WASHINGTON: In a press release Guru Gobind Singh Foundation (GGSF) based in Washington, D.C. made it clear that it has no working relationship with the Organization with similar name based in Chandigarh India. The Press note said, “Guru Gobind Singh Foundation based in Washington firmly denies any tics whatsoever with a globe-trotting team of so-called intellectuals comprising of Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Jasdev Singh Jassowal and others, Inadvertently, some confusion has been created among the Sikh organizations and masses of North America and Europe because of similarity in names only.” That visiting team led by J.S. Ahluwalia belongs to Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, Chandigarh, India and has strong connections with the Indian government. Their supposedly aim of visiting western world is to gather support among Sikhs in order to establish a World Sikh university with headquarters in New Delhi. “However, behind this pretext, they want to unravel the fabric of Sikh theology and polity,” the press release said. In a conference held in New Delhi in January 1992, Guru Gobind Singh Foundation honored the then Governor of Punjab, Surender Nath, under whose regime countless innocent Sikhs were executed. Finance Minister of India, Manmohan Singh was a key note speaker there. Their presence was offending to the Sikh sentiments and some people with conscience like $.Saran Singh, the editor of the prestigious magazine, “The Sikh Review,” walked out of that conference in protest and in one of his editorial of the magazine he condemned the whole affair,

GGSF based in Washington, a very active organization, has clearly defined objectives: It is a member of the Interfaith conference of Metropolitan Washington, it represents Sikh religion and Sikh point of view in various forums and platforms on contemporary issues. It projects the positive image of the Sikhs, and it is trying to make Sikhs more visible on international level. GGSF represented the Sikh faith in Global conference held in Moscow, 1990 on environment and survival. It also represent the Sikh faith at the interfaith gathering in Seattle in 1991 and in Wichita, Kansas in 1987. Besides holding religious diwans every Friday evening and Sunday morning, GGSF also works actively for the human rights of the Sikhs, organizes food for homeless in Washington every month, and publishes, ‘the Sikh Vision,’ a magazine focused on specific theme.

Last fall GGSF also launched a world-wide campaign to get Bhagat Puran Singh of Pingalwara nominated for Nobel Puran Singh of Pingalwara nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. It had made several lawmakers of U.S., U.K., and Canada and academicians in India to write their letters of recommendation for late Bhagat ji.

GGSF Washington supports the ongoing Sikh movement for Independence in Punjab. The press release issued by GGSF officials stated, “the organization is willing to cooperate and work with any individual or other organization for the advancement of Sikh religion and polity provided this alliance is free from any political influence of the Indian government.”

Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1992