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N
E W S April 22, 2003
Lakhbir Kaur and her friend Mejindarpal Kaur were made to go the opposite direction of the palanquin carrying Guru Granth Sahib to keep them from participating in carrying the palanquin. When they realized what was going on, they tried to approach the palanquin and were forcefully kept from doing the seva. The angry sevadaars told them that "women were not allowed" or that "they were not given orders to allow women to perform the seva" or that "they could loose their jobs." The two tried to comprehend what had just taken place at the Darbar Sahib and went back to their room. There, they received a phone call asking them to open their door. There was a persistent knocking at their door also from a man asking them to open it. Lakhbir Kaur said that it was really late, they did not open the door, they felt threatened. Finally, the man asked if they were wearing a kaiski. She said she did and then the man went away. They wrote a letter to Jathedaar Joginder Singh of the Akal Takht and President Kirpal Singh of the SGPC and voiced their complaint. Mejindarpal Kaur has met with both Joginder Singh and Kirpal Singh a few times now. Although they are supportive of the seva issue, they have been reluctant to give and answer as to how the discrimination could be ended, she said. Lakhbir Kaur left India two days later, but Mejindarpal Kaur is still in Punjab. According to Lakhbir Kaur, Mejindarpal Kaur has been keeping the issue alive by taking a small group to the Akal Takht to do Sukhmani Sahib paath and Ardas, once a month. She is also traveling around Punjab to get support from the local Sikhs. Lakhbir Kaur has been sharing her experience with Sikhs outside India to raise awareness of the great injustice against women at Darbar Sahib. She said that she has met so many women who have had the same experience as she. She told of a German woman who gave up Sikhi because of the gender discrimination she experienced from Sikhs. Lakhbir Kaur will be back in Washington D.C. on May 3,
2003, to continue to |
At
a local get together with Lakhbir Kaur, the young British Sikh woman who
was prevented from performing Sukhasan seva at Darbar Sahib, she recalled
the bewilderment and pain of what happened on that cold February evening.