SARDAR AMARJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA was born in Shimla in 1930, He originally belongs to an Ahluwalia family of Kapurthala. He graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Delhi University in 1954 and joined the CPWD department as a gazette officer. He served in that department for 16 years before migrating to U.S.A. in 1970.
Mr. Ahluwalia faced lot of problems for getting an employment as an Engineer in U.S.A. His Sikhi Saroop with beard and turban became an issue to get a job for which he was otherwise competent. Mr. Ahluwalia could not stand this discrimination and decided to take up this issue in the court of Jaw with the help of the Sikh community. Although he, at last won the case but by then he had got a better job with the Port Authority of New York and Jew Jersey as an Engineer. He has been, till today, working in that capacity at both the International Airports in New York.
Mr, Ahluwalia’s experience of challenging the New York Telco, with the active support of the Sangat of New York, exposed him to a lot of community’s projects and since then he has never looked back. He has a number of prestigious projects to his credits. He organized North America Akali Dal for which he has been the General Sec. since its inception.
He organized the first Khalistan Conference in New York where Dr. Jagjit Singh Chauhan was the guest of honor. He has always been the chief organizer for almost all the protest demonstrations in New York, including the one to protest against the reception given to Indira Gandhi at Richmond Gurdwara in 1982.
The June, 84, attack on Golden Temple jogged his: conscience completely. He took leave without pay for about six months to organize International Sikh Convention at Madison Square Garden, New York in July, 84, which culminated in the formation of World Sikh Organization.
Mr. Ahluwalia has been helping every Sikh newspaper to establish Sikh media in U.S.A. In fact, he himself, made an attempt for the publication of a weekly newspaper “Sikh News” with the help of his family members.
Sardar Ahluwalia is a strong supporter of World Sikh News and is keen to develop it as a Sikh national media to present the true picture of the Sikhs in U.S.A. He also intends to develop Sikh broadcasting network in New York. He has been doing his best to ensure the help of all the Sikh organizations and Gurdwaras. These days he is preoccupied with the organization of the Sikh parade in New York on April 23 and the promotional dinner for the World Sikh News on April 24.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 22, 1988
