Amardeep Singh ('Time For Introspection, My Friends', Jan 07) brought out many of the vital points of history that we Sikhs view as "factual". I think there is more introspection that is needed to reassess those cherished "factual" beliefs. Only a few examples should suffice:

1. It is stated in the Jullianwala Bagh massacre, that there are a total of 1300 killed, out of which 799 were Sikhs. This information is inaccurate. There were a total of 379 people killed. The number of Sikhs killed in that group is only guesswork. Yes, there were Sikhs killed there. Truthfully, nobody knows their exact count.

2. There is a sentence: "It was Ranjit Singh who brought back to India the world famous Kohinoor diamond, which was earlier looted by Nadir Shah and taken to Persia." The fact is Ranjit Singh brought the diamond not to "India" but to his Punjab Kingdom, Lahore being its capital. Ranjit Singh may not have even known the word, "India". This word is originally derived from the Hebrew Bible (read the Book of Esther) and the European colonists simply wanted to establish "India" (among other things), thereby holding on to the geographical truths as enshrined in the Bible. With Ranjit Singh and following his death, the wave of attacks on Punjab from the west and northwest direction ceased. And then a new wave of attacks started from the east and southeast directions, with devastating consequences on the unprepared Sikhs and other Punjabis.

3. With respect to Udham Singh and the death of Michael O' Dwyer, we need to revisit that incident again with a skeptical inquiry. Only recently, there was a movie made on him. The "producer" of that movie approached me to make another "hero movie" on Subhash Chander Bose (Nataji) and asked me to furnish the history. I would gladly provide the information, I told him: All I want is that he would show Netaji as a mentally disturbed leader. At which point, the conversation ended. Again, we need to reassess critically the role of those Sikh soldiers who served under Netaji in Singapore and Burma campaign and the horrible devastations that it brought about.

GB Singh
Korea