Supporting Gurbaksh Singh Kalsa in his hunger strike
Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, who is on hunger strike for seven weeks to free illegally incarcerated political prisoners in India.
Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Time: 11:00am - 12:40pm
Venue: Consulate of India, 5549 Glenridge Drive NE, Atlanta, GA, 30342
Contact: Gurmeet Kaur and Aasees Kaur, https://www.facebook.com/events/1594560610762346/?pnref=storyM
Dress Code - Saffron and Black
Please message to volunteer with preparations.
It's going to be a very cold day so come prepared.
Next Week · 37°F / 14°F Partly Cloudy
Try to get there before 11:00 so we can organize ourselves.
Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, who is on hunger strike for seven weeks to free illegally incarcerated political prisoners in India, has asked the sangat from around the world to show solidarity to his cause on Jan 7th 2015 by submitting petitions to the Indian PM via the nearest government offices.
He has gone hungry for more than 52 days today and even as he is about to perish, he wants the cause to live so that the prisoners can come home to their families. We shall honor his last wish.
Let's show that we are with him. We will meet at the Indian Consulate and show our solidarity with him very respectfully, submit our petition, document the event and leave.
Please attend. Leaders like him come only once in our lifetimes.
-----Read more about his peaceful protest ------ A Forty Nine year old Sikh Farmer, a civil rights activist, Mr. Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa is on a hunger strike unto death, in #India from Nov. 14th 2014 with little attention or reaction from the present Government.Mr. Khalsa has been conducting his nonviolent protest, his hunger strike in Gurudwara Lakhnaur Sahib, Ambala, in the state of Haryana his native town. He is demanding the release of political prisoners who have already served their jail terms--all of the seven prisoners he has focused on (lifers; including one whose capital punishment has finally been commuted to life after 19 years) have served the minimum mandatory of 14 years and most of them are being held without parole for over 20 years. (In India, most life term convicts are granted early release after serving minimum mandatory 14 years in prison )
This is Mr. Khalsa's second hunger strike. His strike in 2013 received much attention nationally and internationally with Sikh protests across India and the world. He had ended that fast when some of the prisoners were allowed temporary parole and on the assurance that the rest will follow. However, since, there has been little movement on addressing the issue of all the prisoners he has called attention to, in any permanent way. Khalsa is now, thus, fasting unto death--a strike he resumed on the one year anniversary of his 2013 strike.
