SFU SSA is extremely concerned that SFU's Institute for the Humanities, the UBC Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) and South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) have chosen to sponsor a webinar on the Indian farmers protest with lead speaker and(1/9)

controversial journalist Hartosh Singh Bal. Mr Bal is a known denier of the mass murder of Sikhs during the 1980s-90s by consistently diminishing the number killed. In his reporting, he has downplayed the gross human rights record of KPS Gill, Director General of Police and (2/9)

sexual harassment convict. He has also attacked the Khalra Mission Organization, a human rights group set up after the murder of human rights worker Jaswant Singh Khalra by subordinates of KPS Gill. (3/9)

Jaswant Singh Khalra was collecting data on the illegal mass cremation of Sikhs by Punjab police and estimated that as many 25,000 may have been murdered. Unfortunately, he was kidnapped by the police in September 1995, tortured and then murdered before he could complete (4/9)

his field research. Six police officers were subsequently convicted of his murder. Astonishingly, Hartosh Bal has consistently questioned the estimate presented by Khalra knowing full well the human rights worker was murdered before he could complete his field research. (5/9)

Instead, he chooses to present data from KPS Gill himself. We find it incredulous that the organizers and sponsors of this webinar could not find any other journalist within India to talk of the farmer protest. (6/9)

It is incumbent on the organizers and sponsors to clarify their position on why mass-murdering denier Hartosh Bal was chosen and their own position on the state-sponsored terror that was unleashed on Punjab. (7/9)

This webinar should not be overshadowed by the choice of a controversial speaker.

A statement on this is requested prior to the webinar. A lack of response will result in a formal boycott of this event. (8/9)

@sfu @drjoyjohnson @humanitiessfu @baaznewsorg @jindisinghka @ravisinghka @khalramission @worldsikhorg @sfss1 (9/9)

@ubccisar