July 27

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1649 Janam Utsav, Shaheed Baba Jorawar Singh Ji.

Shaheed Baba Jorawar Singh Ji, son of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Mata Jioto, was born at Anadpur Sahib. On 27th Dec. 1704, he was martyred by being bricked alive at the orders of Vajir Khan, Suba Sirhind. The place of this incident is known as Gurudwara Fatehgadh Sahib and the place of his body's cremation is known as Gurudwara Joti Saroop Sahib. 1925 Akali prisoners released upon victory of Jaito Morcha.

==> WHERE IS JAITO? A village under Nabha, which falls on the Bathinda-Ferozpur railway line. It is 96 miles from Lahore and 17 miles from Bathinda.

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAITO? On this place situated near a fort, is a historical Gurudwara of Guru Gobind Singh Patshah. Maharaja Hira Singh constructed the beautiful buildings of this Gurudwara. The sarowar is popularly known as "Gangsar". About a mile and a half north of Jaito is "Tibhi Sahib" Gurudwara, where Guru Gobind Singh Patshah used to organize and participate in the evening recitation of Rehras. Both Gurudwaras have extensive land sanctioned to it by the Nabha rulers. Additionally, extensive financial resources are made available on an annual basis from the Nabha rulers and the surrounding villages. A maela celebration is held every 7th of Pooh month (Dec.-Jan.) and Katak (Oct.-Nov.) Puranmashi. Jaito's markets are well renowned. People come from far distances to buy and sell their herds.

WHY AKALIS COURTED ARREST? The key issue involved was resoration of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha. Maharaja of Nabha, well-known for his pro-Tat Khalsa Proclivities, had a dispute with Maharaja of Patiala, known for this pro-government role. Although Maharaja of Nabha had absolutely no dispute with the government, as a result of mediation, he was forced to abdicate in July 1923. Col. Michin, with the help of troops and armoured cars, took the Maharaja by surprise on July 8, 1923 and taunted him with the query, "Where is that Akali?" The news of deposition by the government raised a strom of protest against the Government's interefernce in Nabha and was decsribed as a challenge to the Akali movement. As a result tensions mounted. The Akalis, in defiance of state orders, continued to hold diwan indefinitely. The Nabha police in order to arrest all the Akalis, including the one reading the holy Granth Sahib, was said to have disrupted the Akhand Path on Sept. 14, 1923. This dispute took such a tragic shape and got so inflames by Feb. 21, 1924 that several people lost their lives. After sixteen shaheedi jathas apart from one from Bengal and another from Canada, the agitation process was completed two years later, on August 6, 1925, after the concurrent bhog of 101 Akand Paaths.

-Ref. Mahan Kosh "The Sikhs in History," by Sangat Singh, 1995. 1984 and July 28, an International Sikh Convention was held at New York city, in the wake of June 5 and 6, 1984, when the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. A group of Sikhs in New York formed an ad-hoc International Sikh Organization to represent Sikhs interests. They called themselves the World Sikh Organization. The objectives of the Convention were: to send the strongest possible message to the Government of India that Sikhs of India and abroad will not gorget its actions, to inform the international community in the clearest possible terms of Sikh aspirations and of the Indian government's perfidy, to chart a course of action that the Sikhs can unitedly follow in order to make their own destiny and be responsible for their own future.