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Where is Gurudawara in Ottawa???
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Hijack of Air-India airlineI am sure that you would have heard about the disturbing hijacking story of the Indian airlines. Along with this even more depressing story about the media ( New York Times) thinking Sikhs as most likely terrorist in the hijacking of the Indian airlines.
Khalsa ji, Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh! The following letter was just faxed to the New York Times. SMART encourages all Sikhs to write to the Times and other media outlets which erroneously identified Sikhs as responsible for the hijacking in South Asia, to register your protest at their shoddy journalistic standards and rush to judgement. Please send copies of all letters to SMART, and tell us if your local paper also reported that Sikhs were behind the hijacking. With your help we CAN make a difference! December 26, 1999 Dear Editor: The New York Times' reporting of the tragic hijacking of the Indian Airlines jet was irresponsible in its hasty and incorrect identification of the hijackers as Sikhs. While the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force deplores the hijacking, we also deplore the rush to judge by a respected newspaper like yours in identifying the hijackers as Sikhs without sufficient evidence. The front-page article on Saturday began with "Five Sikh men..." and your Sunday article merely stated that "Initial reports had suggested that the hijackers were Sikhs." While you made these statements with confidence, other news agencies, such as the BBC, reported how little was and could be known about the identity of the hijackers. By using an unconfirmed rumor on the front-page article as if it were fact, you have done a grave disservice to your readers and the Sikh community by once again labeling us as terrorists. Equally troubling is the fact that the New York Times failed to exercise the same kind of discretion it would have used had this been a domestic case. If a person were violently assaulted in Central Park the New York Times would not have rushed to print rumors stating the race, religion, or ethnicity of the assailant before the identity of the assailant was even confirmed. International incidents should be treated in the same manner. We ask that the New York Times not only issue an apology for this journalistic lapse, but that it reviews its own policies about identifying parties. Unfortunately, through this journalistic lapse damage has already been done to the image of the Sikh community and the world's 22 million Sikhs will likely be subjected to intrusive extra searches whenever they board a flight. Sincerely, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO THE COMMUNITY- 12/29/99 SMART JAIKARA (Action Alert) Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART)
December 29, 1999 New York Times Apologizes to Sikhs, and Prints Retraction as Result of Sikh Community Pressure; Further Action Urged by SMART Regarding Misattribution of Blame in Hijacking On Monday, December 27th, 1999, the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART) received a phone call from the Foreign Desk Editor of the New York Times. He apologized for the story the Times had run on the previous Saturday, concerning the tragic hijacking of the Indian Airlines jet. He conceded that SMART's criticism was "correct on all counts," and that a correction would be printed in Tuesday's paper. He further said that the first line of this piece which began "Five Sikh men said to be armed with. . ." should never have used the word "Sikh." This was in violation of two of the Times' editorial guidelines, and should have been caught.
The correction, in Tuesday's edition of the New York Times (12/28/99), reads:
While SMART is grateful to the Times for honestly acknowledging their mistake, we are saddened by the irreparable damage done to the Sikh community's image by the story. We would like to thank all those who contacted the Times in protest, and congratulate the Sikh community on this victory in fighting the media's misrepresentation of Sikhs. With your help, SMART can make a difference! But, our work is not finished. Several other newspapers across the U.S. and Canada carried the same erroneous reports of Sikhs being responsible for the hijacking. On behalf of the Sikh community, SMART continues to combat these false reports, but we again need your help to convey the anger and hurt caused by this irresponsible journalism. SMART calls upon the Sikh community to lodge their protests with these media outlets, and demand an apology for their careless printing of rumors. WHAT YOU CAN DO:
San Jose Mercury News: letters@sjmercury.com Orange County Register: letters@link.freedom.com; Fax: 714-565-3657Orlando Sentinel: osoinsight@aol.com Chicago Sun Times: nigelw@suntimes.com (Editor-in-Chief); dodge@suntimes.com (News Editor)Chicago Tribune: ctc-TribLetter@Tribune.com; Fax: 312-222-2598Boston Globe: letter@globe.com
_______________________________________________ SAMPLE LETTER Brackets [ ] indicate where you need to insert information: [Today's Date] Dear Editor: I am writing to protest your misattribution of the tragic hijacking of the Indian Airlines jet to members of the Sikh religion. The hijacking is a deplorable act, to be condemned no matter who is responsible. However, to be unfairly tarred with responsibility for such an action is a travesty. By publishing unsubstantiated rumors that claimed the hijackers were Sikhs, you did a grave disservice to your readers, and to the 22 million Sikhs worldwide. Journalistic standards demanded that you verify such reports before blaming members of a particular ethnic or religious group. You obviously failed to do this! Your error has hurt the feelings and damaged the image of the Sikh community, and we therefore demand a retraction and an apology for your erroneous reporting, and failure to confirm the facts of the situation. Thank you for your immediate attention to this important matter. Sincerely, [Your name here] [Your address] [Your phone number] Rediff December 28, 1999 Sikhs Complain Their Reputation Was Hijacked J M Shenoy Between the first flash of news of Indian Airlines hijacking and the confirmation that the hijackers are Kashmiri secessionists, many Sikhs across North America were furious at the media attention directed against the community. Many Sikh community leaders got calls from the local media asking for their reaction, even as they were saying the identity of the hijackers was not known. They became even more furious when The New York Times ran a front page report on Saturday by Susan Sachs which began this way: 'Five Sikh men said to be armed with grenades, rifles and knives hijacked an Indian Airline jet yesterday'. But way down in the story, The Times spoke of the possibility of the men belonging to a Kashmiri outfit. And yet, it said the BBC had reported the men were Sikh. "This is the worst kind of stereotyping and lazy assumption," said Deepan Singh, a New Yorker active in the community. "How did they reach this conclusion? It is horrible, the way the story is written." He was reminded of the Oklahoma bombing a few years ago that left over 200 people dead, and how the media had rushed to speculate that it could be the work of Arabs, and thousands of Arab Americans and Arab immigrants in and around Oklahoma City had become suspect in the eyes of their fellow citizens. "I don't feel like going to Jackson Heights this week," Deepan Singh said late on Friday evening, referring to the shopping district in Queens that has over 100 South Asian shops and restaurants. "I know people are talking about the hijacking, and I don't like them to think one of us did it." Echoing the sentiments of some of his friends, Deepan Singh said he felt the reputation of Sikhs was being hijacked by the media. As the story was breaking, Dr Rajwant Singh, president of Sikh Council on Religion and Education, was busy contacting editors and Indian community leaders. First, he condemned the hijacking, and if the Sikhs committed it, he said the hijackers deserve condemnation, too. In letters sent to a number of publications, Singh, who also heads the Maryland-based Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, asserted: "This reprehensible act of terrorism is neither condoned by Sikh teaching nor by Sikh masses anywhere in the world." But Rajwant Singh also wondered from where the media was picking up the information. He pointed out that just because an official in the United Arab Emirates, where the plane had stopped for refueling, had said that two of the hijackers wore turbans it did not mean they were Sikhs. "Besides Sikhs, many other ethnic nationalities and religious groups wear turban," his letter said. The media had reached the conclusion even though not a single passenger had been interviewed, Rajwant Singh noted on Friday night. Now that the identity of the hijackers is known, say many Sikh leaders, the media should do some introspection. "We are equally perturbed with the media's accusation at any particular group for committing an act of terrorism without proper evidence," Rajwant Singh added. |
| Last updated on : November 11, 2001 |
