HASC applauds DOJ efforts to track anti-Hindu hate crimes & urges FBI to implement it

HASC applauds DOJ efforts to track anti-Hindu hate crimes and urges FBI to implement it

- Community recommendations slowly coming to fruition –

Washington, D.C. December 13, 2012: HASC applauds the DOJ directing FBI to include the "Hindu" category in tracking hate crimes and urges the FBI to expand the South Asian category and to explicitly track crimes against Hindus and Hindu and Sikhs and against all Dharmic (Eastern Traditions) places of worship.  We have also asked DOJ and FBI to change their website to identify Hindu and Sikh as a separate category as the South Asian category does not reflect targeted faith crimes. 

Anju Bhargava observed: "Serving on President's Advisory Council, I was part of a sub-committee making recommendations to enhance Inter-religious Collaboration and bring forward the concerns of our community in the Council's report “New Era of Partnerships: Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Final Report of Recommendations . We brought these issues to the highest level and recommended that Department of  Justice and  Homeland Security to reach out to the Dharmic American community to understand their needs in addition to responding to the needs of the Muslim community following 9/11 tragedy.  See pages 81-86, specifically recommendation 7.  

Subsequently I recommended DHS and DOJ create a separate category to track crimes against the Hindu and Dharmic community and expand the South Asian category.  HASC appreciates the effort of data collection advocated by other organizations, especially SAALT.  And now I am also coordinating with the US Department of Homeland Security. In this capacity I have further urged DHS and DOJ to collect relevant data for our community and increase education of the

Dharmic faiths. This recommendation has also been supported by other organizations, especially Hindu American Foundation as well.  Today, HASC is working with our Dharmic faith communities at the grass roots level to implement these recommendations such as by organizing training programs with DHS for our Dharmic community, especially in light of the Oak Creek Gurudwara shootings. "

We are delighted that the communities' ongoing efforts are finally coming to fruition. The Hindu and Dharmic community is becoming an integral part of the American landscape. HASC aims to continue the community development and capacity building efforts for the Hindu and Dharmic people and places of worship.

We are delighted that the communities's ongoing efforts are finally coming to fruition.

Exceprt from: “New Era of Partnerships: Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Presents Final Report of Recommendations " - Recommendation 7 of Inter-religious Cooperation.

..... Some non-Muslim Americans, including Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist Americans, also have experienced civil rights violations in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.24   After September 2001, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice noted that Arab, Muslim, Sikh,and South-Asian Americans, as well as people who were perceived to be members of those groups, had been the victims of “increased numbers of bias-related assaults, threats, vandalism and arson.” Accordingly, the Civil Rights Division launched an initiative “to work proactively to combat violations of civil rights laws” against these Americans. Its initiative is aimed at reducing the incidence of these bias-related assaults, threats, vandalism, and arson as well as prioritizing cases involving discrimination against these Americans in employment, housing, education, access to public accommodations and facilities, and other areas.  After September 2001, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice noted that Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South-Asian Americans, as well as people who were perceived to be members of those groups, had been the victims of “increased numbers of bias-related assaults, threats, vandalism and arson.”25   Accordingly, the Civil Rights Division launched an initiative “to work proactively to combat violations of civil rights laws” against these Americans.26   Its initiative is aimed at reducing the incidence of these bias-related assaults, threats, vandalism, and arson as well as prioritizing cases involving discrimination against these Americans in employment, housing, education, access to public accommodations and facilities, and other areas.

The Council recommends that the Department of Justice continue this emphasis and work with the Department of Homeland Security as well as faith-based and community groups to hold townhall meetings to discuss citizen concerns on civil liberties." 

18 Pew Research Center

19 Id.

20 Id.

21 Gallup and the Muslim West Facts Project, Muslim Americans: A National Portrait, March 2009.

22 Gallup and the Muslim West Facts Project, Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of American Attitudes Toward Muslims and Islam, January 2010.

23 Id.

24 Khyati Joshi, The Racialization of Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism in the Unites States

HASC Expresses Condolences on Tragic Death in NYC subway

HASC Expresses Condolences on Tragic Death in NYC subway

-  Urge DOJ and FBI to Track Hindu Hate Crimes Separately -

Washington D.C. December 30, 2012:  HASC expresses grief over the tragic death of Mr. Sunando Senand concern over xenophobia against Hindus, as well as Muslims and Sikhs.  Last Thursday, Mr. Sen was pushed onto the tracks of an elevated subway station in Queens by Erika Menendez, a 31-year-old woman and crushed by an oncoming train. “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.” Rightfully, she ischarged with murder as a hate crime.

Though there is a high level of acceptance of our community in America, sometimes we see gaps through intolerance and violence.   Unfortunately, innocent people are impacted when individuals turn against any group of people.

Following the 9/11 tragedy, Hindu and Dharmic people, including children and youth, have been have been the victims of increased numbers of bias-related assaults, threats, vandalism and arson, subjected to harassment, bullying and even killed.

Many of these heinous acts of are under-reported, and if reported are not tracked as hate crimes.  We need the Department of Justice (DOJ) to have a separate Hindu category to track anti Hindu hate crimes and urge FBI to implement to raise the profile.

Many Hindu and Dharmic places of worship are vandalized and our community does not report such crimes for fear of retaliation. The community needs to report the crimes and continue to collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security to increase vigilance and awareness.

In Old Bridge, NJ, Dr. Divyendu Sinha was beaten to death in front of his wife and children, by five people for no reason.  The family and community are still waiting for the trial of 4 of the 5 culprits.

We hope these heinous acts against our community will not go unnoticed and the death of Dr. Sen will not be in vain.  Just as the community improves its own security infrastructures we urge DOJ and FBI to track these hate crimes separately for appropriate data collection and action.  

We hope education and interfaith collaboration will dispel ignorance as we come develop our pluralistic communities together.

Name changed to Hindu American Seva Communities

Hindu American Seva Charities changes name to Hindu American Seva Communities

Community Building and Capacity Building efforts remain the same. Only the name has changed!

Washington, D.C. December 12, 2012.  Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC) is now Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC), an independently registered not-for-profit organization. The new name clearly reflects the vision of our organization: community development and capacity building through public, private and education partnerships.

The new name augments HASC’s mission, HASC is a progressive American organization advancing seva (community service), interfaith collaboration, pluralism, social justice and sustainable civic engagement to ignite grassroots social change and build healthy communities and coalitions while strengthening our places of worship.  Through education and policy changes it seeks to bridge the gap between US government and Hindu and Dharmic people and places of worship.

“America values the individual contribution and empowers its citizens to self-govern their communities at the local, state and national levels. Volunteerism and community service are an integral part of our national consciousness and the very backbone of our communal existence.  Values that resonate with Dharmic philosophy of self-reliance are part of our historical heritage; these values enabled Gandhi to win freedom in India” explained Anju Bhargava, HASC Founder.

Shekar Narasimhan, HASC founding Board member observed, “As a new immigrant community it is imperative we connect with America and develop infrastructure capacity to serve and address our social justice concerns. Through coalitions, HASC is working to make service and volunteering a defining part of Hindu and Dharmic American life.”

HASC’s key five focus areas are:

1.       Development of Seva Centers to provide services (eg Refugees, Military, health); promote National Days of Service

2.       Strengthening Security of Dharmic Places of Worship

3.       Development of Youth/Next Generation Seva Leaders and Women’s Empowerment

4.       Promoting Energy conservation, preserving the Environment, Eco-Dharma and Bhumi Seva

5.       Dharma and Social Justice education and advocacy

“Seva is an integral part of Hindu and Dharmic traditions and sadhana (practice), and it is transformative.  To achieve its mission, with an inside out approach, HASC seeks to mobilize communities through service at local and national levels to affect development and strengthen our Hindu American identity.” said Ved Chaudhary, HASC founding Board member.

“From its inception, HASC has worked to unite faith and secular communities in social equity projects and to strengthen the diaspora immigrant civic engagement of the New Americans, for the common good. Through these efforts HASC is pushing out boundaries for social justice and interfaith collaboration, connecting the community with government agencies and working to strengthen our places of worship, a public, private, education partnership!.“ Dr. Siva Subramanian, HASC founding Board member.

HASC thanks the community for its support from its formation in May 2009 to respond to President Obama’s Call to Serve.  Now, your generous donations will help continue the effort to develop programs to strengthen our community.

Donations for ongoing support and program development can be made through PayPal.

- You can Sponsor a specific program and Support Our Effort through your generous tax-deductible donation - 

  

Reflection on Hate Crime Hearing about Oak Creek Tragedy

"Senators, I came here today to ask the government to give my mother the dignity of being a statistic."-Harpreet Singh Saini

I, Ramya Ram, an Americorp VISTA, attended this event on the behalf of everyone at Hindu American Seva Charities. 400 people attended this very moving hearing. Personally, this hearing, was not only enlightening for me but monumental, because the Sikh community, as a whole, through Harpreet Singh Saini, were able to address their views on hate crimes against their community. I myself, and many people, around me from all backgrounds, were very teary as we saw, this young man, give a historical testiment to his mother and the other victims of the Oak Creek Tragedy. Normally, people who present to members of Congress are being honored for their achievements but for Harpreet, he came because, he had lost his mother and many other victims. He came to defend himself and others of his community from future hate crime attacks.  

The haunting yet powerful words of Harpreet Singh,a son of the one of the Oak Creek victims, sent a humble, yet so needed request to members of Congress. His mother, was shot by the white creek gunmen as she was praying.  According to Senator Durbin, for about 2 years, Sikh Americans have asked, that violence against them be recorded so that both the government and the public knows about these incidence. Till today, their petition, to put has surprisingly gone unanswered. This hearing was essential because, it has acted as the tipping point. In other words, officials like Senotor Durbin are aware of violence against Muslims/Arabs/Sikhs and want to use their influence to make sure the government does something about hate crimes against these groups.

According to Roy Austin Jr.,Deputy Attorney General, of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, violence against Sikhs are not recorded on the hate crime list even though there has been ample evidence that there are hate crimes against Sikh Americans. Mr. Austin, has stated, that the Department of Justice is looking into these cases against Sikh Americans. Recently,
 the civil rights division and community relations service are going to be brought together to determine what kinds of statistics need to be recorded. Department of Justice has quite an intensive process along with the FBI in order to properly reflect the events. I, myself and many others, are looking forward to their decision after their October meeting with the FBI officials.

This hearing was an eye opener for me as well as the dharmic community on a variety of levels. Firstly, the public heard about how the various govermental departments are addressing hate crimes. Secondly, the community also got to heard potential solutions, for hate crimes against the Sikh community. Most importantly, we gained a lot of ground in our petition to list hate crimes against Sikhs in the goverment "Hate Crime List"'.

 As Daryl Johnson, CEO of DT Analytic, rightfully pointed out, many people tend to over look the act of non-Islamic right wing extremists because, they associate the violence with another movement. We, as a diverse community have to recognize that these right wing extremists, have their own beliefs that can stem from a variety of notorious extremist groups. I think that we should delve deeper into their actual biases as opposed to "knowing their intent" so that such crimes are not misclassified. I also agreed with Mr. Johnson's point of the goverment distributing yearly threat assessments to vulnerable populations and counter measures that various communities can take against these horrible events. This way, communities can recieve warnings and have time to take the proper precautions.

I can only hope that the Department of Justice hears these concerns and does the proper follow through procedures to address them. I also hope that this hate crime, is the last of its kind and there shouldn't be anymore, in order for the Department of Justice to provide the proper protection to all of America's minority.

Announcement: Seeking community leader/s to coordinate and lead security infrastructure effort

Dear Dharma Community

Recent tragedies underscore the need for our Dharmic community to be able to train itself and build capacity to better protect itself.

HASC is working with the Department of Homeland Security to assist the Dharmic and Hindu community increase security of faith infrastructures.

We are starting this effort in New Jersey. The effort requires a statewide leader/s to lead the initiative and coordinate it statewide with DHS and our places of worship, our temples.

It will require working with the temples and community organizations to develop an outreach program with DHS to provide training for our temples and for our congregations so that they can better protect themselves. This is a part time effort where most coordination can be done on weekends and after working hours.

We urge community members to come forward and take a role in collectively developing a security infrastructure for our community. DHS is most eager to work with our community to strengthen our Dharmic places of worship.

Please let us know of your interest.

Thank you

HASC team

Dharmic* Americans welcome First Lady’s visit to families of Gurudwara shooting on August 23, 2012

Dharmic* Americans welcome First Lady’s visit to families of Gurudwara shooting on August 23, 2012

HASC lauds the First Lady’s support to the Sikh community

Washington, D.C. August 18, 2012.  The Dharmic* community welcomes the First Lady’s visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 23, 2012 to meet with the family members of those affected by the attack on the Sikh temple.  Milwaukee witnessed the senseless death of six innocent devotees and wounding of the brave responding police officer who answered the call of duty, on August 5, 2012. We applaud the First Lady’s visit of solidarity with the Sikh community.

HASC along with many Dharmic places of worship held prayer vigils and offered acts of seva, of solidarity, for our Sikh brothers and sisters  “The entire nation and the Dharmic community is rising above what differentiates us and is bringing to the forefront what unites us.  We are showing, regardless of our faith, whether we identify as Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian or Jewish, in moments like this, as human beings, we come together and stand in unity”, observed, Anju Bhargava, Founder of Hindu American Seva Charities.

We are all Sikhs in this heart breaking moment. 

At the recent Ifthar dinner, the President said, “…..And while we may never fully understand what motivates such hatred, such violence, the perpetrators of such despicable acts must know that your twisted thinking is no match for the compassion and the goodness and the strength of our united American family. …. we declare with one voice that such violence has no place in the United States of America. The attack on Americans of any faith is an attack on the freedom of all Americans.  No American should ever have to fear for their safety in their place of worship. And every American has the right to practice their faith both openly and freely, and as they choose.  That is not just an American right; it is a universal human right. And we will defend the freedom of religion, here at home and around the world. And as we do, we’ll draw on the strength and example of our interfaith community…..”

This tragedy underscores the need for our Dharmic community to be able to train itself and build capacity to better protect itself.  HASC is working with public officials, (such as at the White House and Department of Homeland Security), to assist the Sikh and Dharmic community increase security of faith infrastructures.

We appreciate the administration’s support to help Dharmic communities strengthen their places of worship. 

*Dharmic generally refers to people of eastern traditions: Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs

A Few Lessons Learned: Faith, Friends, The White House, and So Much More

Incidents like the Sikh temple shooting in Milwaukee compel me to find a target, somewhere to point the finger at, someone to blame, someone to claim responsibility for six innocent lives... and the hundreds of thousands of ripples . The fact is, nobody could have known the chaos that was going to descend on the innocent community center and place of worship at Oak Creek. It is unthinkable for such hate and violence to be inflicted upon a peaceful and loving community. It is just not fair.

I applied to attend the Next Generation Seva Leaders Conference in order to further explore my faith and my heritage. I knew I was going to hear from remarkable men and women at this conference: it was co-sponsored by a powerhouse of organizations including the Georgetown Campus Ministry, Hindu American Seva Charities, and the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. I was hesitant at first because I really had no formal education on Hinduism. I was worried that I would feel out of place, but I was drawn to the opportunity to work with Bhutanese refugees, interact with the impressive line of of speakers, and obviously regard the esteem of being at the White House. Since I already had a focus for secular community service and social justice through school organizations, I was interested to learn how I could tie that to my family's religious background with faith-based service or seva.

My experience fundamentally changed the way I viewed my family's faith, my faith, and all faiths. I heard from inspiring panelists that were the spiritual leaders of the next generation. They were experts at understanding the millennial “dash Americans”: Jewish-Americans, Sikh-Americans, Hindu-Americans, or anything else. They shared with us the passion, understanding, and patience that is required to grapple with a developing spiritual identity. They encouraged us to educate ourselves about our roots and our traditions through academia and mentors, but they also empowered us to have courage and blaze our own trail. Religion, evidently, is not exempt from moving into the twenty-first century.

As a testament to that inevitable truth, the conference also invited speakers that addressed social justice issues that had previously been considered taboo or were rarely mentioned in the context of Hinduism. Domestic violence and LGBT issues were discussed with compassion, not awkwardness. The connection between the obesity epidemic and the exercise of yoga was an unorthodox but creative one. Even the government's “My Plate” nutritional initiative found a South Asian “My Thali” counterpart, yet another effort spearheaded by the Hindu American Seva Charities. These topics were everything I could have ever hoped to see changed in the world, and they were related to my roots.

We were also honored to interact with the Bhutanese refugee students from the American Vivekananda Academy (AVA). From the moment we started working with one another during the food drive, the students conveyed their intelligence, friendliness, and sense of humor. We were eager to hear their stories, and they were eager to share. Hopefully, we have done them justice in making their voices heard by listening and working with them in the future. 

When I think back to the conference, I think of a single snapshot that someone uploaded onto Facebook with their phone. It shows a White House official, teenagers from New Jersey, and refugees from Bhutan all sitting on the ground and sharing a meal. Who knew paneer and naan could act as such powerful equalizers?

This conference made me realize that faith can bring people together to advance social change. What we believe and how we believe are secondary to our empathy for the human condition, but it is those who believe that will be united.

Shootings at Oak Creek Gurudwara

On August 5, 2012, the small city of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was rocked by a hate crime that shocked the entire nation. A gunman killed six people at a Sikh Temple before being shot and killed by police. The day after this incident occurred, Valarie Kaur, a social advocate for the Sikh community and a filmmaker who documented hate crimes against innocent Sikhs after the 9/11 incident, appeared on CNN addressing her concern and vehemently denouncing this senseless hate crime.

This past weekend, I was at the White House attending the Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC) conference where Valarie Kaur, along with other HASC speakers, spoke about dharmic seva, the concept of helping others through community service. The HASC conference broadened my views on seva since Dr. Varun Soni, the first dean of Hindu life at USC, along with Rabbi Sid Schwarz and an interfaith panel, inspired me by addressing the view that different people of different beliefs could perform seva together in a harmonious and united way.

I support Valerie Kaur in her fight for social justice by educating the public about the Sikh faith. My deepest thoughts and prayers are for those who have been impacted by this senseless tragedy. This shooting, along with the shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the shooting in Arizona, and the Virginia Tech shooting that altogether killed 56 people show us that guns are easily accessible and used to solve emotional issues. Therefore, why do innocent lives have to be spent at the expense of gun violence? This shows us that gun control is an important and pressing issue in the United States and that we should urge our elected officials to pass gun control laws in order to prevent the loss of more innocent lives. How many lives have to be lost in order for us to enact gun control laws?

~Alexandre Samy, Second-year student at University of California, Irvine

~Irvine, California

A Personal Reflection on the Shootings in Wisconsin

Hello, My name is Harsha Nahata. I'm a junior at the University of Michigan, studying public policy. This past weekend - August 3rd through 4th - I had the pleasure of attending the HASC Next Generation Seva Leaders Conference. In light of the events that occurred on August 5th, this is my reflection on the conference, the shootings in Wisconsin, and how we can use our faith and service to move on and heal from this tragedy. This past weekend at the HASC conference, we learned about the importance of interfaith work, of increasing awareness especially of the Eastern religions. And we also learned the importance of using these connections to impact the communities around us by making social change; to combat anger, hopelessness, and hate, with love and compassion. We heard from many inspirational speakers, one of whom was Valerie Kaur from Groundswell. Valerie traveled the country post 9/11 collecting stories Sikh Americans from around the country facing discrimination and hate violence. She turned these stories into a documentary that is now available for viewing. Her work in telling stories of individuals who are suffering is inspirational, and all the more necessary after today's events in Wisconsin. Telling these stories won't stop every crazy individual with a gun looking to shoot, but it will inspire dialogue and help us empathize with the victims. There is no excuse for targeting a group of individuals on the basis of religion, not in this country at least. There is no justification, no logical rationale. The events in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were horrific. My thoughts and prayers genuinely go out to all the victims and the entire Sikh community. They are once more unfairly made the target of unnecessary anger and hate. I'm not Sikh. I grew up in a Jain household. But even so, for me the impact is no different than what it would be if it was a Jain temple that was targeted. It isn't a matter of faith, as we talked about at the HASC conference, it's a matter of basic humanity. Of spreading love and compassion, not fear or anger or hate. It's a matter of standing together with a community that has been and continues to be unfairly targeted. It's a matter of standing in unity with people who were innocent victims of circumstance and irrational malice. At the conference we discussed unity among the Dharmic traditions to great length. We talked about how essential it was for Eastern religions to unite and follow through on their commitment to service and Seva within the communities, to make the world a better place than we found it. There isn't much positive that can be drawn from this situation or from these events. But, they do present us with an opportunity. An opportunity to unite with one another, to stand by each other in a time of great tragedy, and to work together to spread awareness. We were told, at the conference, that it isn't the grand things you can do, but the small things. The tiny ways you can make an impact on an individual or a community. If ever there was a time to unite and work to make someone's world a little bit better, it is now. We can't go back in time and undo what happened in Wisconsin today, but we can show the community in Milwaukee that they do not stand alone. That we support them and stand with them.

Hindu and Dharmic Americans Condemn the Shooting at Sikh Gurudwara

HASC urges Dharmic American houses of worship and community to build self-protection capacity

We at the Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC) are deeply saddened by the attack on the Sikh temple in Milwaukee on August 5, 2012 and the senseless death of six innocent devotees and wounding of the brave responding police officer who answered the call of duty.

We send our condolences to the families impacted, to the Sikh community of Milwaukee and to the Sikh community all over the country as they cope with such loss and tragedy.  We express our full support to the Sikh community, and stand shoulder to shoulder with them in this difficult time, to combat these acts of violence.  

HASC is concerned about ongoing domestic terrorism and hate crimes, especially as this shooting follows another recent tragedy in Aurora, Colorado.  We have seen many Dharmic people, particularly the Sikhs, impacted since 9/11; with Sikhs alone reporting over 700 hate crime incidents. There is no justification for these acts. This is especially so in a place of holy worship and amongst innocent and unarmed civilians.  

This tragedy highlights the importance of our community to train itself and build capacity to better protect itself. In the coming days, HASC will work with public officials to assist the Dharmic community and offer all possible assistance to the Sikh community.  HASC has been in touch with the Department of Homeland Security and the White House to assist in their outreach efforts to the community and places of worship and is expanding this effort in light of the recent tragedy.  In fact on August 15^th, New Jersey’s Department of Homeland Security will hold a Surveillance Detection and Suspicious Behavior Training.  This course will provide training on the knowledge and skills necessary to detect hostile surveillance conducted against critical infrastructure and identify suspicious behavior.  

HASC urges all Dharmic places of worship to hold prayer vigils and offer acts of Seva and solidarity for our Sikh brethren. In times of such tragedy we rise above about what differentiates us and bring to the forefront what unites us. Regardless of our faith, whether we identify as Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian or Jewish, in moments like this, it is our duty as human beings to come together and stand in unity.

Harsha Nahata, HASC’s Next Generation Seva Leader and a junior at University of Michigan eloquently expresses our sentiments "This past weekend, August 3^rd – 4^th, at the HASC conference co-hosted with the White House, we learned about the importance of interfaith work, and of increasing awareness especially of the Dharmic (Eastern) religions. We also learned the importance of using these connections to impact the communities around us by making social change. We heard from many inspirational speakers, one of whom was Valerie Kaur from Groundswell. Valerie traveled the country post 9/11 collecting stories from Sikh Americans around the country facing discrimination and hate violence. Her work is all the more necessary after today's events in Wisconsin…….I'm not Sikh. I grew up in a Jain household. But even so, for me the impact is no different than what it would be if it was a Jain temple that was targeted. It isn't a matter of faith, as we talked about at the HASC conference and at the White House Briefing; it is a matter of basic humanity. Of spreading love and compassion, not fear or hate. It's a matter of standing together with a community that has been and continues to be unfairly targeted. It's a matter of standing in unity with people who were innocent victims of circumstance and irrational malice.’

We at HASC express our deep sorrow and condemnation for the tragedy and stand with the Sikh community in this difficult time.