Kamal Nath To Speak At Northwestern

[khalsaforce]

Kamal Nath to speak at Northwestern - Take Action

The Sikh Coalition was just informed that Kamal Nath will be speaking at Northwestern University tomorrow, Saturday, May 10. We are writing to ask each of you to take a few minutes of your time to let Northwestern know what we think of their honoring Mr. Nath, whose promotion to a Cabinet position in India came despite his involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms in New Delhi.According to numerous human rights reports, Kamal Nath, led a mob of 4,000 people that attacked and destroyed Gurudwara Rakab Ganj, a historical Sikh house of worship, in New Delhi. As a result of his action, several Sikhs were burned alive inside the building in November 2004.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ?

TAKE ACTION : Fill out this FORM on the SIKH COALITION SITE : http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1607/t/3...mpaign_KEY=2165

CONTACT :

President of Northwestern University

Henry S. Bienen hsbienen@northwestern.edu

Dean Kellogg School of Management

Dipak Jain d-jain@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Public Relations

Chuck Loebbaka c-loebbaka@northwestern.edu

Kellogg School of Management, Asst. to Dean Dipak Jain

John Palmares j-palmares@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Conference Link:

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/ibconf...2008/index.html

President of Northwestern University

Henry S. Bienen hsbienen@northwestern.edu

[Bored]

dam its a pretty late notice.

[khalsaforce]

yeh sad part is I just noticed the date

dam its a pretty late notice.

[guptveer1469]

burned alive inside the building in November 2004.

You mean November 1984, right?

[LIONHEARTN01]

OK the date has passed this does not mean that we cannot take action to petiton the university to ask why they let a person that has commited genocide against humanity was allowed to do a speach

who do we need to contact to get this sorted

[TejiKaur]

OK the date has passed this does not mean that we cannot take action to petiton the university to ask why they let a person that has commited genocide against humanity was allowed to do a speach

who do we need to contact to get this sorted

they didnt let him speak

i dont have any sources but my moms friend who knows students told us

[KH4L1$T4N1]

is he still in the US?

[nanosecond]

Well I got this email from Sikh Coalition just a day b4 he was to speak. I wrote to The NorthWestern University immediately.

Now what was the outcome??? are u sure he wasnt allowed to speak??? if thats the case, its a big victory.

Can we have some official statement on this from the Sikh Coalition?????

[kaur_khalistani_lioness]

i wish i could post a touching e-mail i got from one of my beloved sangat member who attended the protest outside of the uni that day. put so beautifully....while readin... water just welled up in my eyes..n on to my keyboard...(he captured those moments with such words that nyone would cry)

and to the question if he spoke or not? he did

(it was a very late notice indeed...no one really knew about it but day before he was to speak)

~akal~

[nanosecond]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religi...-protest-n.html

Sikhs protest Northwestern speaker

Northwestern University has come under fire in recent weeks for denying and offering distinctions to controversial figures. Not long after rescinding the offer of an honorary doctorate of sacred theology to Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. the university’s Kellogg School of Management welcomed a speaker whom many Sikhs compare to a "Nazi officer or Pol Pot."

Sikh activists urged Northwestern to "unequivocally condemn" Kamal Nath’s appearance at its 14th India Business Conference this past weekend. Nath, currently India’s minister for commerce and industry, was among many party leaders accused of organizing pogroms in November 1984, shortly after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.

More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in just four days. Eyewitnesses have testified that on Nov. 1, 1984, Nath led a mob of 4,000 people that attacked and destroyed Gurudwara Rakab Ganj, a Sikh house of worship in New Delhi, and burned alive several Sikhs inside.

While Nath testified that he was trying to disperse the mob, a journalist on the ground testified that Nath "was controlling the crowd and the crowd was looking to him for directions." Nath was never indicted in the incident.

Alan Cubbage, a spokesman for Northwestern, said students invited three keynote speakers to the conference: Atul Singh, president and chief executive officer of Coca-Cola India; Kanwal Rekhi, managing director of Inventus Capital Partners; and Nath.

"They apparently chose him to speak at this conference to discuss his recently published book, ‘India’s Century: The Age of Entrepreneurship in the World’s Biggest Democracy,’ and India’s journey to orient its economic framework to enter the global marketplace," Cubbage said.

Cubbage said the university was unaware of any concerns regarding Nath until a few phone calls came in on Friday. Northwestern does not control invitations issued by students to guest speakers or censor what they might say, he said.

But Jaskaran Kaur, co-director of Ensaaf, an international human rights group dedicated to holding states accountable for crimes against Sikhs, said university officials should have expressed concern about Nath’s history.

"Northwestern University must refuse to give a platform to Kamal Nath, and send a clear message to the world that it does not value title, prestige and commerce over human rights," said Kaur.

Dr. Anahat Kaur (Sandhu), secretary general of the World Sikh Council/American region, said Northwestern should have exercised more caution and sensitivity.

"This is as if they invited a Nazi officer or Pol Pot and you can understand how people victimized would feel," she said. "When you have a mass murderer on your campus, you should be worried."

What do you think? Should the university have vetted and acknowledged Nath’s history or would that be tantamount to censorship?