Articles by Gurpreet Singh.

News Features

Author reminds B.C. of 1984's Sikh massacre

By Gurpreet Singh
Ahuman-rights lawyer from India is touring B.C. to raise awareness about the anti-Sikh riots that took place in Delhi in 1984. Harvinder Singh Phoolka represents victims of the massacres that followed the assassination of then–Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.
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Commentary

Vaisakhi deaths led to terror

By Gurpreet Singh
Sikh separatism that generated a media frenzy in Canada following last year’s controversial Vaisakhi parade in Surrey was the fallout from a massacre 30 years ago. It’s worth revisiting that incident, which resulted in the deaths of 13 Sikhs in Punjab on Vaisakhi Day in 1978, to understand the roots of some of the violence that has plagued the community since then, including the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985.
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Straight Talk

Former spy rejects al-Qaeda theory in Bhutto killing

By Gurpreet Singh
Although the Pakistan government has blamed al-Qaeda for the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the former head of the country's national spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has rejected the theory. In a telephone interview with the Straight from Pakistan, retired lieutenant-general Hamid Gul described it as a tactic to hide security lapses and to please the U.S. administration.
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Commentary

Sikhs unite in support of failed refugee Laibar Singh

By Gurpreet Singh
The failed refugee claimant, who has been paralyzed by an aneurysm while in Canada, has attracted both moderates and fundamentalists from the Sikh community
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Straight Talk

War toys to become art on Gandhi's birthday

By Gurpreet Singh
Children will gather in White Rock on Tuesday (October 2) to shun toys of violence on the 138th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, the international peace icon.
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Straight Talk

Burnaby proclaims Bhagat Singh Day

By Gurpreet Singh
The City of Burnaby has issued a historic proclamation to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh, an Indian revolutionary who was executed by the British 76 years ago.
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Straight Talk

NDP motion will seek apology for racism

By Gurpreet Singh
One hundred years after immigrants from India were disenfranchised by the B.C. legislature, Indo-Canadian NDP MLA Raj Chouhan has decided to seek an apology from the province.
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Commentary

Hayer’s story not so simple

By Gurpreet Singh
This Saturday (November 18) marks the eighth anniversary of the murder of Canadian journalist Tara Singh Hayer outside his Surrey home. He is often lauded as a hero of press freedom for criticizing religious fundamentalists, but a close look at some of his writings suggests Hayer was a man of contradictions.
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Straight Talk

Decendant seeks apology

By Gurpreet Singh
A great-grandson of Baba Gurdit Singh, the man who brought the Komagata Maru vessel to Canada in 1914, has made Toronto his home.
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Straight Talk

Activist sympathizes with abductors

By Gurpreet Singh
Canadian peace activist Harmeet Singh Sooden, who was kidnapped in Iraq, says he feels sympathy for his abductors.
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Straight Talk

Jewish group wants Hamas recognized

By Gurpreet Singh
A secular Jewish group in Vancouver, Jews for a Just Peace, has asked the Conservative government to recognize the recently elected Hamas government of Palestine. Israel and the U.S. government have refused to do so, claiming that Hamas is a "terrorist organization".
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Straight Talk

Indian astronaut's dad battles infanticide

By Gurpreet Singh
The father of Kalpana Chawla, the first South Asian woman to go into space, is campaigning to stop female infanticide in his native India. In a phone interview with the Straight from his home in Haryana, India, Banarsi Lal Chawla said he is upset with conservative Indian families who prefer having boys over girls.
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Features

Immigrants claim that Canada conned them

By Gurpreet Singh
Back in 1999, Mohamed Bhatti decided to leave his hometown in Pakistan to start a new life in Canada. He recalls being told that Canada is a land of opportunities where a hard-working man like himself could make more money than what he was earning in Islamabad.
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Movies

Filmmaker seeks to bridge generation gap

By Gurpreet Singh
The director of "Getting Married", which bagged the best Canadian short-film award at last week's Vancouver Asian Film Festival, is sad about the abuse of women in the Indo-Canadian community. In her 18-minute movie, Indian-born Rani Sandhu tells the story of a girl compelled by her parents to marry as soon as she becomes a young adult.
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Straight Talk

South Asian Leaders Split On Mayoral Race

By Gurpreet Singh
Former B.C. Liberal deputy premier Christy Clark is not the only Vancouver mayoral candidate with the backing of Indo-Canadian leaders. While the Ross Street Temple's secretary general, Sarwan Singh Randhawa, supports Clark, other executive members want Vision Vancouver candidate Jim Green to be the next mayor of Vancouver.
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Commentary

Sikh clergy stay silent in Air India acquittals

By Gurpreet Singh
While B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Bruce Josephson has found the two Sikh suspects in the Air India bombing not guilty, their trial has brought into focus the involvement of Sikh militants in the worst mass murder in Canadian history. Some Sikh leaders in Canada and India are celebrating the acquittals, but should they instead be using their time to take a more critical look at Sikh terrorism and the limits of forgiveness?
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