No comments about The First and Second Sikh Wars.

5 comments about Fighting for Faith and Nation (Series in Contemporary Ethnography).

1. Support for a separate sikh nation is no longer there among sikhs in India. Infact, even during the height of terrorism a very small percentage of sikhs supported the cause. Currently the only sikhs who support this cause are sikhs outside of India who are far removed from realities in India. This book fails to capture that. It also fails to capture the Pakistani hand behind all this which Benazir Bhutto admitted to in one of the interviews. Infact, lots of millitants were Pakistanis posing as Punjabi Sikhs. Also, it needs to be updated now that the struggle is no longer their in Punjab.



2. When Cynthia Keppley Mahmood narrated some of her experiences with the Sikh Militant during the fieldwork to one of her students, he remarked, "These people are magnificent." After reading the book, many readers may feel the same way while others may disagree depending on which side of the fence they stand - victim of terrorism or victim of injustice that leads to terrorism.

   Although Mahmood makes it very clear in no uncertain terms about her disagreement in regards to the route the Sikh militants have taken up to seek justice, she still manages to bring together a very unbiased and objective account. This book sheds light on the history and politics behind what led to the disaster of 1984 in India. And then the aftermath is recounted by the eye witnesses and victims now settled in the US.

   Inder Malhotra, one of the most distinguished journalists of that time, compared Sant J.S. Bhindrawale to Khoemini and Frankenstien but this first hand accounts of people who grew up with, lived with, and fought with Bhindrewale show a different picture. After reading this book, it is up to the reader to decide which account to believe.

   Finally, a version that tells the story on behalf of the militants, their justifications, and their ideology. The first hand accounts of people who were directly involved and affected during the Blue Star operation are extremely moving and shows the image in different light than what one has seen before. The bravery of Sikh men, women and even children is amazing. The illustrations, some provided by the international documentation of human rights violation in India, are tremendously moving.

   This is a read that will take a while due to its poignant nature, but worth the time to understand the depth and dimensions of this problem




3. My recent interest in Sikhism led me to Mahmood's book, which has given me a much better understanding of the tragedy at the Golden Temple in 1984 (including circumstances leading up to, and following, the violence there).

   More importantly, it has reinforced my belief that uncovering the truth of the very human circumstances that lead to such violence can help us build bridges of understanding and hope for preventing such tragedies in the future. It is too easy to simply brand one's enemy as a terrorist, religious fanatic, or political extremist--but we must exert a bit more effort to see past such overly-simplistic labels--to see that our enemies are complex humans like ourselves, with many of the same hopes, values, concerns, fears, strengths and weaknesses.

   Jesus called upon us to love our enemies, and this book, in my opinion, begins to uncover some of the difficulties and revelations one might encounter in such a pursuit. As with most worthwhile pursuits in life, such attempts at uncovering the truth beneath both sides of an issue can be a complex, difficult, even dangerous paths to tread, but ones that we must traverse if we truly seek peaceful resolution of conflicts between people, countries, religions and cultures now and in the future.
   
   Mahmood treads this difficult path to uncover the human side of the Sikh militants, and in my opinion, succeeds admirably. To be fair, I'd like to read more accounts of the events at Amritsar, to gain a more complete perspective of the thoughts and feelings of all those involved. Because the Indian government apparently made great efforts to conceal the truth behind the events of 1984, it seems finding more books that do as well as Mahmood's at shedding light on the violence may be difficult. Hopefully I'll find more gems like this one. Highly recommended.




4. Sat Sri Akal,

   to the first poster of the review, kindly read the following, taken from the very first page:

   "Mahmood ... undertook this investigation as a study of the anthropology of violence and based her interviews solely on Sikhs living in North America, including some in prison. The narratives relate primarily to the relationship of the individual to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, or the invasion of the holiest Sikh temple by the Indian government in 1984. The last portion of the book raises questions about membership in communities and violent attempts to force conformity."

   Her research was done by asking MILITANTS (some even in Jail!), and by personal testimonies of Sikhs in North America. and almost all are blindly against the GOI for its attack at the Hari Mandir (Golden Temple) in Amritsar. This same 'freedom' movement resulted in the deaths of many innocent people, and the creation of an almost terrorist state, where there were daily bombings on buses and shootings of civlians.

   How unbiased is this book when THIS is what it is based on?

   The attack at GT was terrible, but lets look at the facts and base them on reality, rather than personal testimonies by people who will, naturally, have their own strong opinions on the subject.

   Thank you




5. After reading Operation Blue Star and other books relating to this general topic I finally came across one that was unbiased and took information from the actual 'militants'. This book will take you a while to read because of the way it was written, however I definetly recommend it to all those wishing to learn what is really going on in India.

   I wish I could give this book to John Kerry and be read this you ignorant mofo. I'm referring to this Oklahoma speech during the democratic race on January 31st when he referred to Sikhs as terrorists in India.

   This book was a very good and informing read.

2 comments about Soft Target- How the Indian Intelligence Service Penetrated Canada.

1. Brian McAndrew and Zuhair Kashmeri have done exhaustive and difficult research to compile alternative explanations for the Air India disaster that killed 329 Canadians in 1985.

   Evidence never released to the public by CSIS or the RCMP is provided in this book that legitimately exposes the role of the Indian government in this heinous crime. A must read for those seeking the truth about Air India.




2. Brilliant book unleashing facts of Indian and Canadian Intelligence Services. Book is banned in India, for no reason, can't understand though. Anyways, it's quite interesting to read as most of the high profiled Indians withdrew from the Air India flight at last hour which crashed later. Did they knew about this already ? Some good facts and interesting book to read.

3 comments about Amritsar: Mrs. Gandhi's Last Battle.

1. The book is nicely written and is informative. It starts with a brief history of Sikhs, the long drawn roots of the movement, how it turned into terrorism, to the army operation and its aftermath. As pointed out in the book political leadership of the time was more to blame - Government did "too much too late". Too much because they acted too late which closed all the moderate options. Too late because a movement of small issues was allowed to grow into terrorism. The struggle for power and its wrath, once again, is well established. The dastardly act of few in power after the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi is brought out without wavering. And how the government machinery stood observer to inhuman killing of innocent people. The book carefully brings out controversial accounts, but not consistently. The book fails to paint the right picture of extent of terrorism - loots, killing of individuals, sects and groups, and attacks on government machinery with bombs and arms supplied from outside the country. Things can be argued one way or the other about the army operation. Everything is fair in love and war! The fact remains that army operation was inevitable and the Congress party, SGPC and Akali Dal were all equally responsible. While the first one created the problem, the other two supported and all the three used the propagators apart from the outside worlds, which helped in kind and cash both.

   I will have to say that it is not a complete account of the movement. It fails to account for all the forces that supported the movement, financial, political and moral. Origin of Sikhs is not mentioned at all.




2. A religious fundamentalist seizes control of a major holy place and unleashes terror onto others for their beliefs. It sounds like 2001, but in fact it was Amritsar, India 1984 and the religious fundamentalist was a person of the Sikh faith called Bhindranwale. Bhindranwale was a Sikh fundamentalist who believed in establishing the Punjab as a Sikh state. Hindus, and other Sikhs who didn't believe as he did were murdered and assassinated. This was all in the name of religion. Mrs. Gandhi at first didn't tackle this problem and let Bhindranwale seize control of the Sikh holy place called the Golden Temple.
   When terror continued to be directed from the Golden Temple, Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to seize this place. Hundreds of Sikhs were killed because of the Sant getting out of control. Gandhi was later assassinated by a Sikh as a result of her ordering the Golden Temple raid. This book is the story of this conflict.
   This is an average read on a very interesting event. Few books have been written about this conflict. I think the authors treated all parties from a equal perspective, so this story is not slanted.



3. It is really well written, it is my third book on the events that lead to the operation blue star. This book amazes with the details of history genesis of the issues and events in fairly objective manner. It is truely a must read...

No comments about A History of the Sikhs: Volume 2: 1839-2004 (Oxford India Collection).

1 comments about The Sikh Army 1799-1849 (Men-at-Arms).

1. A very detailed account of the Sikh Army in the Ranjit Singh period.There are some interesting sections on how how modern the army was with an artillary arm better than the British

No comments about Essays in Sikh History, Tradition and Society.

No comments about The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus (Sacred Literature Series).

2 comments about An Indian Attachment.

1. I read it about 12 years ago so I'm kind of rusty about it but I recall it was a super book. The true story of an amazing gutsy British lady who gets involved with a Sikh Nihang (temple guard) in India and their subsequent adventures. This book is a real sleeper for those of us who enjoy cross-cultural and travel writing. Highly recommended. I wonder what the author is doing now?



2. This was one of the most fascinating books I have ever read, and I've read thousands. The author wrote beautifully, with such vibrant descriptions it was almost like being there. I've often wondered what it would be like to have lived in a village in Punjab during that period of time. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in rural Indian lifestyles.

No comments about Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary (Philip E. Lilienthal Books).