anti-war rally was scheduled to begin, a line of protesters held placards calling for an end to the seal hunt. Moments later, they swapped their signs and spoke out against the war.

About 1,000 people convened at Queen's Park and marched through Toronto calling for Canadian troops to pull out, joining others around the globe for the World Against War day of action.

NDP Leader Jack Layton joined the Toronto march and said that Canada must withdraw from the combat mission in Afghanistan and instead lead peaceful efforts to bring security and stability to the troubled country.

Protesters in Ottawa held a peace march from the National Gallery, to the front of the U.S. embassy, to Parliament Hill to call for an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Is royal blood special?
Gurpreet Singh reports from Vancouver

AS the Canadian parliament has decided to extend the Afghan mission until 2011 and there is no possibility of the troops returning home soon, the decision to pullout Prince Harry from the war against terror sets a bad example.

While the Prince of Wales expressed "great relief’’ after his son returned safe from Afghanistan, the Canadian military has lost its 81st soldier to the war. The member of the royal family has returned to UK after spending 10 weeks in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. Earlier, he was supposed to be deployed in the war torn Iraq, but the UK government had abandoned the plan for security reasons and discreetly sent him to Afghanistan.

After his deployment was revealed the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown expressed his gratitude to the Prince for serving in the frontline of the battle. "The whole of Britain will be proud of the outstanding services he is giving’’, he observed. However, the Ministry of Defence pulled him out again citing the security reasons. This time Brown said, "The whole country is going to be delighted that Prince Harry has come back safely."

The US Congressmen are often blasted for not sending their own kids to the war in Iraq. The deployment of Prince Harry in a war torn region had silenced the anti war activists for a while, but the decision to pull him out has proved that his deployment was only a PR exercise. Brown’s appreciation over his safe return suggests that how the establishment is too worried about the safety of the royal progeny and can contradict its own position to please its masters.

It seems that the royal blood is special than those of the ordinary soldiers deployed in Afghanistan. The Mobilization against War and Occupation (MAWO) has collected more than 13,000 signatures on a petition seeking withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. Those who have signed the petition care about the safety of the ordinary soldiers whose families are also anxious about the safety of their loved ones. Will anyone listen to them after the safe return of Prince Harry? The Canadian politicians should consider this demand as the mission is now becoming dangerous not only for our soldiers but also for the very people the occupying forces are trying to help or else should ask Prince Harry to return to the frontline.

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The Legacy of Tejinder Singh Sibia
Dr. Amrik Singh writes from Sacramento

Isabel Garcia, 73, was expecting a phone call from Tejinder Singh Sibia (Ted Sibia) when she noticed his obituary in Sacramento Bee on March 9, 2008. During a long conversation about her association with Sibia , she exclaimed, “I hated him to go and leave us profoundly shocked.” Daughter of Mr. Memel Singh, a Punjabi Pioneer who came to the US in 1906, Isabel Singh Garcia recognized that she was rich with history because “Ted restored our Mexican-Punjabi identity to us and researched on the narratives of the lost race. I am afraid the new generation of Punjabis isn’t interested in us any more.”

Mrs. Garcia regretted that Ted didn’t live to see the museum to honor Punjabi pioneers in Sutter County. Sibia was an advisor to Punjabi American Heritage Society that according to Dr. Jasbir Singh Kang is in the fourth of five phases of Museum’s completion.

Tejinder Sibia will be known as one of the stalwarts who modeled core values of Punjabi culture during his most rewarding career in the US. A strong gathering of more than 400 in North Sacramento Funeral Home at El Camino and at Sikh Gurdwara, West Sacramento on March 9, 2008 was unanimous in recognizing Mr. Tejinder Sibia’s monumental contribution in enhancing historical, cultural and linguistic awareness of Punjabis in American society. He loved his circle of friends as much as he loved his family. He touched hearts of young men and women who looked upon him as their mentor and perennial source of inspiration. As a boss, he is remembered as the most benevolent, approachable and entertaining. Irwin Weintraub (Brooklyn, NY) reminisces the time at Virginia Tech during 1973-77 as “blessed to have Ted as my supervisor.”  Charlie Priore (Kengon, MN) recalls Mr. Sibia during 1980-84 at UC Davis, “His wisdom and mentoring have followed me all of my many years after leaving.”

Similar messages have been recorded by David Washburn and Carrie Rushby (Cascade, ID) who happened to work under Ted’s supervision.

Mr. Sibia migrated to the US in 1960 after graduating from PAU Ludhiana. Born in August, 1937 in Killa Raipur, Ted seemed to have imbibed the spirit of sportsmanship in the serene environments of his village, known as the site of historic rural Olympics. He worked hard to earn master's degrees in horticulture at Kansas State University and library science at Emporia State University in Kansas. Mr. Sibia headed Shield Library, Research Unit of Biology and Agriculture at the University of California, Davis.

Community events were vital source of his high-spiritedness. One month before his death, on February 3, 2008, Ted made sure that he didn’t miss honoring of Dr. David Hosley, Emeritus President and General Manager of PBS/KVIE TV Channel 6 for the production of “Sikhs in America.” The picture of the event at Gurdwara West Sacramento was taken by him and widely published in various newspapers.

His article “Immortal Komagata Maru” in Pioneer Asian Immigration to the Pacific Coast throws light on his profound psychological bonding with Punjabi pioneers who in spite of unbearable sufferings kept the flame of India’s freedom burning. His website www.sikhpioneers.org makes accessible to researchers rare documents of historical importance. How he collected artifacts from now isolated Mexican Punjabi families, is subject of another story. As a member of Kohinoor Club, Mr Sibia was an asset to the institution.

Mr. Sibia supported efforts of the community to introduce Sikh history in California school textbooks. He often accompanied Dr. Onkar Singh Bindra for lobbying to introduce teaching of Punjabi in schools and colleges. Ted was instrumental in starting Punjabi at Sacramento City College. Dr. Jasbir Singh Kang remembered that Mr. Sibia was the first to organize cultural events under the banner of Punjabi Cultural society in 1970-80. Dr. Kang traced his active involvement in cultural activities to the impression Sibia left on his mind. Mrs. Manjit Sibia wife of Mr. Sibia said that he established liaison with Asians like Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese to build a senior center for the community. He loved counseling young boys and girls to make them proud of their identities.

Sukh Chain Singh one of his closest friends shared with the community his last meeting with Ted that touched everybody’s heart. Mr. Singh told that his last wish was that since he had had a wonderful life and enjoyed love and gratitude of his friends, he wanted that his funeral and memorial service (Bhog) should take place on the same day. Though unconventional it was his wish not put friends to any inconvenience. He got ready for his death the way he would get ready with a smile for attending a social event. Ted appeared to be fully in control of programs that were related with his last rites.

Tejinder S. Sibia indeed was the soul of the community. The Sacramento Bee’s Guestbook for Ted Sibia reminds us how high his stature in the community was. The Guestbook will remain online for a year. http://www.legacy.com/SacBee/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=105255676

The entry by young Riars is one of heartfelt ovations to Mr Tejinder Singh Sibia’s legendary life lived for others.

Ode to Uncle Ji
To the heavens you must depart, leaving behind broken hearts;
Lost is now a husband, father, and good friend, he stayed strong until the end
A proud member of our community, who lived life with so much glee
A smile on his face with his infamous "Hey!" would spread laughter without delay
A punctual man, always on time, a man of his word, a man who was kind.
His life was once shattered with the loss of his son,
He picked up the pieces and was able to continue on.
Despite the burden, hardship and strife
He had a wonderful passion for life.

Email: amrik15@msn.com

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