You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
India-Pakistan
Indira Gandhi's assassins declared martyrs
2008-01-06
In a controversial action, the highest Sikh temporal seat on Sunday declared the assassins of former prime minister Indira Gandhi as martyrs of the community.

At a special religious function, organised at the Akal Takht in Amritsar [Images] that was attended and headed by its Jathedar Gyani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh were hailed for targeting Indira for "sending the Indian Army to the Golden Temple for Operation Blue Star in 1984".

Satwant and Kehar were hanged to death.
One man's martyr is another man's goon.
Posted by:john frum

#8  Ya know...it just dawned on me (after I hit submit query) that this thread is devoted to the assasination of a great political figure of the 20th century and not the memories of a middle aged man from high school. I really was taken back by the photo. You have no idea...

Anyhow...if I could I would withdraw my last post.
Posted by: Mark Z   2008-01-06 20:55  

#7  Wow... in her youth the late BB was very hawt.

This photo bears a striking ( kinda creepy) resemblence to a pic of my date "w/ her parents on the couch" taken about 10 minutes before I arrived to escort her to the K of C Christmas dance, junior year, circa 1971.

You lads recall the "maxi coats" the ladies wore in 1971? (She might deny it, but TW does) My date wore one that night. Modesty and the lenth of skirts being what they were then. All I can recall is 3.2 beer, Sly and The Family Stone, and a very warm goodnight kiss. I deny everything else.

Posted by: Mark Z   2008-01-06 20:44  

#6  Yeah, but a lot of confusion too. Declaration of Independence/Rights of Man; Where's the Constitution; Adam Smith's Invisible Hand kinda sorta relates; the Rule of Law is unmentioned but the use of force is emphasized.

KPS Gill was a better police/military commander than political philosopher. As someone said, good government leads to democracy but not vice-versa.
Posted by: Glung McGurque2454   2008-01-06 20:41  

#5  Talking of KPS Gill, this is quote attributed to him from his Wikipedia entry;

"Democracy and liberalism are not a sufficient defence and this is a fact that the ideologues of ‘freedom’ need, equally, to comprehend. There is a fatal flaw in the liberal mind. Having established, in structure and form [though seldom in substance], a system of governance that corresponds to its conception of democracy, it feels that nothing more needs to be done. The ‘Truths’ of the liberal ideology are, as the American Declaration on the Rights of Man expresses it, ‘Self Evident’. They require no proof, no reiteration, and no defence - certainly no defence by force of arms. Once democracy [or even the ritual of quinquinneal elections] is established, according to liberal mythology, the mystical ‘invisible hand’ keeps everything in place; the ‘superior wisdom of the masses’ ensures order and justice...

This is just so much rubbish. As we should know after living with falsehoods for fifty years now. Truth does not triumph; unless it has champions to propound it, unless it has armies to defend it."


Lot of good sense there...
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2008-01-06 19:01  

#4  If they had tried this 2 decades earlier, when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, they might very well all be 'martyrs' now.
The Sikh Police Chief who crushed the insurgency, KPS Gill, notes that Sikh terrorism did not end because of any political negotiation. It ended because his men killed all the terrorists.
Posted by: john frum   2008-01-06 17:26  

#3  "Martyr" them all, let Allah sort them out.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2008-01-06 16:39  

#2  

Simla treaty talks...

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto
Posted by: john frum   2008-01-06 14:41  

#1  Yep... nothing like gunning down an unarmed old woman to prove your manly martyr qualities..

Real heroic action too.. killing her in her garden.

The terrorists who occupied the holiest Sikh shrine and turned it into an armed camp are of course blameless....
Posted by: john frum   2008-01-06 14:34  

00:00