The World Sikh Organization (WSO) Founding President Speaks on Human Rights

by | June 26, 2018

 

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen

The World Sikh Organization (WSO) founder spoke about human rights in The Straight.

According to the article, the WSO supports the human rights of all Canadians without regard to any status in life. Gian Singh Sandhu, the founding president, stated that the WSO has taken court cases on behalf of Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim communities.

The WSO worked as an intervenor for the Supreme Court of Canada court case with TWU. Apparently, a convicted terrorist asserted the WSO paid the legal bills for the court case of the terrorist.

The man, Jaspal Atwal, claimed the WSO paid the legal fees. He stated this came following being acquitted for the beating of lawyer Ujjal Dosanjh in 1985. Sandhu made the conter-claim the assertions of Atwal were false.

Sandhu stated, “The WSO never paid his legal fees… I was president of the organization from 1984 to 1989, so I can tell you very clearly we did not pay any of his costs… I have no idea. I have no idea.” (The final portion in response to the claim as to why Atwal would make the claim.)

Even with the allegations against the WSO, or more about the WSO, Sandhu respected the right for Atwal to “tell his side of the story.” However, Sandhu viewed this as not extending to the implication of organizations.

Sandhu has been on record condemning violence. Atwal, in the 1980s, was found guilty of attempted murder of a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister. He earned a 20-year prison sentence for the murder. His parole was 5-and-half years in prison.

Atwal was photographed with Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau in Mumbai; while also, he was on the guest list for a dinner with the Trudeau family at the Canadian High Commission in Delhi. Atwal, for a short time, became a famous Sikh in Canada.

“Trudeau’s national security adviser later told journalists that ‘rogue elements’ within the Indian government disseminated misleading information to discredit Canadian institutions.

Sandhu’s memoir,” The reportage stated, “An Uncommon Road: How Canadian Sikhs Struggled Out of the Fringes and Into the Mainstream, explained in detail how the Sikh community was frequently smeared in the media and by some Conservative politicians in the 1980s and early 1990s.”

The smearing of Sikhs by a sector of Conservative politicians for two decades. Sandhu targeted one important topic of the media. The “emerging motif,” in his words, of the independence of Khalistan and the term “extremist,” as an epithet or invective, merged together: conflated ideas.

Sandhu explained, “Many non-Sikhs seemed to regard support for an independent Sikh nation as a classic ipso facto: ‘If one is for Khalistan, then one is necessarily an extremist,’ a logical fallacy that often went unchecked and inflicted enormous damage on our community and our cause.”

The text emphasizes the tenets of the Sikh faith and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sandhu supports, in a strong fashion, both the Charter and the tenets of the Sikh faith.

Sandhu concluded, “The charter really tells me what being a Sikh is all about.”

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the Founder of In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal and In-Sight Publishing. He authored/co-authored some e-books, free or low-cost. If you want to contact Scott: Scott.D.Jacobsen@Gmail.com.

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