Khushwant Singh, Journalist And Writer, Dies At 99

[kdsingh80]

NEW DELHI: Noted writer and journalist Khushwant Singh passed away on Thursday. He was 99.

Singh was best known for his trenchant secularism, his humour, and an abiding love for poetry.

"He was fine and passed away peacefully at home on Thursday," his daughter Mala Singh said. His cremation will take place at Lodhi Crematorium at 4pm today.

Read also: Khushwant Singh's column in TOI, dated October 23, 2011 -
Born on February 2, 1915 at Hadali, now in Pakistan, Singh wrote classics like "Train to Pakistan", "I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale" and "Delhi".

He was a lawyer-turned-diplomat-turned-writer. His autobiography, "Truth, Love and a Little Malice", was published by Penguin Books in 2002.

He was editor of several literary and news magazines, including the Illustrated Weekly of India as well as two newspapers, the Hindustan Times and the National Herald, through the 1970s and 1980s.

In 2007, he was awarded with the Padma Vibhushan.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Khushwant-Singh-journalist-and-writer-dies-at-99/articleshow/32352917.cms

[SAadmin]

RIP Khuswant Singh Ji.

[aksantali]

will be quickly forgotten like the rest of the gadders

[SAadmin]

Disgusting words for a great man. It has been less than 24-hours since his death and khalibans showing their colors.

RIP One of the greatest sons of Punjab

I am with you on this one, this is ridiculous..!!

[OnPathToSikhi]

will be quickly forgotten like the rest of the gadders

This was not a good thing to say. He was a great literary person who believed in Sikhi, perhaps in his own way, but he still had his faith. May Waheguru bless his soul.

[SAadmin]

On facebook, people are celebrating his death..absolutely disgusting. Dya, sarbat da bhalla, sam dristhi, nirbhauo nirvair nature of sikh and basis of sikhi seems to be lost in new sikh world order...may be these people with sub human mindset who celebrate death of another being ( who does not conform to their ideology) needs to learn how to be human first then sikh.

[dalsingh101]

I got to say, I wasn't a fan of his politics - but reading one of his books (The history of the Sikhs) was a turning point in my life that helped spark my interest in my heritage and Sikh history in general.

[aksantali]

That is my personal opinion and nothing is going to change it. I can never respect anyone who disrespects shaheeds. And what about the disgusting shit you spew on this forum you Hindu fanatic.

Disgusting words for a great man. It has been less than 24-hours since his death and khalibans showing their colors.

RIP One of the greatest sons of Punjab

[Amarjeet Singh_1737]

His literary style was quite effective, other than Indian fiction, Singh's work was the only literary phenomena to come out of India which wasn't mindless droll.

[Amarjeet Singh_1737]

That is my personal opinion and nothing is going to change it. I can never respect anyone who disrespects shaheeds. And what about the disgusting shit you spew on this forum you Hindu fanatic.

Round 2 commence!

[1234]

Everybody knows the lies he spread about santji and he called KP Gill a hero.I can never respect anybody whos said such warped and twisted things but nevertheless he was a great writer and the man had a family my condolences and sympathy go out to them.

[chatanga1]

he always came across as rather arrogant to me, as if his was the only opinion worth anything.

I can understand that he loathed extremism, but but some of his words regarding the pre-84 years and the subsequent Khalistan movement were quite ignorant. I would have thought that a man of his talents would have known more about the movement, whether he was a supporter or anti.

In his history of the Sikhs, written around 50 or 60 odd years ago, he stated that "khalsa-ism" would not last the century.

He himself admitted that he had no spiritual connection to the Sikh religion, but was born into that community, which became his link with the community.

He was a good writer, but not free from a tainted mind.

I couldn't care less he has died, if I'm honest.

Edited March 21, 2014 by chatanga1

[OnPathToSikhi]

He surely not a very strong minded person, but had his faith. Here is what his son had to say about his views on Sikhi (contradicting to a much popularized propaganda):

"In an address read out by his son in February this year, Khushwant said he was an agnostic, but strongly believed in the sense of Sikh identity and of Sikhs retaining their symbols. "Without that, I am convinced, the Sikh religion will eventually die out and perhaps merge with Hinduism," he had said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/khushwant-wanted-sikhs-to-retain-identity-wasn-t-a-good-student/article1-1197630.aspx

[dalsingh101]

I can understand that he loathed extremism, but but some of his words regarding the pre-84 years and the subsequent Khalistan movement were quite ignorant. I would have thought that a man of his talents would have known more about the movement, whether he was a supporter or anti.

I don't know:

I vaguely remember reading his book 'My bleeding Panjab' many, many years ago and it didn't hold back on throwing punches in all directions.

[tonyhp32]

Good riddance. Now if only Badal was next and 2014 might become known as the the year of Kanjaran di safaiya.

Edited March 21, 2014 by tonyhp32

[chatanga1]

I don't know:

I vaguely remember reading his book 'My bleeding Panjab' many, many years ago and it didn't hold back on throwing punches in all directions.

what I meant was how he attacked the Sikhs even though they tried to defend themselves, in situations with the nirankaris and the panjab police.

[dalsingh101]

what I meant was how he attacked the Sikhs even though they tried to defend themselves, in situations with the nirankaris and the panjab police.

I think you should read a book he did with the renown Punjab human rights activist Kuldip Nayar called 'Tragedy of Punjab' and see if you still hold the above opinion afterwards.

[aksantali]

"...fanatic" says someone whose very name and profile pic reflect the extremist, demented fringe he belongs to

ak47=azad khalistan 1947 . he may be a extremist to you but these singhs are our kaum de heeray. we salute our brave freedom fighters who fought against oppression and gave their lives for the sikh panth we remember all shaheed sikhs in our ardas.

[aksantali]

i also heard he said sikhs are a kesadari hindus....

[tonyhp32]

In the 21st century khalistani narrative, there is absolutely no room for admitting that their idols may have been responsible for starting the totally unjustifiable bloodshed.

That's because the so-called democratic government used death squads to both kill militants as well as innocent youth in extra judicial executions.. If they can murder innocent Sikhs can they also not murder innocent Hindus in order to further their aim of maligning the nationalist movement?

Believe me, if they had to murder you or your family to protect their interests then that is nothing to them. The sad fact is that someone like you would probably justify the murder of your own family for your mother India.

[OnPathToSikhi]

He returned Padma Bhushan in protest against OBS.

Simranjit Singh Mann also resigned after the attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib. You seem to be a well read person so I believe you will easily agree that both shared some common sentiments to do so.

[aksantali]

Totally wrong. I am not playing devil's advocate but why a government would kill its own citizen? if it was true why the government was not killing innocents before the punjab terrorism years? why state government is not killing NOW! what an idiotic assumption. you are allowing yourself to be swayed by those who have made an industry out of Punjab mothers' misery.

also, i am not saying that Punjab police never staged false encounters but to say that they killed each and every 'innocent' on both sides (kharkoos and the civilian victims) is a distortion of himalayan proportions. High time the radicals do some navel-gazing. You cannot wish away acts like 1978 raid on Nirankari convention, murders of Nirankari chief, Punjab Kesari owner-editors, turning harmandar sahib into a fortress where people were being killed, highly provocative speeches and on top of these all - running a parallel government from Harmandar sahib.

Forget what a vast majority of the renowned writers have written in their books exposing extremists among the sikhs, read the news reports from the days leading to OBS and the scenario becomes clear to you.

The government is not killing sikhs now is because they are killing sikh religion.(drugs,fake baba's/deras/media). Before sant ji came ppl were getting hooked on drugs and watching blue film and majority of sikhs started cutting their hairs. Sant ji restored the spirt of the khalsa in sikhs again and majority of ppl starting becoming khalsa. When majority of sikhs start becoming khalsa they will talk about their rights and freedom. Sikh militants were supported by majority of the sikh population that is a FACT up until 90's.

[chatanga1]

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?225692

The article sums up the Punjab problem in a most precise and honest manner.

ok, lets have a look at the precisison and honesty:

1. Did the Sikhs deserve to be taught a lesson? I pondered over the matter for many days and many hours and reluctantly admitted that Hindus had some justification for their anger against Sikhs. The starting point was the emergence of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as a leader. He used vituperative language against the Hindus.

2. He exhorted every Sikh to kill 32 Hindus to solve the Hindu-Sikh problem. Anyone who opposed him was put on his hit list and some eliminated. His hoodlums murdered Lala Jagat Narain, founder of the Hind Samachar group of papers. They killed hawkers who sold their papers. The list of Bhindranwale's victims, which included both Hindus and Sikhs, was a long one. More depressing to me was that no one spoke out openly against him. He had a wily patron in Giani Zail Singh who had him released when he was charged as an accomplice in the murder of Jagat Narain. Akali leaders supported him.

3. Anti-Sikh violence gave a boost to the demand for a separate Sikh state and Khalistan-inspired terrorism in Punjab and abroad. Amongst the worst was the blowing up of Air India's Kanishka (June 23, 1985), which killed all its 329 passengers and crew, including over 30 Sikhs.

4. Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, who signed the Rajiv-Longowal accord (July 29, 1985), was murdered while praying in a gurudwara just three weeks later.

5. In August 1986, General A.S. Vaidya, who was chief of staff when Operation Bluestar took place, was gunned down in Pune in August 1985. The killings went on unabated for almost 10 years.

Lets see if they are honest and precise:

1. Did the Hindus not use vituperative language against the Sikhs starting from partition? Calling the Sikhs a criminal tribe, I mean what was that?

What about the slogans raised by Shers brothers, "send the sikhs and their 5ks to Pakistan? Or insults against the Sikh Guru's from Delhi's CM in the 60s?

Did anyone think of teaching them a lesson? Did the hindus deserve to be taught a lesson over this?

Not very precise or honest.

2. Bhindranwale made no call for Sikhs to kill 32 hindus. what he said was that after threats were made against minority Sikhs by Indira Gandhi in other indian states, and by hindu leaders in Haryana and Rajasthan, was that "don't try to intimidate us, there are only 36 Hindus to every Sikh". There was no call for Sikhs to go and kill any Hindu.

Not very precise or honest.Again.

3. The Air India bombing was the work of indian intelligence agency's. This is evident from the book Soft Target. The Sikhs had no capacity to pull off such an action by themselves.

Not very precise or honest.Again.

4. Sant Harchand Singh Ji was not praying, he was there in a meeting, not to say that his murder wasn't an act of terrorism, it was, but to portray it as being killed whilst praying gives the reader a dimension to it, that simply wasn't there.

again, not precise or honest.

5. I'm sure that turd, I mean Sher, wrote that he had no problem with the killing of vaidya,(although it does make him a hypocrite, which most of us know already) by jinda and sukha, so this honest and precise statement must have escaped his eyes.

And that's only from skimming the article.

Which is why, like I said, a man who was in his position, wrote bilge about the Panjab problem, like he knew everything, and with the arrogance that he did.

Remind you of anyone?

[chatanga1]

Totally wrong. I am not playing devil's advocate but why a government would kill its own citizen?

You truly are a turd.

The govt was killing its own citizens in the early 1970, who supported the Naxalite movement. 3rd world and 3rd rate country's have all done this, esp india. you acting all innocent asking that question.

if it was true why the government was not killing innocents before the punjab terrorism years? why state government is not killing NOW!

the govt was killing its one people in the early 1970s. they were known as naxalites, and the govt was ordering their killing.

and why is the govt deciding who is guilty or innocent? surely that is the job of the judiciary.

NOW! what an idiotic assumption. you are allowing yourself to be swayed by those who have made an industry out of Punjab mothers' misery.

Your people who betrayed your mother Panjab, yet like a turd, you whinge to us about Panjab mother's misery? We didn't cause it, the agony of Panjabi mothers for 1000 years was caused by Panjabi hindus, don't you forget that!

also, i am not saying that Punjab police never staged false encounters but to say that they killed each and every 'innocent' on both sides (kharkoos and the civilian victims) is a distortion of himalayan proportions.

and why is the police deciding who is guilty or innocent? surely that is the job of the judiciary. well, in a democracy anyway.

[chatanga1]

govt killing sikh religion - what a joke!

if only it was. Only a turd with a tiranga wrapped around his eyes would miss it. But the sad fact it, it's not only the govt, the Hindus by and large are privy to it.