Sikh woman’s murder in Canada still a mystery

October 6th, 2009 LOS ANGELES - Police in Nevada state say they have found a 16-year-old Sikh girl who went missing last week. Karamjit Kaur, 16, was with her brother-in-law Parvinder Singh in Indiana state.

October 6th, 2009 NH prosecutor: Woman's burglary killing was randomMILFORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire prosecutor says four teenagers picked a rural home at random and went inside intending to kill.

September 22nd, 2009 LAHORE - A group of 379 Sikh devotees from India have arrived here for ceremonies to mark the 470th death anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, the world's youngest religion. The 'jatha', under the aegis of Sikh apex body Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), will visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, Geo TV reported.

September 11th, 2009 TORONTO - A young Sikh man was shot dead early Friday morning in the Indian-dominated city of Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto. The local police, who responded to an emergency call, said 33-year-old Devinder Singh Gill was found injured after being shot at about 4.20 a.m.

September 3rd, 2009 AGRA - A possible confrontation between Sikh leaders and followers of Dera Sacha Sauda sect was defused after authorities in this Utar Pradesh district withdrew permission to the sect to hold a congregation following protests from Sikh leaders. District authorities late Wednesday night withdrew permission to the Dera Sacha Sauda from holding a congregation in Rohta village in Agra district after Sikh leaders blocked vehicular traffic on the Delhi-Agra highway.

August 25th, 2009 IPOH - Perak Menteri Besar Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir met 17 poor Sikh families after he promised to help the community financially. The families from in and around the state capital are among the more than 350 Sikh poor and hardcore poor in the state identified by the Union of Perak Sikh Organisations (Upso) through the Sikh Single Mothers Association (Sikhmai).

August 13th, 2009 IPOH - Malaysia's Sikh community may be small in number, but its contributions to the development of Perak and the nation as a whole have been invaluable. Menteri Besar Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the community should continue with its contributions and remain united to face local and global challenges, as well as work with the government to improve its lot.

August 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Six men and a woman are being questioned for allegedly murdering a Sikh landlord, police said. Swinder Singh Batth, 47, was shot in the chest outside Gavin's Bar in Bilston, West Midlands on Tuesday night, the Daily Star reports.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A CCTV footage that released in the US shows a baby squirrel jumping out of a woman's cleavage, while she is being interviewed by the police. The little animal emerged from between the unnamed woman's breasts as she was giving evidence in an ongoing murder case, reports the China Daily.

June 23rd, 2009 IPOH - Malaysian Sikh community leaders have said that one in every 20 Sikhs living in Perak is a hardcore poor. The Sikh community's hardcore poor numbers around 1,500, constituting about 400 families, or five per cent of the total 28,000 Sikhs in the state.

May 26th, 2009 LONDON - A Sikh group from Slough has written to Queen Elizabeth requesting her to return property and items belonging to the family of Punjab's last king Ranjit Singh. The Telegraph quoted Jagdeesh Singh, from the Sikh Community Action Network, as saying: "We have written to the Queen asking for access rights and the eventual return of items such as historic copies of the Sikh national sacred writings, together with swords and weapons of the Sikh gurus." According to Singh, letters, diaries and writings of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Sikh ruler exiled to Britain in the 19th century, are also part of the collection, some of which is housed at Windsor Castle.

May 19th, 2009 TORONTO - A visiting Pakistan minister vowed to protect Sikhs from the Taliban even as Canada announced $5 million for Pakistan's Sikh families who have fled the Swat Valley after the imposition of 'jaziya' (tax on non-Muslims) by the Taliban. Announcing the $5-million package at a round-table here, Canada's newest Sikh MP Tim Uppal said: 'I am pleased to announce on behalf of the prime minister that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has committed 5 million dollars to the humanitarian effort to help those people displaced by the conflict.' Uppal, who is the ruling party MP from Edmonton, said: 'We call upon the government of Pakistan to ensure the security and safety of all its citizens, including religious minorities.' Pakistan's Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, who was a special invitee to the round-table, said: 'I want the minorities to know that they have a brother and a friend in the government of Pakistan who will do all in his power to stop atrocities on Sikhs in Pakistan.' When asked whether the Pakistan government will compensate the Sikhs for the money taken away by the Taliban, the minister only said: 'I strongly condemn the Jaziya collected from Sikhs by the Taliban.' The Pakistani government has announced a token compensation of $120 each to the displaced Sikh families, many of whom have sought refuge in the historic Sikh shrine at Hasan Abdal.

May 6th, 2009 TORONTO - High-profile Indian-origin MP Ruby Dhalla, who faces charges of mistreatment of her two nannies, Wednesday resigned as critic for youth and multiculturalism for the opposition Liberal Party. In Canada, 'critics' constitute the shadow cabinet for the opposition party.

February 9th, 2009 TORONTO - A 13-year-old Sikh boy, who is accused of 'assault' on his two classmates with his kirpan last September, has appeared in a Montreal court to face charges. The teen had allegedly taken out his kirpan and long hairpin during arguments with two white classmates during lunch hour outside their school in the town of LaSalle near Montreal last Sep 11.

December 22nd, 2008 TORONTO - Having failed to nab the killers of an elderly Sikh man near Calgary early this year, Canadian police have now widened their search for clues. The badly beaten and decapitated body of 70-year-old Pargat Singh Kahlon was found in February.