Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal. Photo: Twitter

Houston, November 19

In honour of fallen Indian-American Sikh police officer Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, the Houston Police Department has changed its dress code policy to allow the minority community members to represent their faith while on duty.

On September 28, Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s office and its first Sikh deputy, was gunned down while conducting a mid-day traffic stop in northwest of Houston.

The 42-year-old trailblazing police officer made national headlines when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job.

“@houstonpolice is now the largest law enforcement agency in TX to adopt a policy allowing officers to wear articles of faith on duty,” City of Houston tweeted on Monday.

“Proud to announce HPD (Houston Police Department) will accommodate Sikh officers by letting them wear their articles of faith while on duty—one of the largest police departments in the country to do so. Deputy Dhaliwal taught us all a valuable lesson about inclusion. It was an honour to know him,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted.

“Proud to stand with @SylvesterTurner and so many members of our community to announce our policy and get the word out to our greater community,” Chief of the Houston Police Department Art Acevedo tweeted.

In a news briefing, the Houston Police Department announced that they are changing its uniform policy to allow officers to wear their articles of faith while on duty in order to be more inclusive in honour of the fallen Sikh deputy, Fox News reported.

“I’m honoured,” Dhaliwal’s father, Pyara Singh Dhaliwal, was quoted as saying by the KHOU Television station.

“The honour I got from this community and from the chief, the police department and the sheriff department is … I have no words to say. So, I very much thank all of these bodies. Wonderful moment,” he said.

The New York Police Department, the Chicago Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington and the Riverside Police Department in California are the other law enforcement agencies in the US which have uniform accommodations for the Sikh officers.

Sikh advocacy groups also praised the policy change.

“This policy change shows that no one should ever choose between their faith or their career, and also that these articles of faith pose no barrier to service,” Nikki Singh, policy and advocacy manager for the Sikh Coalition, was quoted as saying by the CNN.

Dhaliwal, worked with United Sikhs, a global humanitarian relief and advocacy nonprofit, to help organise the donation of truckloads of supplies for first responders after Hurricane Harvey.

He was allowed to wear the turban and beard while patrolling the streets to bolster cultural diversity. — PTI

Photo for representation.

Jammu, November 17

A soldier was killed and two more were injured in a suspected IED blast near the Line of Control in Akhnoor sector here on Sunday, a defence spokesperson said.

The explosion took place when an Army team was on a routine patrolling duty in the Pallanwalla area, he said.

The official identified the deceased soldier as Havaldar Santosh Kumar, a resident of Pura Bhadauria village of Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

Both the injured were rushed to the hospital, he said.

Officials said the blast happened near the border fencing in the Indian territory.

The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) is believed to have been planted from across the border and detonated when some Army personnel were moving towards a forward post, they said, adding that the condition of one of the injured was stated to be “serious”. — PTI

HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

AMRITSAR : Lawyer and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader HS Phoolka on Thursday objected to the term “Sikh cult” used in the addendum of the Supreme Court’s judgment ordering the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

He wrote a letter to Akal Takht, highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, urging it to direct the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to take legal measures to ensure removal of the word “cult” which is not fit for the Sikh religion.

“Here is there is a sense of annoyance amongst many Sikh groups and sangat over this act (sic),” he said in the letter addressed to Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh.

The letter reads, “In the judgment passed by the Constitution Bench there is absolutely no reference to the objectionable term ‘Sikh Cult’. This Addendum is of 116 pages and is not signed by any of the Judges who were members of the Constitution Bench. It is to be noted that this Addendum is not the judgment of the Constitution Bench, but yet, attaching it with the Supreme Court Judgment, accords it importance and it can be relied upon and quoted by historians and media and even by the Courts”.

“The term Sikh cult has appeared in this addendum while quoting the extracts from the examination-in-chief of Mr. Rajinder Singh, who had appeared as a witness in the suit. His statement was recorded by the Trial court more than 25 years ago”, it reads further.

In the main judgement of the Constitution Bench in Para 154 and 155, the Supreme Court has clearly held that ‘the tenets of Sikhism are opposed to Idol worship’

“ It appears that the term may have been used unintentionally, without proper application of mind, and only repeating what the witness Rajinder Singh has said in his evidence”, Phooka writes, adding, “Be that as it may be, it is important to get this term expunged even from the Addendum of the Judgment. I am of the view that it would be appropriate for the SGPC to file an application before the Hon’ble Supreme Court to expunge these remarks (sic).”

The former AAP leader requested acting jathedar to form a team of the top most lawyers of the country to examine the matter in detail.

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Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh/Bikaner, November 13 

The closing ceremony of the joint military exercise  between the armies of India and France—‘Exercise Shakti-2019’ was held at the Mahajan Field firing range here on Wednesday.

Sikh-French bonhomie was witnessed when soldiers celebrated Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev on Wednesday.

Soldiers from both countries partook of ‘langar’ as Brigadier General Jean Christophe Bechon, Commandant 6th Light Armoured Brigade, French Army, greeted Sikh soldiers on Gurpurb.

An infantry platoon group of the Sikh Regiment part of South Western Command and a platoon group of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Armoured Brigade represented India and France, respectively, in the exercise, defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh said.

An infantry platoon group of the Sikh Regiment part of south western Command and a platoon group of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Armoured Brigade represented India and France respectively in the exercise, defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh said.

The exercise, which had two phases, began on October 31.

Both the armies shared valuable combat experience of counter terrorists operations in an international environment under the United Nations mandate.

The biennial exercise, which is conducted alternately in India and France, began in 2011. With PTI inputs