Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann - to his eternal credit - writes to Smithsonian's History Museum of Natural History's Sikh project about 'Quisling' Tarloc
Khalistan Affairs Center - July 28, 2004
Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann - to his eternal credit - writes to Smithsonian's History Museum of Natural History's Sikh project about 'Quisling' Tarlochan Singh's past
Seven-member Sikh-American delegation visits the Museum of Natural History to protest the Tribune-reported July 24 inauguration by Tarlochan Singh of Smithsonian's "Sikhs - Legacy of the Punjab" exhibition
Protest called off after Museum Director reassured Sikhs in writing that there is no 'chief guest' for the July 24 opening events for the 'Sikhs; Legacy of the Punjab' exhibition
"Where are the Sikh heritage treasures stolen from the Darbar Sahib in June 1984?" Diaspora Sikhs ask Tarlochan Singh
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - The TRIBUNE, a Chandigarh-based English language newspaper, published in the Sikh Homeland of Punjab, referring to the July 24, 2004, opening of the world famous Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's exhibition, "Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab," carried a report, by Prabhjot Singh, in its July 12, 2004, issue. The report was about Mr. Tarlochan Singh, an old 'Quisling', (currently Chairman of the bogus 'do-nothing' National Commission for Minorities of the world's largest Oligarchy - India) and was headlined, "Ultra-modern Sikh museum in Washington - Inauguration by Tarlochan Singh on July 24." (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040712/punjab1.htm#8)
The July 24, 2004, Smithsonian event, organized under the Sikh Heritage Project, (Director; Dr. Paul M. Taylor) is a research and outreach component of the Asian Cultural History Programme of the Department of Anthropology. The exhibition showcases more than one hundred pieces of Sikh artwork like miniature paintings, arms and armour, traditional textiles and dresses, ancient coins, musical instruments, jewellery, sacred texts and modern works of Sikh art etc. A Sikh gallery in one of the world's top museum's has made every member of the half million strong Sikh-American community proud to be a Sikh and has aroused a sense of gratitude for these great United States and its people which made the Smithsonian's Sikh Gallery possible in one of the world's greatest museums.
Despite the fact that every Sikh-American supports Smithsonian's noble and historical Sikh Heritage endeavor, a July 18, 2004, written appeal from Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann, President Akal Dal (Amritsar) addressed jointly to the Smithsonian Institution and Sikh-Americans, exposed the modus operandi of the Quisling-like Tarlochan Singh. Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann's appeal struck a cord and triggered a wave of resentment, among the members of the half million strong Sikh-American community at the shameless audacity of an infamous discredited man, Tarlochan Singh, who was trying to represent the Sikh nation at an unprecedented major cultural event in Washington DC.
Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann's appeal about the Sikh Gallery exhibition also rekindled the unforgotten pain and memory of the June 1984 destruction, by the Indian Army, of the Sikh religion's sanctum sanctorum, the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib ) and state-arranged looting of the centuries old Sikh Heritage Library and removal by the Indian state of truck-loads of priceless and historical objet d`art, documents, gold coins etc., from the Toshakhana (treasury) located there which have not been returned to this day. Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann's appeal reminded the elders of the community about Tarlochan Singh's outrageous pandering role as press secretary to roving-eyed President Zail Singh and his do-nothing behavior (along with President Zail Singh) during the horrible 1984 state-sponsored Sikh pogroms, when thousands of Sikhs were murdered in Delhi alone while these two frolicked in the British-built President's palace in New Delhi. Tarlochan Singh's latest anti-Punjab pro-Haryana stand on the SYL canal issue, which will deprive the Punjab of its river waters, has earned this horrible man the universal contempt of everybody in the Sikh Homeland of Punjab. Tarlochan Singh could not get elected as a dog-catcher or monkey-catcher in the Punjab even if he tried. That was the reason why the right wing Hindu-fundamentalists arranged for his 'election' from Haryana state to the Rajya Sabha - the upper house of the Indian parliament - so he could play the role of agent provocateur among the Sikhs.
A letter (appended below) by Dr. Amarjit Singh, Director Khalistan Affairs Center, Washington D.C., delivered to Dr. Paul M. Taylor, Director of the Sikh Gallery at the Museum of Natural History, and telephone contact by Mr. Preetham Singh resulted in a Saturday morning (July 24, 2004) meeting of the Director with a seven member Sikh delegation from the Washington tri-state area - details are in the Khalistan Affairs Center's Press Statement appended below. It was charged in the Khalistan Affairs Center's letter to Dr. Taylor that Tarlochan Singh is privy to the whereabouts, and 'travels' of the priceless treasures removed, by the attacking Indian Army, from the Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, in June 1984, which objet d`art, books, historical documents, gold coins, scuttlebutt has it, are being smuggled abroad and sold to auction houses, private collectors and museums.
The provocative story in the TRIBUNE mentioned above, the written public appeal from Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann from the Punjab, Dr. Amarjit Singh's letter from Washington DC, hundreds of protesting E-mails from all over the United States to the museum and a meeting of a seven member Sikh delegation from the Washington DC tri-state area with Dr. Paul M. Taylor, cut Mr. Tarlochan Singh to size.
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