SIKH ALLIANCE QUARTERLY

Vol. 2 Issue 1 February 2014

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa, Vahiguru ji ki Fatih. I am pleased to report that with the grace of Vahiguru, the progress of Sikh Alliance remains steady. We are confident that we will meet the ambitious goals the organization established back in January of 2013. The Alliance is continuing to advance Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapinds litigation against defendants Government of India, the Punjab State Government, and the Punjab Police. We are expecting that in the Summer of 2014 the United States District Court will rule on whether the defendants may be held liable for violating their promise to treat Bhai Kulvir Singh in accordance with the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Details about Bhai Kulvir Singhs case, as well as other Alliance cases and legal projects, appear in this newsletter. The Alliance has successfully established the Sikh Lehar Welfare Society in Punjab. The Society is operating in Ludhiana and Bikhiwind (Amritsar), under the guidance of its Director Gurmeet Singh. Please read this newsletter to learn more about the progress of the Society. The Alliance is planning its next Annual Meeting in June 2014. The East Coast session will be held on the weekend of June 13th to June 15th. The West Coast session will be held on the following weekend, June 20th to June 22nd. It is the commitment of the Alliances Board and staff to present results at the Annual Meeting that will honor the generosity of the sangat and support a brighter future for the panth.

Indian Government and other Defendants Promise to Respond to Allegations Regarding Torture of Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapind
In September 2012 Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapind, former General Secretary of the Sikh Student Federation, became the President of the Akali Dal Panch Pardhani. Upon becoming President, Bhai Kulvir Singh, who is also the elected representative to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee from the Nawanshar constituency, immediately vowed to push forward an agenda that would provide Punjabis an alternative to the corrupt practices of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Badal and Indias central government. That same month, the Indian security forces arrested Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapind from his home. He has been imprisoned ever since. He is currently detained in Nabha Jail in Punjab. During the course of his imprisonment the Indian security forces have subjected Bhai Kulvir Singh to brutal torture, despite its absolute promise to the United States government that it would not subject him to any treatment that violated the United Nations Convention Against Torture. The Government of India made its promises in 2006 during negotiations with the United States to seek Bhai Kulvir Singhs forceful surrender from the United States. Prior to his surrender, for a period of thirteen years, Bhai Kulvir Singh had remained detained in United States jails and detention facilities while he opposed his forcible return to India due to his fear of political persecution. The Indian governments promise that Bhai Kulvir Singh would not be tortured in India was a condition of the United States surrender of him in 2006, a condition which the Indian government, state government of
(cont. on back page)

Sikh Alliance continues the battle to seek justice on behalf of Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapind in the United States District Court.

The Sikh Lehar & Welfare Society is established in Punjab and is operating Sikh Centers.

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Updates on Sikh Alliance projects and litigation concerning human and civil rights issue.

Jasjit Singh

President, Sikh Alliance

SIKH ALLIANCE ANNUAL MEETING

East Coast Session June 13th to 15th in New Jersey West Coast Session June 20th to June 22nd in California

SIKH LEHAR WELFAR SOCIETY MAKES STEADY PROGRESS

One of the mandates of Sikh Alliance is to provide tactical and logistical support for the development of the Sikh Lehar Welfare Society in Punjab. Under the leadership of its Director Gurmeet Singh, the Sikh Lehar Welfare Society has been established and has made commendable progress over the past few months with respect to both its infrastructure and programming. Bhai Gurmeet Singh is currently employed as the Documentalist at the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences in Jalandhar. He has master degrees in both Public Administration and Religious Studies from Guru Nanak University (Amritsar). He has over ten years work experience in the field of education, with over five years in the field of religious studies. Bhai Gurmeet Singh has restructured his work schedule so he works at the Institute in the evenings. As a result, during the day he is able to serve as a fulltime Director of the Society. Despite his fulltime commitment to the Alliance, Bhai Gurmeet Singh is not receiving a salary for his work. As a result of his dedication, the Society was officially registered as a nonprofit organization on December 27, 2013, with its headquarters in Jalandhar, Punjab. To solidify its infrastructure, Bhai Gurmeet Singh is securing permission for the Society to receive funding under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. Bhai Gurmeet Singh is focusing on building a sound infrastructure for the Society because his focus is the Societys long term success. According to Bhai Gurmeet Singh, It is the lack of infrastructure that has doomed many well-intentioned efforts in the past. Bhai Gurmeet Singh has in fact instituted meticulous policies and procedures to monitor the work being performed by Society staff at its Sikh Centers, where the Societys grassroots efforts take place. These include strict reporting requirements of the work being performed by the Societys staff at its Centers. The Alliance currently has Centers functioning in Ludhiana and Bikhiwind (Amritar). Bhai Amrik Singh is the Societys Coordinator in Ludhiana. Bhai Surinder Singh is the Societys Coordinator in Bikhiwind. Both Bhai Amirk Singh and Bhai Surinder Singh have graduate degrees in religious studies. A graduate degree is the minimum qualification Bhai Gurmeet Singh has established for a Coordinator. One of Bhai Gurmeet Singhs goal is to standardize the curriculum at the Societys Centers to insure consistent, quality instruction. He has thus adopted a curriculum that will be used by the Society for children from kindergarten to eighth grade. The curriculum provides instruction in both Gurmukhi and Punjab history. Having a standardized curriculum is critical for the Society, Bhai Gurmeet Singh stated. I am excited about the curriculum adopted by the Society because there is a terrible hole in the curriculum on Gurmukhi and Sikh history that is currently available in Punjab. The curriculum the Society is implementing has excellent substance and lends itself to contemporary teaching techniques. The publication of the curriculum will be of great benefit to the Society, and will also be a great service to the Sikh community and the people of Punjab, stated Alliance President Jasjit Singh. Soon Gurmeet Singh intends to add a drug abuse prevention program to the Gurmukhi and history

Sikh Lehar W elfare Society students receiving instruction in Am ritsar.

curriculum. Gurmeet Singh explained, There is no better drug abuse prevention program than Sikhism. If we integrate scientifically proven drug abuse prevention strategies into our curriculum, we can save the next generation of Sikh youth from the problems that are crippling the current generation.

Sikh Alliances Legal Project Advancing the Khalsas Principles of Justice for All
Sikh Alliance is committed to championing the Khalsas principle of universal social justice. Based on this commitment, the Alliance represents individuals in cases without concern for their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Currently the Alliance is representing four individuals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in cases implicating human and civil rights. One such individual is Cesar Leite, a citizen and national of Brazil. In Mr. Leites case, the United States Department of Justice, through the Board of Immigration Appeals, concluded that the reforms that tightened eligibility requirements for securing asylum in the United States applied to the alternative form of relief, withholding of removal. The Alliance and Mr. Leite are challenging the government agencys interpretation as contrary to the statute and contrary to the United States commitments under the United Nations 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugee and its 1967 Protocol. Another Alliance client whose case is before the Ninth Circuit is Patricia Cordes. Ms Cordes is a native of Scotland and citizen of the United Kingdom, who has been residing in the United States for over 40 years. For over a decade now, the immigration authorities have sought to deport her based on a criminal conviction that was not a deportable offense at the time she entered her plea, but was so reclassified retroactively by Congress. The Alliance is challenging the governments efforts to deport Ms. Cordes on the grounds that it is based on a misinterpretation of the applicable law, and in violation of the Constitutions guarantee of due process and equal protection. Other Alliance cases pending before the Ninth Circuit involve: the right of an individual to a hearing before his allegations that he received ineffective assistance of counsel are deemed not credible; and, an Indo-Fijian Sikhs family right to asylum based on the fact they were the victims of an attack at the hands of natives, which forced the family to abandon their farm and live in a refugee camp following Fijis May 2001 military coup. The Alliance has also teamed with the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the DeArcey Stewart has been in Innocence Project in supporting DeArcey Jamul Stewarts petition asking that the Ninth Circuit prison approximately twenty rehear his case en banc. Mr. Stewarts appeal involves the issue of whether he is entitled to a hearing years, serving a life sentence, to consider previously unavailable evidence that led to the vacating of the criminal conviction of his based on a criminal conviction codefendant. The original panel of the Ninth Circuit judges who considered his appeal affirmed the that the government has lower courts decision that he is not entitled to a hearing, with one Ninth Circuit judge dissenting. The conceded rests on unreliable evidence. petition for rehearing en banc asks that a panel of 15 Ninth Circuit judges reconsider Mr. Stewarts appeal. Mr. Stewart has been imprisoned approximately 20 years and is serving a life sentence. The Alliance is also representing Saladin Rushdan in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in a civil rights action. Mr. Rushdan is currently detained in the California State Prison in the city of Cocoran. Mr. Rushdans civil rights case is based on the California prison authorities failure to provide him medical treatment that it had agreed to provide under a 1993 court settlement. The efforts of the Alliances legal department have not been limited to federal court litigation. The Alliance is currently representing JJ Kaur, formerly known as Sarah Rakowitz. After serving as a manager of a mobile home park in Newport Beach for approximately fifteen years, her now former employer and landlord is attempting to terminate and evict her. Ms. Kaur, who is disabled due to the partial amputation of her leg, is alleging that her termination was unlawful and she is entitled to monies for improvements she made to her residence in order to make it habitable. Sikh Alliance staff attorney Manmeet Toor is pleased with the progress of the Alliances legal department. What initially attracted me to the Alliance is its commitment to assisting people irrespective of their background, stated Ms. Toor. I am excited about the diversity and quality of the cases in which we are currently involved. I am hopeful that as we grow, we will be able to provide assistance to others who are in need.

(cont. from first page) Punjab, and the Punjab Police violated in September 2012. In May 2013, the Alliance, on behalf of Bhai Kulvir Singh Barapind, initiated litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California against the Government of India, the state government of Punjab, and the Punjab Police. The litigation seeks to hold defendants accountable under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for their failure to abide by the terms of Bhai Kulvir Singhs surrender. Following the initiation of the litigation, from May 2013 to September 2013 Indias central authority designated to execute service of summons and complaints, failed to return the summons in accordance with the governing international law. Eventually, the Alliance initiated a process where the United States District Court directed that the defendants be served l ti to h l The defendants subsequently th failed h todi respond Bhai Kulvir Singhs complaint within the allotted sixty days. As a result, in January of this year, the Alliance requested that the Clerk of the Court enter a notice of default against the defendants. Shortly thereafter, the defendants retained the firm of Dorsey and Whitney to represent them. Through their counsel, defendants announced their intent to respond to Bhai Kulvir Singhs complaint. And the parties have stipulated to provide the defendants until the 28th of February 2014 to do so. We are somewhat relieved the defendants have chosen to respond to the allegations in the complaint, stated Sikh Alliance staff attorney Manmeet Toor. It improves the chances that the case will be decided on its merits, as we believe to should be. It is anticipated that the United States District Court judge presiding over the case, Anthony W. Ishii, will decide this upcoming summer whether the defendants may be held liable for the torture Bhai Kulvir Singh suffered. The importance of this case goes beyond vindicating Bhai Kulvir Singhs rights under the United Nations Convention, explained Alliance president Jasjit Singh Hundal. This case is important for enforcing international agreements regarding human rights throughout the world, and insuring that those who violate their express commitments under these agreements are held accountable. The Sikh community has historically had a great tradition of involvement in such issues, and the Alliance is dedicated to embracing this tradition. Sikh Alliance 917 13th Street Modesto, Ca 95354

BARAPIND VERSUS THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA