text: The Gitxsan or Gitksan, meaning "people of the Skeena River", were known with the Nisga'a as Interior Tsimshian. They speak a closely related language to Nisga'a, though both are related to Coast Tsimshian. This is the English term for Tsimshian spoken on the coast. Although inland, their culture is part of the Northwest Coast culture area, and they share many common characteristics, including the clan system, an advanced art style, and war canoes. They share an historic alliance with the neighbouring Wetʼsuwetʼen, a subgroup of the Dakelh (or Carrier people). Together they waged a battle in the courts against British Columbia known as "Delgamuukw v British Columbia", which had to do with land rights.


title: Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

text: The Haisla (also Xa’islak’ala, X̄a’islakʼala, X̌àʼislakʼala, X̣aʼislak’ala) are an indigenous nation living at Kitamaat in the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The name Haisla is derived from the Haisla word "x̣àʼisla" or "x̣àʼisəla", "(those) living at the rivermouth, living downriver".


text: The Heiltsuk ( ) are an indigenous Nation of the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, centred on the island communities of Bella Bella and Klemtu. The Heiltsuk are the descendants of a number of tribal groups who came together in Bella Bella in the 19th century. They generally prefer the autonym "Heiltsuk". Anthropology labelled them the Bella Bella, which is how they are more widely known.


text: The Nuxalk (pronounced ), also known as the Bella Coola, are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast, as well as the furthest north of the Coast Salish cultures. Linguists have classified their Salishan language as independent of both Interior and Coast Salish language groups. It is quite different from that of their coastal neighbours, though it contains a large number of Wakashan loan words. They are believed to have been more connected to Interior Salish peoples, before Athabaskan-speaking groups now inland from them spread southwards, cutting the Nuxalk off from their linguistic relatives.


text: The Wuikinuxv, also known as the "Owekeeno" or Rivers Inlet people (after their location), speak a language related to Heiltsuk, Wuikyala or Oowekyala (they are dialects of a language that has no independent name; linguists refer to it as Heiltsuk-Oweekyala). Together with the Heiltsuk and Haisla, they were once incorrectly known as the Northern Kwakiutl because of their language's close relationship with Kwakʼwala. Greatly reduced in numbers today, like other coastal peoples they were master carvers and painters. They had an elaborate ritual and clan system. The focus of their territory was Owikeno Lake, a freshwater fjord above a short stretch of river at the head of Rivers Inlet.


text: The Kwakwakaʼwakw are an indigenous people, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. The autonym they prefer is "Kwakwakaʼwakw". Their Indigenous language, part of the Wakashan languages family, is Kwakʼwala. The name Kwakwakaʼwakw means "speakers of Kwakʼwala". The language is now spoken by less than 5% of the population—about 250 people. Today 17 separate tribes make up the Kwakwakaʼwakw, who historically spoke the common language of Kwakʼwala. Some Kwakwakaʼwakw groups are now extinct. Kwakʼwala is a Northern Wakashan language, a grouping shared with Haisla, Heiltsuk and Oowekyala.


text: The Nuu-chah-nulth ( ; ) are an Indigenous people in Canada. Their traditional home is in the Pacific Northwest on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In pre-contact and early post-contact times, the number of nations was much greater, but as in the rest of the region, smallpox and other consequences of contact resulted in the disappearance of some groups, and the absorption of others into neighbouring groups.


text: They were among the first Pacific peoples north of California to come into contact with Europeans. Competition between Spain and the United Kingdom over control of Nootka Sound led to a bitter international dispute around 1790, which was settled when Spain agreed to abandon its claim of exclusivity to the North Pacific coast, and to pay damages for British ships seized during the dispute. The Nuu-chah-nulth speak a Southern Wakashan language and are closely related to the Makah and Ditidaht.


text: The Makah are a Southern Wakashan people and are closely related to the Nuu-chah-nulth. They are also noted as whalers. Their territory is around the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula.


text: The Coast Salish are the largest of the southern groups. They are a loose grouping of many tribes with numerous distinct cultures and languages. Territory claimed by Coast Salish peoples spans from the northern end of the Strait of Georgia, along the east side of Vancouver Island, covering most of southern Vancouver Island, all of the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, all of Puget Sound except (formerly) for the Chimakum territory near Port Townsend, and all of the Olympic Peninsula except that of the Quileute, related to the now-extinct Chemakum. The Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound were officially united as the Salish Sea in 2010.


text: The Coast Salish cultures differ considerably from those of their northern neighbours. It is one of the few Indigenous cultures along the coast with a patrilineal, not matrilineal, culture. They are also one of the few peoples on the coast whose traditional territories coincide with contemporary major metropolitan areas, namely the North Straits Salish-speaking peoples in and around Victoria, the Halkomelem-speaking peoples in and around Vancouver, and the Lushootseed-speaking peoples in and around Seattle. Pre-European contact, the Coast Salish numbered in the tens of thousands, and as such were one of the most populous groups on the northwest coast


text: The Chimakum people were a Chimakuan-speaking people whose traditional territory lay in the area of Port Townsend. Beset by warfare from surrounding Salish peoples, their last major presence in the region was eradicated by the Suquamish under Chief Seattle in the mid-19th century. Some survivors were absorbed by neighbouring Salish peoples, while some moved to join the Quileute on the southeast side of the Olympic Peninsula.


text: The Quileute () are a Chimakuan-speaking people. Their traditional territory is in the western Olympic Peninsula, around the Quillayute and Hoh Rivers.


text: The Willapa people are a traditionally Athabaskan-speaking people of southwestern Washington. Their territory was between Willapa Bay (named after them) and the prairie lands around the head of the Chehalis and Cowlitz Rivers. A related people, known as the Clatskanie () or Tlatskani, lived on the south side of the Columbia River in northwestern Oregon.


text: The Chinookan peoples were once one of the most powerful and populous groups of tribes on the southern part of the Northwest Coast. Their territories flank the mouth of the Columbia River and stretch up that river in a narrow band adjacent to that river, as far as Celilo Falls. Their group of dialects are known as Chinookan. It is distinguished from the Chinook Jargon, which was partly based upon it, and is often called "Chinook." Close allies of the Nuu-chah-nulth, they are also a canoe people, and pre-European contact, Chinook Jargon arose as a trading language incorporating both Chinookan and Wakashan vocabulary. The Chinookan peoples practiced slavery, likely learned from the Nuu-chah-nulth as it was more common to the north, and cranial deformation. Those without flattened heads were considered to be beneath or servile to those who had undergone the procedure as infants.


text: One likely reason for the cultural prominence of the Chinookan peoples was their strategic position along the Columbia River, which acted as a massive trade corridor, as well as near Celilo Falls, the longest continuously-inhabited site in the Americas, used as a fishing site and trading hub for 15,000 years by a wide range of indigenous peoples.


text: The Tillamook or Nehalem peoples were a Coast Salishan-speaking group of tribes living roughly between Tillamook Head and Cape Meares on the northern Oregon Coast. The term 'Tillamook' itself is in fact an exonym, from the neighbouring Chinook-speaking Kathlamet people. Although the Tillamook language was a Coast Salish language, it was somewhat divergent from its more northerly cousins; likewise, the Tillamook culture was substantially different from that of other Coast Salish cultures, apparently influenced by its southern neighbours. They, and their southern neighbours, were less reliant on salmon runs and more reliant on fish trapping in estuaries, hunting, and shellfish gathering.


text: The Daʼnaxdaʼxw Nation, or "Da'naxda'xw/Awaetlatla Nation" is a First Nations government in northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, their main community is the community of Alert Bay in the Queen Charlotte Strait region. There are approximately 225 members of the Daʼnaxdaʼxw Nation. The Nation is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council and, for treaty negotiation purposes, the Winalagalis Treaty Group which includes three other members of the Kwakiutl District Council (the Quatsino First Nation, the Gwaʼsala-ʼNakwaxdaʼxw Nations, and the Tlatlasikwala Nation).


text: The area referred to as the Northwest Coast has a very long history of human occupation, exceptional linguistic diversity, population density and cultural and ceremonial development. Noted by anthropologists for its complexity, there is emerging research that the economies of these people were more complex and intensive than was previously assumed. Coast Salish peoples' had complex land management practices linked to ecosystem health and resilience. Forest gardens on Canada's northwest coast included crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherry species. Many groups have "First Generation Stories" - family stories that tell of the origin of the group, and often of humans themselves arising in specific locations along the coast.


text: ""the Indian history of British Columbia... began at least a hundred centuries before the Province itself was born..." Wilson Duff"


text: On the northwest coast of North America, the mild climate and abundant natural resources made possible the rise of a complex Aboriginal culture. The people who lived in what are today British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon were able to obtain a good living without much effort. They had time and energy to devote to the development of fine arts and crafts and to religious and social ceremonies.


text: The indigenous populations were devastated by epidemics of infectious diseases, especially smallpox, brought in by European explorers and traders. Prior to European colonization, various reports from European explorers describe the tribes in the area bearing signs of smallpox. Nathaniel Portlock, a British ship's captain, described as having "expected to have seen a numerous tribe" but instead found "only of three men, three women" as well as the oldest of the men "marked with the small-pox", when referring to the Tlingit people in the North West Coast. Oral traditions of various tribes in the Pacific Northwest also refer to an epidemic of smallpox on the populations. There are many theories to how smallpox arrived in the Pacific Northwest. One theory is that an outbreak in central Mexico in 1779 spread north and infected the Shoshone in 1781, allowing the disease to spread into the lower Columbia River and Strait of Georgia via trade between the Flathead, Nez Perce, Walla Walla, and other various tribes. Spanish expeditions to the Northwest Coast from Mexico in 1774, 1775, and 1779 are also attributed to spreading smallpox to the local tribes in the area, with many documented outbreaks correlating to where the Spanish made landfall. Another theory describes the outbreak originating in the Kamchatka Peninsula in 1769 and spreading via Russian explorers to South Alaska and the Aleutians, thus through the Alaska panhandle and down the Pacific Coast. There were a number of later smallpox epidemics, such as the devastating 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic.


text: Due to the native population having no prior exposure to Old World diseases, local tribes may have lost as much as 90% of their population. This depopulation enabled an easier colonization of the Pacific Northwest by European and American migrants.


text: In current times the political and current context of life for these indigenous peoples varies, especially considering their relationship to Canada and the United States. In Canada Indigenous peoples are one of the fastest growing groups with a young and increasing population. Significant issues persist as a result of colonial laws and the now infamous Canadian Indian residential school system. Many of the most repressive elements of the "Indian Act" (federal legislation governing First Nations) were removed in 1951, and the right for First Nations to vote was granted in 1960. The 1951 amendment to the "Indian Act" lifted the potlatch ban, though the ban was never fully effective - it had pushed traditional culture underground. Since 1951 ceremonial practices and the potlatch have re-emerged widely along the coast.


text: One development in recent times is the revival of ocean-going cedar canoes. Beginning in the late 1980s with early Haida and Heiltsuk canoes, the revival spread quickly after the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 and the 1993 'Qatuwas canoe festival in Bella Bella. Many other journeys to different places along the coast have occurred; these voyages have come to be known as Tribal Canoe Journeys.


text: Both the sea and the land provided important sources of food and raw materials to Indigenous Peoples of the Northwest Coast, and many of these resources needed to be managed to ensure continual harvest. Historians and ethnographers provide evidence of cultivation practices and environment management strategies that have been used by First Nations peoples for centuries along the Northwest Coast. Practices like digging and tilling, pruning, controlled burning, fertilizing, streamscaping and habitat creation allowed Indigenous groups to intentionally manage the environment around them in order to encourage greater production of a resource for sustained harvesting.


text: The Pacific salmon in particular played a central role in the diet and culture of the Northwest, so much so that the Native Nations of the region define themselves as the Salmon People. The salmon were caught with hook and line or small nets, and then pierced with cedar skewers and roasted or smoked over open pit fires. Other methods of catching them could also be used however, such as traps, baskets, spears and lures. The tribe would have to rely on the dried or smoked salmon over the winter, so the first fresh fish caught in the spring was welcomed with great ceremony.


text: Hunting, both on land and sea, was also an important source of food. At sea this involved hunting whales, sea lion, porpoise, seal and sea otter, while deer, moose and elk were pursued on land. The plentiful supply of all these animals meant that the tribes became prosperous.


text: The most important plant in the diet of the Northwest Native Americans was the bulb "Camassia", a member of the asparagus family. Indigenous peoples engaged in the active management and cultivation of camassia by clearing land, by tilling and weeding, and by planting bulbs. Camas plots were harvested by individuals or kin-groups, who were recognized as a particular plot’s cultivators or stewards.


text: Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast harvested root crops through a process of digging and tilling. Using a digging stick made from hard wood, First Nations people would work the ground between tree roots and in bulb and rhizome patches, which loosened the compacted soil. Loosened soils made it easier to remove root crops whole and undamaged, and allowed roots, bulbs and rhizomes to grow more freely and abundantly with increased production.


text: Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest also used to eat a variety of fruit and berries. A favorite food was the salmonberry "Rubus spectabilis", which derives its name from the fact that it was traditionally eaten with salmon and salmon roe. Blackberries "Rubus", and evergreen huckleberries "Vaccinium ovatum" (which was eaten fresh or dried and made into cakes) were also popular. Red huckleberry "Vaccinium parvifolium" was both eaten and used as fish bait on account of its resemblance to salmon eggs. The Oregon grape "Mahonia nervosa" was sometimes eaten, mixed with sweeter berries to counteract its sour flavor.


text: A potlatch is a highly complex event where people gather in order to commemorate a specific event (such as the raising of a totem pole or the appointment/election of a new chief). These potlatches would usually be held in competition with one another, providing a forum to display wealth within a tribe.


text: In the potlatch ceremony the chief would give highly elaborate gifts to visiting peoples in order to establish his power and prestige, and by accepting these gifts the visitors conveyed their approval of the chief. There were also great feasts and displays of conspicuous consumption, such as the burning of articles, or throwing things into the sea, purely as a display of the great wealth of the chief. Groups of dancers put on elaborate dances and ceremonies. These dancers were members of secret "dancing societies". Watching these performances was considered an honour. Potlatches were held for several reasons: the confirmation of a new chief; coming of age; tattooing or piercing ceremonies; initiation into a secret society; marriages; the funeral of a chief; battle victory.


text: Among the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, the music varies in function and expression. Though some groups have more cultural differences than the rest (like the Coast Salish and the more northern nations), there remain many similarities.


text: Some instruments used by the Indigenous were hand drums made of animal hides, plank drums, log drums, box drums, along with whistlers, wood clappers, and rattles. A great deal of the instruments were used mostly in the potlatch, but also carried over in to other festivities throughout the year.


text: The songs employed are used with dancing, although it is also for celebration, which at times may not be accompanied by dancing. Most singing is community based. There are some solo parts, often the lead singer would begin in the first line of each round of a song, but not long solos. For some ceremonies, solo songs would be used by men and women without the accompaniment of any person or drum.


text: Usually slow in tempo and accompanied by a drum. Principal function of music in this area is spiritual; music honors the Earth, Creator, Ancestors, all aspects of the supernatural world. Sacred songs are not often shared with the wider world. Women and men, families own their own songs as property which can be inherited, sold or given as a gift to a prestigious guest at a Feast. Professionals existed for some communities, but music is taught and then rehearsed. For some nations, the tradition was those who made musical errors were punished, usually through shaming. Employing octave singing, but rather than running up and down the scale, it is not uncommon to jump notes and go from bottom to top or top to bottom in a couple of notes. Vocal Rhythmic patterns are often complex and run counter to rigid percussion beats.


text: The creation of beautiful and practical objects (for all tribal communities) served as a means of transmitting stories, history, wisdom and property from generation to generation. Art provided Indigenous people with a tie to the land by depicting their histories on totem poles the Big (Plank) Houses of the Pacific Northwest coast – the symbols depicted were a constant reminder of their birth places, lineages and nations.


text: Due to the abundance of natural resources and the affluence of most Northwest tribes, there was plenty of leisure time to create art. Many works of art served practical purposes, such as clothing, tools, weapons of war and hunting, transportation, cooking, and shelter; but others were purely aesthetic.


text: Pacific Northwest Coast: Spiritualism, the supernatural and the importance of the environment played integral roles in day-to-day life. Therefore, it was not unusual for their worldly goods to be adorned with symbols, crests and totems that represented some important figure(s) from both the seen and unseen worlds.


text: Often different northern tribes would adorn their possessions with symbols that represented a tribe as a collective (i.e., clan); this would often be a signal of differentiation among tribal groups. Such symbols could be compared to a coat of arms, or running up the flag of a country on a sailing ship, as it approached a harbour.


text: After the arrival of the Europeans, Indigenous artifacts suddenly became a hot commodity to be collected and placed in museums and other institutions, and many tribal groups were looted of their precious items by overzealous collectors.


text: In recent years, many Indigenous organizations have been calling for a return of some of their sacred items, such as masks and regalia, that symbolize their cultural heritage.


text: Haplogroup Q1a3a is a Y chromosome haplogroup generally associated with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Q-M3 mutation appears on the Q lineage roughly 10 to 15 thousand years ago, as the migration throughout the Americas was underway by the early Paleo-Indians. The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations, however, which are distinct from other indigenous Amerindians along with various mtDNA mutations. This suggests that the migrant ancestors of the current inhabitants of the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.


text: Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene frequencies links the Ainu people of Japan to some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially to populations on the Pacific Northwest Coast such as Tlingit. The scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of some Native American groups can be traced back to Paleolithic groups in Southern Siberia.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The Insurgency in Punjab, is an armed campaign by the Sikh militants and its goal to create a Sikh homeland called Khalistan via armed struggle. In the 1980s, the movement had evolved into a militant secessionist movement after the perceived indifference of the Indian state in regards to mutual negotiations. The Green Revolution in India brought several social and economic changes which, along with factionalism of the politics, in the Punjab state increased tension between rural Sikhs in Punjab with the union Government of India. Pakistani strategists then began supporting the militant dimension of the Khalistan movement.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: In the 1972 Punjab state elections, Congress won and Akali Dal was defeated. In 1973, Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to demand more autonomic powers to the state of Punjab. The Congress government considered the resolution a secessionist document and rejected it. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale then joined the Akali Dal to launch the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982, to implement Anandpur Sahib resolution. Bhindranwale had risen to prominence in the Sikh political circle with his policy of getting the Anandpur Resolution passed, failing which he wanted to declare a semi-autonomous, federal region of Punjab as a homeland for Sikhs.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Under Bhindranwale, the number of people initiating into the Khalsa increased. He also increased the awareness amongst the populace about the ongoing assault on Sikh values by politicians, alleging their intentions to influence Sikhism and eradicate its individuality by conflating it with Pan-Indian Hinduism. Bhindranwale and his followers started carrying firearms at all times for self defense. In 1983, he along with his militant followers occupied and fortified Akal Takht. While critics claimed that he entered it to escape arrest in 1983, there was no arrest warrant issued in his name, and he was regularly found giving interviews to the press in and outside the Akal Takht. He made the Sikh religious building his headquarters and led a campaign for autonomy in Punjab with the strong backing of Major General Shabeg Singh. They then took refuge in the Akal Takht as the extrajudicial violence against Sikhs increased in the months before Operation Bluestar.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: On 1 June 1984, Operation Blue Star was launched to remove him and the armed militants from the Golden Temple complex. On 6 June, on Guru Arjan Dev Martyrdom Day, Bhindranwale was killed by the Indian military in the operation. The operation carried out in the Gurudwara caused outrage among the Sikhs and increased the support for Khalistan Movement. Four months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in vengeance by her two bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. Public outcry over Gandhi's death led to the slaughter of Sikhs in the ensuing 1984 Sikh Massacre. These events played a major role in the violence by Sikh militant groups supported by Pakistan and consumed Punjab until the early 1990s when the Khalistan movement was eventually crushed in Punjab.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: In the mid-1990s, the insurgency petered out, and the Khalistan movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on civilians and militants, factional infighting, and loss of public support, with the militancy brought under the control of law enforcement agencies by 1993.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: In the 1950s the Punjabi Suba movement for linguistic reorganisation of the state of Punjab and status for the Punjabi language took place, which the government finally agreed to in 1966 after protests and recommendation of the States Reorganisation commission. The state of East Punjab was later split into the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana and current day Punjab.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The process of Sikh alienation from the national mainstream was set in motion shortly after Independence due to the communalism of national and regional parties and organization including the RSS, Jan Sangh, and the Arya Samaj, exacerbated by Congress mishandling and local politicians and factions. According to Indian general Afsir Karim, many observers believed that separatist sentiments began in 1951 when Punjabi Hindus disowned the Punjabi language under the influence of radical elements, and "doubts on the concepts of a Punjabi Suba" created mutual suspicion, bitterness, and further misunderstanding between the two communities. The 1966 reorganization left the Sikhs highly dissatisfied, with the unresolved status of Chandigarh and the distribution of river waters intensifying bitter feelings.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: While the Green Revolution in Punjab had several positive impacts, the introduction of the mechanised agricultural techniques led to uneven distribution of wealth. The industrial development was not done at the same pace of agricultural development, the Indian government had been reluctant to set up heavy industries in Punjab due to its status as a high-risk border state with Pakistan. The rapid increase in the higher education opportunities without adequate rise in the jobs resulted in the increase in the unemployment of educated youth. The resulting unemployed rural Sikh youth were drawn to the militant groups, and formed the backbone of the militancy.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: After being routed in 1972 Punjab election, the Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973 to address these and other grievances, and demand more autonomy to Punjab. The resolution included both religious and political issues. It asked for recognising Sikhism as a religion It also demanded that power be generally devoluted from the Central to state governments. The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government as a secessionist document. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The 1978 Sikh-Nirankari clashes had been within the Sikh community, but the pro-Sant Nirankari stance of some Hindus in Punjab and Delhi had led to further division, including Jan Sangh members like Harbans Lal Khanna joining the fray, who, in a protest against holy city status for Amritsar, raising inflammatory slogans like ""Kachha, kara, kirpan, bhejo inko Pakistan"" ("those who wear the 5 Ks (Sikhs), send them to Pakistan"), led to aggressive counter demonstrations.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Bhindranwale had risen to prominence in the Sikh political circle with his policy of getting the Anandpur Sahib Resolution passed. Indira Gandhi, the leader of the Akali Dal's rival Congress, considered the Anandpur Sahib Resolution as a secessionist document although it was purely humanitarian and according to earlier promises by the government but rejected. The Government was of the view that passing of the resolution would have allowed Punjab to be autonomous.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: As high-handed police methods normally used on common criminals were used on protesters during the Dharam Yudh Morcha, creating state repression affecting a very large segment of Punjab's population, retaliatory violence came from a section of the Sikh population, widening the scope of the conflict by the use of violence of the state on its own people, creating fresh motives for Sikh youth to turn to insurgency. The concept of Khalistan was still vague even while the complex was fortified under the influence of former Sikh army officials alienated by government actions who now advised Bhindranwale, Major General Shabeg Singh and retired Major General and Brigadier Mohinder Singh, and at that point the concept was still not directly connected with the movement he headed. In other parts of Punjab, a "state of chaos and repressive police methods" combined to create "a mood of overwhelming anger and resentment in the Sikh masses against the authorities", making Bhindranwale even more popular, and demands of independence gain currency, even amongst moderates and Sikh intellectuals. Extrajudicial killings by the police of orthodox Sikh youth in rural areas in Punjab during the summer and winter of 1982 and early 1983, provoking reprisals. Over 190 Sikhs had been killed in the first 19 months of the protest movement.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab. In July 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harcharan Singh Longowal had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in Golden Temple Complex. Bhindranwale later on made the sacred temple complex an armoury and headquarters. In the violent events leading up to the Operation Blue Star, the militants had killed 165 Nirankaris, Hindus and Nirankaris, even 39 Sikhs opposed to Bhindranwale were killed. The total number of deaths was 410 in violent incidents and riots while 1,180 people were injured.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Counterintelligence reports of the Indian agencies had reported that three prominent figures in the operation, Shabeg Singh, Balbir Singh and Amrik Singh had made at least six trips each to Pakistan between the years 1981 and 1983. Intelligence Bureau reported that weapons training was being provided at gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Soviet intelligence agency KGB reportedly tipped off the Indian agency RAW about the CIA and ISI working together on a Plan for Punjab with a code name "Gibraltar". RAW from its interrogation of a Pakistani Army officer received information that over a thousand trained Special Service Group commandos of the Pakistan Army had been dispatched by Pakistan into the Indian Punjab to assist Bhindranwale in his fight against the government. A large number of Pakistani agents also took the smuggling routes in the Kashmir and Kutch n for three days ending on 8 June. A clean-up operation codenamed as Operation Woodrose was also initiated throughout Punjab.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The army had underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants. Militants had Chinese made rocket-propelled grenade launchers with armour piercing capabilities. Tanks and heavy artillery were used to attack the militants using anti-tank and machine-gun fire from the heavily fortified Akal Takht. After a 24-hour firefight, the army finally wrested control of the temple complex. Casualty figures for the Army were 83 dead and 249 injured. According to the official estimate presented by the Indian government, 1592 were apprehended and there were 493 combined militant and civilian casualties. High civilian casualties were attributed by the state to militants using pilgrims trapped inside the temple as human shields. According to Indian army generals, it was "doubtful" that Bhindranwale had any assurance of help or promise of asylum from Pakistan, as he made no attempt to escape with any associates, in additions to traditions of martyrdom.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The Operation Bluestar was criticized by many Sikhs bodies, who interpreted the military action as an assault on Sikh religion. Four months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in vengeance by her two Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Public outcry and instigation of the public by several high-profile politicians and actors over Gandhi's death led to the killings of more than 3,000 Sikhs in the ensuing 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In the aftermath of the riots, the government reported that 20,000 had fled the Dehli; the People's Union for Civil Liberties reported "at least" 1,000 displaced persons. The most-affected regions were the Sikh neighbourhoods of Delhi. Human rights organisations and newspapers across India believed that the massacre was organised. The collusion of political officials in the violence and judicial failure to penalise the perpetrators alienated Sikhs and increased support for the Khalistan movement.<ref name="Watch/Asia(US)1994"></ref>


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Since the November 1984 pogrom, the Sikhs considered themselves a besieged community. The majority of Sikhs in Punjab would come to support the insurgents as harsh police measures, harassment of innocent Sikh families, and fake encounters from the state had progressively increased support, and provided fresh motives for angry youth to join the insurgents, who were extolled by the community as martyrs as they were killed by police. Police activity discriminatory towards Sikhs increased alienation greatly, triggering indiscriminate militant incidents. However, the insurgent groups were also highly vulnerable to the infiltration by the security forces, providing possible motive as to frequent assassination of those suspected of being informants.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: A section of Sikhs turned to militancy in Punjab; some Sikh militant groups aimed to create an independent state called Khalistan through acts of violence directed at members of the Indian government, army or forces. Others demanded an autonomous state within India, based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. Rajiv Gandhi congratulated a "large number" of Sikhs in a speech in 1985 for condemning the actions of the militants "for the first time."


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: An anthropological study by Puri et al. had posited fun, excitement and expressions of masculinity, as explanations for the young men to join militants and other religious nationalist groups. Puri et al. stated that undereducated and illiterate young men, and with few job prospects had joined pro-Khalistan militant groups with "fun" as one of the primary reasons, asserting that the pursuit of Khalistan was the motivation for only 5% of "militants". Among the arrested terrorists were Harjinder Singh Jinda, who was a convicted bank robber and had escaped from prison, Devinder Singh Bai, a suspect in murder case and was Bhindranwale's close associate, and two drug smugglers, Upkar Singh and Bakshish Singh. However, retired Indian Army general Afsir Karim had described "myths" that had become part of the conventional wisdom of the establishment, including that of "Sikhs have no cause to be dissatisfied or disgruntled" or "have no grievances", or that "terrorism and violence is the work of a handful of misguided youth and criminals and can be curbed by strong measures taken by the state law and order apparatus", stating that the terrorism was a preliminary stage of insurgency in Punjab, that it was well organized, and that the militants were highly motivated and that crime was not their motive. Army leaders during the earlier operation had noted that "it was now evident that this was no rabble army, but a determined insurgent army fired up with religious fervour." The movement would only begin to attract lumpen elements in the late 1980s, joining for the allure of money rather than the long cherished cause of a separate homeland for the Sikhs, as well as by entryists like Naxalites who "took advantage of the situation for their own ends."


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: According to Human Rights Watch in the beginning, on the 1980s, terrorists committed indiscriminate bombings in crowded places, as Indian security forces killed, disappeared, and tortured thousands of innocent Sikhs extrajudicially during its counterinsurgency campaign. On the same day, in another location, a group of militants killed two officials during an attack on a train. Trains were attacked and people were shot after being pulled from buses.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The Congress(I)-led Central Government dismissed its own Punjab's government, declaring a state of emergency, and imposed the President's Rule in the state.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The Operation Blue Star and Anti-Sikh riots across Northern India were crucial events in the evolution of the Khalistan movement. The nationalist groups grew in numbers and strength. The financial funding from the Sikh diaspora sharply increased and the Sikhs in the US, UK and Canada donated thousands of dollars every week for the insurgency. Manbir Singh Chaheru the chief of the Sikh militant group Khalistan Commando Force admitted that he had received more than $60,000 from Sikh organisations operating in Canada and Britain. One of the militant stated, "All we have to do is commit a violent act and the money for our cause increased drastically." Indira Gandhi's son and political successor, Rajiv Gandhi, tried unsuccessfully to bring peace to Punjab.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The opportunity that the government had after 1984 was lost and by March 1986, the Golden Temple was back in control of Sikh institution Damdami Taksal. By 1985, the situation in Punjab had become highly volatile. In December 1986, a bus was attacked by Sikh militants in which 24 Hindus were shot dead and 7 were injured and shot near Khuda in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: According to Indian general Afsir Karim, there was "nothing to suggest that the initial break between Sikhs and the national mainstream was engineered by outside agencies." The first impetus occurred shortly after Independence in 1951 when Punjabi Hindus, under the influence of local Hindu radical groups, abandoned Punjabi to call Hindi their mother tongue in falsified censuses to prevent the formation of the Punjabi Suba, which brought out other differences between the two communities in the open. Despite this, it required an event of the magnitude of Operation Blue Star to give rise to militancy in an organized form. The pre-operation period generated enough heat to draw Pakistan interest, but it was Operation Blue Star which gave the final push to angry Sikh youth to cross the border and accept Pakistani assistance and support. Even then their anger was "not particularly against the Hindu population but against the humiliation of Blue Star compounded by the anti-Sikh riots of 1984."


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: In 1964, Pakistani state-owned radio station began airing separatist propaganda targeted for Sikhs in Punjab, which continued during the Indo-Pak war of 1965. Pakistan had been promoting the Sikh secessionist movement since the 1970s. The Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had politically supported the idea of Khalistan wherever possible. Under Zia ul Haq, this support became even more prominent. The motive for supporting Khalistan was the revenge for India's role in splitting of Pakistan in 1971 and to discredit India's global status by splitting a Sikh state to vindicate Jinnah's Two-nation theory. Zia had seen this as an opportunity to weaken and distract India in another war of insurgency following the Pakistani military doctrine to "Bleed India with a Thousand Cuts". Former Director General of ISI Hamid Gul had once stated that "Keeping Punjab destabilized is equivalent to the Pakistan Army having an extra division at no cost to the taxpayers."


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Since the early 1980s, for the fulfillment of these motives, the spy agency Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan became involved with the Khalistan movement. ISI created a special Punjab cell in its headquarter to support the militant Sikh followers of Bhindranwale and supply them with arms and ammunitions. Terrorist training camps were set up in Pakistan at Lahore and Karachi to train them. ISI deployed its Field Intelligence Units (FIU) on the Indo-Pak Border. Organisations like Bhindranwale Tiger Force, the Khalistan Commando Force, the Khalistan Liberation Force and the Babbar Khalsa were provided support.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The ISI also attempted to make appeals to the five-member Panthic Committee, elected from among the religious leaders of the Panth at the Panj Takhts as the upholders of the Sikh religion, as well as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee due to its substantial financial resources, and as both Sikh committees had major political influence over Punjab and New Delhi.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Sikhs in Pakistan were a small minority and the Panthic Committee in Pakistan assisted the propaganda campaign of ISI in its propaganda and psychological warfare. The Sikh community in the country and abroad were its target. Panthic Committee delivered religious speeches and revealing incidents of torture to the Sikhs. Sikhs were instigated to take up arms against the Indian Government "in the name of a hypothetical autonomous Sikh nation".


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: ISI used Pakistani Sikhs as partners for its operation in the Indian Punjab. The terrorist training program was spread over and the Sikh gurdwaras on both sides of International border were used as place for residence and armoury for storing weapons and ammunitions.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: The direct impact of these activities was felt during the Operation Blue Star where the Sikh insurgents fighting against the army were found to be well trained in warfare and had enough supply of ammunitions. After the Operation Blue Star several modern weapons found inside the temple complex with the Pakistan or Chinese markings on them.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Pakistan had been involved in training, guiding, and arming Sikh militants. Interrogation reports of Sikh militants arrested in India gave details of the training of Sikh youth in Pakistan including arms training in the use of rifles, sniper rifle, light machine gun, grenade, automatic weapons, chemical weapons, demolition of buildings and bridges, sabotage and causing explosions using gunpowder by the Pak-based Sikh militant leaders and Pakistani army officers. A dozen terrorist training camps had been set up in Pakistan along the International border. These camps housed 1500 to 2000 Sikh militants who were imparted guerrilla warfare training. Reports also suggested plans of ISI to cause explosions in big cities like Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Delhi and targeting politicians. According to KPS Gill, terrorists had been mainly using crude bombs but since 1990s more modern explosives supplied by Pakistan had become widespread in usage among them. The number of casualties also increased with more explosives usage by the terrorists.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: By providing modern sophisticated weapons to the Sikh extremists, the Pakistani ISI was efficacious in producing an environment which conducted guerrilla warfare. AK-47 provided by ISI was primarily used by the militants as an ideal weapon in their guerrilla warfare, based on its superior performance in comparison to other weapons. While the Indian policemen fighting the militants had .303 Lee–Enfield rifles that were popular in the World war II and only a few of them had 7.62 1A self loading rifles. These weapons were outmatched by automatic AK-47s.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: A militant from Babbar Khalsa who had been arrested in the early 1990s had informed Indian authorities about Pakistani ISI plans to use aeroplanes for Kamikaze attacks on Indian installations. The Sikhs however refused to participate in such operations on religious grounds as Sikhism prohibits suicide assassinations. In a hijacking in 1984 a German manufactured pistol was used and during the investigations, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service then confirmed that the weapon was part of a weapon consignment for Pakistani government. The American government had then issued warnings over the incident after which the series of hijackings of Indian aeroplanes had stopped.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Between 1987 and 1991, Punjab was placed under an ineffective President's rule and was governed from Delhi. Elections were eventually held in 1992 but the voter turnout was poor. A new Congress(I) government was formed and it gave the Chief of the Punjab Police (India) K.P.S. Gill a free hand.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: Under his Command, police had launched multiple intelligence-based operations like Operation Black Thunder to neutralise Sikh militants. Police was also successful in killing multiple High-value terrorists thus suppressing the violence and putting an end to mass killings.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: By 1993, the Punjab insurgency had petered out, with a last major incident being the Assassination of Chief Minister Beant Singh occurring in 1995.


title: Insurgency in Punjab

text: 1,714 security personnel, 7,946 militants, and 11,690 non-combatants were killed throughout the conflict. Some sources have stated higher figures for non-combatant deaths.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen (; ; traditional English name: Mechlin) is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of (adjacent) and (a few kilometers away), as well as the villages of , , , , and . The Dyle () flows through the city, hence it is often referred to as the "" ("City on the river ").


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen lies on the major urban and industrial axis Brussels–Antwerp, about 25 km from each city. Inhabitants find employment at Mechelen's southern industrial and northern office estates, as well as at offices or industry near the capital and Zaventem Airport, or at industrial plants near Antwerp's seaport.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen is one of Flanders' prominent cities of historical art, with Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven. It was notably a centre for artistic production during the Northern Renaissance, when painters, printmakers, illuminators and composers of polyphony were attracted by patrons such as Margaret of York, Margaret of Austria and .


title: Mechelen

text: Archaeological proof of habitation during the La Tène era in the triangle Brussels-Leuven-Antwerp, mainly concentrated around Mechelen which originated in wetlands, includes an 8.4-metre long canoe cut from an oak tree trunk and a settlement of about five wooden houses, at Nekkerspoel.


title: Mechelen

text: The area of Mechelen was settled on the banks of the river during the Gallo-Roman period as evidenced by several Roman ruins and roads. Upon Rome's declining influence, during 3rd–4th centuries the area became inhabited by Germanic tribes. A few centuries later Christianized assumedly by the Irish or Scottish missionary St Rumbold ("Rombout" in Dutch) who was also said to have built a monastery. Work on the cathedral that is dedicated to the saint started around 1200.


title: Mechelen

text: Antwerp lost profitable "stapelrechten" (rights as first seller) for wool, oats and salt to Mechelen in 1303 when John II, Duke of Brabant, granted City rights to the town. This started a rivalry between these cities that would last well into the 20th century.


title: Mechelen

text: In the 15th century, the city came under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy, marking the beginning of a prosperous period. In 1473 Charles the Bold moved several political bodies to the city, and Mechelen served as the seat of the Superior Court until the French Revolution. In 1490, a regular postal service between Mechelen and Innsbruck was established.


title: Mechelen

text: The highly lucrative cloth trade gained Mechelen wealth and power during the Late Middle Ages and it even became the capital of the Low Countries (very roughly the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) in the first half of the 16th century under Archduchess Margaret of Austria.


title: Mechelen

text: During the 16th century the city's political influence decreased dramatically, due to many governmental institutions being moved to Brussels in 1530 and after the gunpowder magazine explosion of 1546. Mechelen compensated for this by increasing prominence in the religious arena: in 1559 it was proclaimed the Archdiocese of Mechelen, seat of religious authority over the territory that would eventually become Belgium. In 1961, "Brussels" was added to the title, resulting in the current Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen also retained further relevance as the Great Council of Mechelen remained the supreme court of the territory until the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1572, during the Eighty Years' War, the city was burned and sacked by the Spanish. After this pillaging, the city was rebuilt. It was sacked again in 1580 during the English Fury at Mechelen. It was during this time that the tradition of furniture making, still seen today, began.


title: Mechelen

text: In 1718 a major rebellion took place in the city, angry mobs entered the town hall. During this time Lord Pierre de Romrée was mayor of Mechelen. The chaos ended when the Emperor formally requested the President of the Great Council to restore peace. On 18 June, Christophe-Ernest de Baillet received a full list of the people who led the troubles. The President received the support of multiple regiments that had been sent by imperial command. After negotiations de Baillet restored peace and order in the city.


title: Mechelen

text: In 1781, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, ordered the destruction of the city's fortified walls – their former location however continues to be referred to in the Latin terms "intra muros" (within the walls) and "extra muros" (outside), and meanwhile the site became that of the inner ring road.


title: Mechelen

text: The city entered the industrial age in the 19th century. In 1835, the first railway on the European continent linked Brussels with Mechelen, which became the hub of the Belgian railway network. This led to a development of metalworking industries, among others the central railway workshops which are still located in the town today. During the Second World War, the extensive Mechlinian railway structure had caused the Nazi occupation forces to choose Mechelen for their infamous transit camp. Over 25,000 Jews and Roma were sent by rail to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp from Mechelen. The site of the transit camp and a purpose-built complex across the public square, now house the Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights.


title: Mechelen

text: Several famous meetings on the Christian religion are connected to the name of the city. One in 1909 is thought to have inaugurated the Liturgical Movement. Between 1921 and 1925 a series of unofficial conferences, known as the Malines Conversations, presided over by Cardinal Mercier and attended by Anglican divines and laymen, including Lord Halifax, was the most significant of early attempts at the reconciliation between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches.


title: Mechelen

text: Most cities in Flanders have a mock name for their inhabitants. Since 1687, for their heroic attempt to fight the "fire" high up in the Saint-Rumbold's Tower, where the gothic windows had shown the flaring of only the moon between clouds, Mechlinians have been called "Maneblussers" (moon extinguishers).


title: Mechelen

text: Once every 25 years, a Parade, the Ommegang, commemorates both the arrival of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, father of Archduchess Margaret of Austria, and also other major events of the city's past. The "Ommegang" had an extra edition in 2000 for the 500th anniversary of the birth of Charles V. This cortege shows the city's six 15th–17th-century Giants and other serious and humoresque puppets and carts, all typically made on a huge scale, and has been UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity since 2005.


title: Mechelen

text: The city's 17th-century wooden mascot, which since 1775 has been called "Opsinjoorke" 'the doll', is pulled about on a sheet as part of the Ommegang. Nowadays, it is the replica that is so pulled around the city. A recent bronze statue depicting the "Opsinjoorke" stands in front of the Belfry.


title: Mechelen

text: The annual parade of carts decorated with flowers (comparable to that of Blankenberge for Mechlinian florists still prepare up to half of decorations), and with vegetables, – all of which are local to the area—has been indefinitely canceled since the beginning of the 21st century due to lack of financing by the City.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen used to have its own newspaper called "de Krijgstrompet", which was the official newspaper of the army.


title: Mechelen

text: Informally, many Mechlinians (Dutch "Mechelaars", locally pronounced "Mecheleirs") speak Mechlinian ("Mechels"), a Dutch dialect which is distinct from other Brabantic dialects.


title: Mechelen

text: Since 1995, a subscribers' quarterly, "De Mecheleir", shows old photographs of Mechelen and has stories on the local history, as well as a few columns written mimicking the dialect, for which there is no standard spelling.


title: Mechelen

text: Historically famous Mechlinian trades include "laken" (woollen cloth), tapestries, cordwain, Mechlin lace (precious bobbin lace, already from the early 18th century), wood carving and sculpturing, and furniture.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen was at the heart of the revival of the carillon in the early 20th century, and hosts its principal school in the world to this day.


title: Mechelen

text: The area around Mechelen is famous for the cultivation of vegetables, among which are Belgian endive ("witloof"), asparagus, and cauliflower. Founded in the city, the "Mechelse Veilingen" in neighbouring Sint-Katelijne-Waver is the largest co-operative vegetable auction in Europe.


title: Mechelen

text: One of the four breeds of the Belgian Sheepdog is the local Malinois. The "Mechelse koekoek" is a local poultry breed, fleshy chickens with black and white feathers which extend on the birds' legs, with colours reminiscent of a cuckoo, hence the name.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelsen Bruynen was allegedly the emperor Charles V's favourite beer. A version is still brewed in the city at Het Anker brewery, one of the oldest breweries in Belgium.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen has an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb"). Mechelen has a narrow temperature range between seasons for its high latitude, despite its inland position. Summers are warm and occasionally hot, whereas winters usually remain above freezing. Similar to Belgium as a whole, the climate is relatively cloudy and receives frequent rainfall, often light.


title: Mechelen

text: Home of two old Belgian football clubs, founded in 1904: K.R.C. Mechelen and K.V. Mechelen. The latter contributed to the international glamour of the city by winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup in 1988. The number of lesser local teams shows this sport's popularity: Rapid Leest, Sporting Mechelen, Leest Utd., VV Leest, Walem, SK.Heffen, Zennester Hombeek, FC Muizen. In 1985, the city hosted the Canoe Sprint World Championships.


title: Mechelen

text: There are several important cathedral and churches in Mechelen. Most famous is Sint-Romboutskathedraal (St. Rumbold's Cathedral) with its dominating tower, which was consecrated in 1312 and is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site. The domed, baroque Basiliek van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Hanswijk, a famous place of pilgrimage in Belgium, was designed by native architect Lucas Faydherbe, some of whose sculptures can also be found in the cathedral and completed in 1876. The Kerk van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijle (Church of Our Lady across the river Dijle) and the Sint-Janskerk exhibits work from Rubens, including 'The Adoration of the Magi' and 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes', respectively. Other important churches in Mechelen include the baroque Begijnhofkerk (Church of the Beguines, dedicated to St. Alexis and St. Catherine); the former Jesuit church Sint-Pieter en Pauluskerk (Saints Peter and Paul); and the present Jesuit Church of Our Lady of Leliendaal.


title: Mechelen

text: Other religious buildings in Mechelen include the Palace of the Archbishop of the Archbishopric of Mechelen-Brussels, still in use for its original purpose by the current Archbishop De Kesel. These palaces may not be open to the public in general but do offer a good external view. The Klein Begijnhof and the Groot Begijnhof (Small and Large Beguinages), which house lay religious women, form part of the Flemish Béguinages World Heritage Site. The grounds of the Theravada Buddhist place of worship Wat Dhammapateep (Temple of the Flame of Truth or Reality as taught by the Enlightened One) has since 2005 housed a green granite Buddha, sculptured in China, seated on a dark green granite socle – the tallest granite Buddha in Europe.


title: Mechelen

text: The Refuge of Grimbergen, the Refuge of Villers, the Refuge of Rozendaal, the Refuge of Sint-Truiden and the Refuge of Tongerlo, are retreat mansions for distant abbeys, the latter now housing the Manufacturer De Wit which restores the finest tapestries, for which Flanders was famous in the 16th century.


title: Mechelen

text: The Lakenhal (a cloth hall) and the 14th-century Belfry beside it are now incorporated with the modern City Hall complex on the main square. The hall and belfry are part of the Belfries of Belgium and France World Heritage Site for their civic importance and architecture.


title: Mechelen

text: The Brusselpoort, the last remaining of the city's twelve gates was built in the 13th century. Along with the Schepenhuis, the oldest stone-built city hall in Flanders and the historical seat of the 'Grote Raad' (Great Council or Supreme Court), and the gothic-renaissance Hof van Busleyden where Hieronymus van Busleyden received Erasmus, Thomas More, and the later Pope Adrian VI, now house the City Museum. The Vismarkt (former fish market) is a 16th-century square located near the heart of the city along the river Dijle.


title: Mechelen

text: Many famous people resided in Mechelen in the 16th-19th centuries, and their houses still remain today. The Hof van Savoye was built for Margaret of Austria while as regent of the Netherlands still raising the later Charles Quint. It is one of the first Renaissance buildings north of the Alps and was converted to the meeting place of for courts of justice in 1609. In addition, Mechelen contains the "Hof van Nassau", a 15th-century building which served as temporary court of Margaret of York when she arrived in Mechelen after her marriage with Charles the Bold, as well as the palace she resided in after Charles's death.


title: Mechelen

text: Mechelen also contains the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" where carillonneurs come from around the world to study the carillon and to play the instrument.


title: Mechelen

text: The city council consists of 43 councillors, elected every six years. The mayor is Bart Somers (Open Vld) since 2001. In October 2019 Alexander Vandersmissen became acting mayor because Bart Somers became minister in the Flemish government, he retains the title of mayor. The Vld-Groen-M+ "kartel" got an absolute majority of seats in the October 2018 election.


title: Mechelen

text: The city of Mechelen uses ANPR cameras since September 2011 to check all inbound and outbound cars against a database of stolen, non-insured and cars listed for other reasons. In case of a positive match, an alarm is generated in the dispatching room, enabling the police to quickly intercept the car. Mechelen was one of the first cities in Belgium to use ANPR on this scale. As of early 2012, 1 million cars per week are checked in this way. Mechelen started this project with SAIT Zenitel.


title: Turgut Alp

text: Turgut Alp () was one of the warriors and alps who fought for Ertuğrul, a Turkic leader and bey, and Ertuğrul's son Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. After the establishment of the Empire, he became one of its military commanders, serving Osman I, as well as his son, Orhan Gazi.


title: Turgut Alp

text: During the early Ottoman Conquests in the reign of Osman I, Turgut Alp was sent to "Angelacoma" (present-day İnegöl) and he conquered the area. This area consisting some villages, was given to him by Osman I and his territory was called "Turgut-ili (Province of Turgut)". During the Siege of Bursa, Turgut Alp, along with Osman's warrior Mihal Gazi, participated in the conquest of "Atranos" Castle (later known as Orhaneli) in 1325, which played a key role in leading to the Ottoman conquest of Bursa during the reign of Sultan Orhan. He was also with Orhan during the conquest of Bursa (1326).


title: Turgut Alp

text: His tomb is located in the cemetery of Turgutalp (Genci) village, İnegöl, Turkey. The grave outside the Ertugrul Ghazi's mausoleum is an honorary grave, not the real burial place.


title: Turgut Alp

text: In 1877, during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), a city was founded and named "Turgutalp" after him in the then-Ottoman Empire.


title: Turgut Alp

text: Turgut Alp has been portrayed in the Turkish television series "" (1988), "" (2014—2019) and "" (2019—).


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: The Untamed () is a 2016 Mexican science fiction-horror film directed by Amat Escalante. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, with Escalante winning the Silver Lion for his direction.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: A young mother of two, Alejandra, is unhappy in her marriage to her husband Ángel, who is in a secret affair with Alejandra's brother, a nurse named Fabian. In public however, Ángel makes fun of Fabian and gays in general. Alejandra is desperately unhappy in her marriage and extremely sexually frustrated. While in the shower, she masturbates and almost reaches an orgasm until her kids knock on the door, interrupting her.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: Veronica is a young woman who is sexually infatuated with a tentacled alien creature originating from a crashed meteor that an elderly couple keep in a barn in the countryside. She has been visiting the alien for years, having sexual encounters where the creature brings her to orgasm. Having never injured her in the past, the creature suddenly bites her in the abdomen. At the hospital, she is cared for by Fabian, and makes friends with him. When she tells the older couple she wants to continue visiting the alien, they forbid it, as it has become dangerous for her.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: Ángel visits Fabián and angrily demands to know why Fabian has not answered his texts. Fabián informs him that their affair is over. Veronica entices Fabián to visit the barn, but later Fabián is found naked in a field, sexually assaulted and beaten into a coma. As he lays in the hospital, Alejandra finds his phone and reads the angry texts from Ángel, where Ángel demands sex from him, threatening violence. Ángel is arrested at work, and Alejandra testifies against him, as does one of Fabián's co-workers who witnessed their disputes.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: Veronica brings Alejandra to the farm, where the couple tell her about how the alien arrived when something from the sky made a crater in a field near the farm. In the crater, animals of all sorts are wildly copulating. Alejandra is drugged by the couple and escorted into the barn, where the alien pleasures her. She continues to visit the barn, even sometimes bringing her kids along when she can't find anyone to watch them for her; they play outside while she has sex with the creature in the room. The elderly couple become increasingly concerned by the creature's capacity for violence. Veronica attempts to form a sexual relationship with a man, but he cannot satisfy her as the creature did.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: Ángel's wealthy parents use their influence to have their son released from jail, posting bail by selling his house. They berate him for embarrassing them so badly, and insist he leave town and never return. Instead, he visits Alejandra in hopes of reuniting his family. She tells him that she now knows he didn't hurt Fabian, but he hits her when she says that they are done. When he tries to pull a gun on her, he accidentally shoots himself in the leg. Alejandra helps him into her truck, but drives into the countryside. She drags a semi-conscious Ángel into the barn, where she finds Veronica dead. As Alejandra leaves, the creature lowers itself from the ceiling towards Ángel.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: Later, the older man and Alejandra dump the bodies of Veronica and Ángel into a pit, where Alejandra comments on how rapidly the dead bodies are piling up in the pit.


title: The Untamed (2016 film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 7.05/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: ""The Untamed" attempts some ambitious tonal juggling between fantastical and disturbing -- and draws viewers in with its slippery, inexorable pull." On Metacritic, the film has an aggregated score of 72 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".


title: Jitter

text: In electronics and telecommunications, jitter is the deviation from true periodicity of a presumably periodic signal, often in relation to a reference clock signal. In clock recovery applications it is called timing jitter. Jitter is a significant, and usually undesired, factor in the design of almost all communications links.


title: Jitter

text: Jitter can be quantified in the same terms as all time-varying signals, e.g., root mean square (RMS), or peak-to-peak displacement. Also, like other time-varying signals, jitter can be expressed in terms of spectral density.


title: Jitter

text: Jitter period is the interval between two times of maximum effect (or minimum effect) of a signal characteristic that varies regularly with time. Jitter frequency, the more commonly quoted figure, is its inverse. ITU-T G.810 classifies jitter frequencies below 10 Hz as wander and frequencies at or above 10 Hz as jitter.


title: Jitter

text: Jitter may be caused by electromagnetic interference and crosstalk with carriers of other signals. Jitter can cause a display monitor to flicker, affect the performance of processors in personal computers, introduce clicks or other undesired effects in audio signals, and cause loss of transmitted data between network devices. The amount of tolerable jitter depends on the affected application.


title: Jitter

text: In telecommunications, the unit used for the above types of jitter is usually the unit interval (UI) which quantifies the jitter in terms of a fraction of the transmission unit period. This unit is useful because it scales with clock frequency and thus allows relatively slow interconnects such as T1 to be compared to higher-speed internet backbone links such as OC-192. Absolute units such as "picoseconds" are more common in microprocessor applications. Units of "degrees" and "radians" are also used.


title: Jitter

text: If jitter has a Gaussian distribution, it is usually quantified using the standard deviation of this distribution. This translates to an RMS measurement for a zero-mean distribution. Often, jitter distribution is significantly non-Gaussian. This can occur if the jitter is caused by external sources such as power supply noise. In these cases, "peak-to-peak" measurements may be more useful. Many efforts have been made to meaningfully quantify distributions that are neither Gaussian nor have a meaningful peak level. All have shortcomings but most tend to be good enough for the purposes of engineering work.


title: Jitter

text: In computer networking, jitter can refer to packet delay variation, the variation (statistical dispersion) in the delay of the packets.


title: Jitter

text: One of the main differences between random and deterministic jitter is that deterministic jitter is bounded and random jitter is unbounded.


title: Jitter

text: Random jitter, also called Gaussian jitter, is unpredictable electronic timing noise. Random jitter typically follows a normal distribution due to being caused by thermal noise in an electrical circuit.


title: Jitter

text: Deterministic jitter is a type of clock or data signal jitter that is predictable and reproducible. The peak-to-peak value of this jitter is bounded, and the bounds can easily be observed and predicted. Deterministic jitter has a known non-normal distribution. Deterministic jitter can either be correlated to the data stream (data-dependent jitter) or uncorrelated to the data stream (bounded uncorrelated jitter). Examples of data-dependent jitter are duty-cycle dependent jitter (also known as duty-cycle distortion) and intersymbol interference.


title: Jitter

text: Total jitter ("T") is the combination of random jitter ("R") and deterministic jitter ("D") and is computed in the context to a required bit error rate (BER) for the system:


title: Jitter

text: In analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion of signals, the sampling is normally assumed to be periodic with a fixed period—the time between every two samples is the same. If there is jitter present on the clock signal to the analog-to-digital converter or a digital-to-analog converter, the time between samples varies and instantaneous signal error arises. The error is proportional to the slew rate of the desired signal and the absolute value of the clock error. The effect of jitter on the signal depends on the nature of the jitter. Random jitter tends to add broadband noise while periodic jitter tends to add errant spectral components, "birdys". In some conditions, less than a nanosecond of jitter can reduce the effective bit resolution of a converter with a Nyquist frequency of 22 kHz to 14 bits.


title: Jitter

text: Sampling jitter is an important consideration in high-frequency signal conversion, or where the clock signal is especially prone to interference.


title: Jitter

text: In digital antenna arrays ADC and DAC jitters are the important factors determining the direction of arrival estimation accuracy and the depth of jammers suppression.


title: Jitter

text: In the context of computer networks, packet jitter or packet delay variation (PDV) is the variation in latency as measured in the variability over time of the end-to-end delay across a network. A network with constant delay has no packet jitter. Packet jitter is expressed as an average of the deviation from the network mean delay. PDV is an important quality of service factor in assessment of network performance.


title: Jitter

text: Transmitting a burst of traffic at a high rate followed by an interval or period of lower or zero rate transmission may also be seen as a form of jitter, as it represents a deviation from the average transmission rate. However, unlike the jitter caused by variation in latency, transmitting in bursts may be seen as a desirable feature, e.g. in variable bitrate transmissions.


title: Jitter

text: Video or image jitter occurs when the horizontal lines of video image frames are randomly displaced due to the corruption of synchronization signals or electromagnetic interference during video transmission. Model-based dejittering study has been carried out under the framework of digital image and video restoration.


title: Jitter

text: Jitter in serial bus architectures is measured by means of eye patterns. There are standards for jitter measurement in serial bus architectures. The standards cover jitter tolerance, jitter transfer function and jitter generation, with the required values for these attributes varying among different applications. Where applicable, compliant systems are required to conform to these standards.


title: Jitter

text: Testing for jitter and its measurement is of growing importance to electronics engineers because of increased clock frequencies in digital electronic circuitry to achieve higher device performance. Higher clock frequencies have commensurately smaller eye openings, and thus impose tighter tolerances on jitter. For example, modern computer motherboards have serial bus architectures with eye openings of 160 picoseconds or less. This is extremely small compared to parallel bus architectures with equivalent performance, which may have eye openings on the order of 1000 picoseconds.


title: Jitter

text: Jitter is measured and evaluated in various ways depending on the type of circuit under test. In all cases, the goal of jitter measurement is to verify that the jitter will not disrupt normal operation of the circuit.


title: Jitter

text: Testing of device performance for jitter tolerance may involve injection of jitter into electronic components with specialized test equipment.


title: Jitter

text: A less direct approach—in which analog waveforms are digitized and the resulting data stream analyzed—is employed when measuring pixel jitter in frame grabbers.


title: Jitter

text: Anti-jitter circuits (AJCs) are a class of electronic circuits designed to reduce the level of jitter in a clock signal. AJCs operate by re-timing the output pulses so they align more closely to an idealized clock. They are widely used in clock and data recovery circuits in digital communications, as well as for data sampling systems such as the analog-to-digital converter and digital-to-analog converter. Examples of anti-jitter circuits include phase-locked loop and delay-locked loop.


title: Jitter

text: Jitter buffers or de-jitter buffers are buffers used to counter jitter introduced by queuing in packet-switched networks to ensure continuous playout of an audio or video media stream transmitted over the network. The maximum jitter that can be countered by a de-jitter buffer is equal to the buffering delay introduced before starting the play-out of the media stream. In the context of packet-switched networks, the term "packet delay variation" is often preferred over "jitter".


title: Jitter

text: Some systems use sophisticated delay-optimal de-jitter buffers that are capable of adapting the buffering delay to changing network characteristics. The adaptation logic is based on the jitter estimates computed from the arrival characteristics of the media packets. Adjustments associated with adaptive de-jittering involves introducing discontinuities in the media play-out which may be noticeable to the listener or viewer. Adaptive de-jittering is usually carried out for audio play-outs that include voice activity detection that allows the lengths of the silence periods to be adjusted, thus minimizing the perceptual impact of the adaptation.


title: Jitter

text: A dejitterizer is a device that reduces jitter in a digital signal. A dejitterizer usually consists of an elastic buffer in which the signal is temporarily stored and then retransmitted at a rate based on the average rate of the incoming signal. A dejitterizer may not be effective in removing low-frequency jitter (wander).


title: Jitter

text: Jitter signal can be decomposed into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), which can be further applied for filtering or dejittering.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: A Light for Attracting Attention is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Smile. It was digitally released through XL Recordings on 13 May 2022, with a physical release on 17 June.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: The Smile comprises the Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with the drummer Tom Skinner. Yorke provided vocals, and he and Greenwood played guitar, bass and keyboards. The album was produced by Radiohead's longtime producer Nigel Godrich.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: The Smile worked during the COVID-19 lockdowns and made their surprise debut in a performance streamed by Glastonbury Festival in May 2021. In early 2022, they released five singles and performed to an audience for the first time at three shows in London in January, which were livestreamed. They began an international tour in May. "A Light for Attracting Attention" received acclaim and reached number five on the UK Albums Chart.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: The Smile comprises the Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with the Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. They made their debut in a surprise performance for the concert video "Live at Worthy Farm", produced by Glastonbury Festival and streamed on May 22, 2021.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: The Smile began working on "A Light for Attracting Attention" shortly before the first UK COVID-19 lockdowns, with Radiohead's longtime producer Nigel Godrich. According to Yorke, Greenwood and Skinner "had already tracked about four things before I even knew what was going on". Yorke wrote the lyrics in his home during the lockdowns; he recorded his vocals to Godrich's studio from his home using streaming software, before his children returned from school each day. Yorke said "It got sort of protracted ... It was deeply frustrating, but it's been the same for everybody." According to Greenwood, the album was almost complete by September 2021.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: Yorke performed a Smile song, "Free in the Knowledge", at the Letters Live event at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in October. On January 29 and 30, the Smile performed to an audience for the first time at three shows at Magazine, London, which were livestreamed. Yorke first performed "Skrting on the Surface" in 2009, and in a different arrangement in 2012 with Radiohead. He first performed "Open the Floodgates" solo in 2009.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: Per various critics, "A Light for Attracting Attention" is an art rock, post-punk, progressive rock, electronica, and Afrobeats album that explores elements of math rock, post-rock, grunge, electro-rock, psychedelic rock desert rock, funk, jazz, breakbeat, wonky, and systems music. The cover art was created by Yorke with Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: The Smile began releasing singles in early 2022. On 5 January, their debut single, "You Will Never Work in Television Again", was released to streaming services. On 27 January, they released their second single, "The Smoke", followed by "Skrting on the Surface" on 17 March. The fourth single, "Pana-vision", was released on 3 April alongside a new solo song from Yorke, "That's How Horses Are"; both were used in the series finale of the television series "Peaky Blinders", broadcast that day. "Free in the Knowledge" was released on 20 April, and "Thin Thing" was released on 9 May.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: The Smile announced "A Light for Attracting Attention" on 20 April 2022, alongside the "Free in the Knowledge" single. It was released digitally through XL Recordings on 13 May, with a physical release on 17 June. The Smile began a European tour in May, followed by a North American tour starting in November. They were supported by the saxophonist Robert Stillman, who also joined them for performances of two Smile songs.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: In March 2022, the Smile released a 7-inch vinyl of "You Will Never Work In Television Again" and "The Smoke" through a lottery in independent record stores. In November, they released a special edition of the album through Rough Trade, as well as a limited 10-inch vinyl featuring live tracks and a reading of William Blake's poem "The Smile" by the actor Cillian Murphy, which was used as the introduction for the Smile's live shows. On 14 December, the Smile released a digital-only EP, "The Smile (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, July 2022)", with songs from their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: On Metacritic, "A Light for Attracting Attention" has a score of 86 out of 100 based on 23 reviews from critics, indicating "universal acclaim". "Pitchfork" awarded it their "best new music" accolade, with the critic Ryan Dombal writing that it was "instantly, unmistakably the best album yet by a Radiohead side project". In June 2022, "Spin" named "A Light for Attracting Attention" the best album of the year so far. The critic Zach Schonfeld wrote that its best moments equalled any of Yorke and Greenwood's work since the 2007 Radiohead album "In Rainbows", and that "it almost makes you want to send Radiohead's other three members a sympathy card". "Uncut" named it the best album of the year. Rough Trade named it the best album of the year in their US ranking and the second best album of the year in their UK rating.


title: A Light for Attracting Attention

text: "A Light for Attracting Attention" initially reached number 19 on the UK Albums Chart. After its retail release a month later, it reached number five.


title: Humshakals

text: Humshakals () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Sajid Khan and produced by Vashu Bhagnani. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Esha Gupta and Bipasha Basu in the lead roles with Satish Shah, Nawab Shah, Chunky Pandey and Darshan Jariwala in supporting roles. In the film, Khan, Deshmukh and Kapoor each have triple roles, that sums up to a total of 9 characters. The film is shot extensively in foreign locations. It is co-produced by Fox Star Studios and Vashu Bhagnani's Pooja Entertainment. It was released on 20 June 2014 and marked the final film appearance of veteran actor Satish Shah before his retirement from Bollywood. The film released to significant criticism and is considered one of the worst Bollywood movies ever made.


title: Humshakals

text: Ashok and Kumar are best friends, whereas Shanaya and Mishti are their love interests. Ashok's father is a billionaire but has been in a coma for the last six years, while his wicked maternal uncle, Kunwar Amarnath Singh a.k.a. Mamaji teams up with an evil doctor, Dr. Khan to get rid of Ashok and take over all his property. During a board meeting, Mamaji mixes a medicine in Ashok and Kumar's drink and they both start behaving like dogs.


title: Humshakals

text: They are taken to a mental asylum for treatment by Dr. Shivani, who soon realises the truth and promises to discharge them. But fate takes a twist as two lookalikes of Ashok and Kumar being treated in the same hospital's 'B' ward, who work for Bijlani, a cocaine smuggler, are accidentally released instead of the true ones. Shanaya and Mishti take them to Ashok's mansion where Singh understands the whole mix-up and plans to use the duplicate Ashok to become the owner of the whole business empire. Now the true Ashok and Kumar also come to know of Mamaji's evil plan but are stuck in the asylum. They are offered help by one of the ward boys, Cyrus, who takes them to a secret ward 'C' to meet 'Johnny' who is a look-alike of Mamaji but has a dangerous habit of attacking people who sneeze in front of him. Ashok and Kumar plan revenge against Singh with the help of Johnny but get caught by the warden Y. M. Raj before they can escape from the asylum. Y. M. Raj prepares to punish them but accidentally sneezes in front of them. Angered by this, Johnny beats him black and blue, thus helping the three escape.


title: Humshakals

text: On the day of the board meeting, the true Ashok and Kumar get ready to expose Mamaji, when Dr. Khan triggers the fire alarm. All the three mental patients escape the building. Now desperate, Ashok and Kumar bump into a dance bar owner Balbir, the triplicate of Mamaji while Mamaji also arranges another set of Ashok and Kumar with the help of plastic surgery from Dr. Khan's two assistants who assume their identities. He takes the triplicate Ashok and Kumar to the House of Commons where the fake Ashok is to hand over all the business to him in the presence of Prince Charles but the real Ashok and Kumar arrive along with Balabir. To add to the confusion the three mental patients also storm in to help the real Ashok and Kumar creating panic among the eyewitnesses on seeing so many lookalikes together.


title: Humshakals

text: The film closes with Ashok's father coming out of his coma and recognizing the true Ashok and getting Mamaji arrested for his deeds.


title: Humshakals

text: The shooting of the film commenced on 24 September 2013 in London. The team shot in Mauritius for the final part of the film starting on February 22, 2014. Two songs and other sequences were shot at the La Plantation Resort & Spa, Le Méridien, Intercontinental Resort, Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius and the Northern Beaches, with Mauritian extras also having participated in the shooting.


title: Humshakals

text: After the film’s release and subsequent poor critical response, Saif Ali Khan told the press that "The film didn't have a script as such, it was all there in Sajid's mind."


title: Humshakals

text: The soundtrack of "Humshakals" is composed by Himesh Reshammiya and lyrics are written by Mayur Puri, Sameer and Shabbir Ahmed. The first single of the film was "Caller Tune", by Neeraj Shridhar and Neeti Mohan. The soundtrack was released on 26 May 2014.


title: Humshakals

text: Despite poor critical reception, the film did well at the box office during first few days after release. The film recovered its investment although it was still deemed a box office failure.


title: Humshakals

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 0%, based on six reviews, with an average rating of 2/10. Saurabh Dwivedi of "India Today" stated "for Sajid Khan, I can only say that "Humshakals" will be listed in one of the worst films of the century." Mihir Fadnavis wrote in his Firstpost review, "... sexual tomfoolery, shrieking and hamming aside, there's much more to hate about this 'family movie'. It's disturbing to see such an atrocious, regressive, misogynistic, sexist, homophobic cinematic product force-fed to paying audiences. I can understand that a comedy need not be 'safe', but what goes on in Humshakals is simply too horrifying to bear." Sweta Kaushal of "Hindustan Times" rated the film 0.5 out of 5 and stated "With no story or comedy on offer, even Riteish and Ram are unable to save the day for Sajid Khan." Mohar Basu of Koimoi gave it 0/5 stars and said the film was "[l]oaded with indecipherable dim wit" and "an odd mishmash of pathos and drudgery." Writing in "Emirates 24/7", Sneha May Francis claimed that it succeeded Khan's previous endeavor, "Himmatwala", in becoming the worst Bollywood film ever. Critic Sonia Chopra of Sify.com wrote "there are bad movies, and then there's "Humshakals". The worst film of 2014 so far, in my book". "Dainik Bhaskar" rated the movie as one of the worst films of the decade.


title: Humshakals

text: Several of the cast members also lamented their involvement in the film. Bipasha Basu didn't participate in the film's promotions calling "Humshakals" "the worst experience of [her] life," and Esha Gupta warned family members not to see the film. After the release of the film, leading actor Saif Ali Khan lamented that "I've been introspecting a lot and will never repeat a mistake that was "Humshakals"."


title: Humshakals

text: The film received five Golden Kela Award nominations, and won for Worst Film. It also won two Ghanta Awards; the film won Worst Picture and Ram Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Riteish Deshmukh shared the Worst Actor award.


title: Alderaan

text: Alderaan () is a fictional planet featured in the "Star Wars" franchise. It is blue-green in appearance, depicted as a terrestrial planet with humanoid inhabitants, and characterized by a peaceful culture. It is the home planet of Princess Leia Organa, one of the lead characters in the film series, as well as former Rebel shock trooper Cara Dune. In the original 1977 film, Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star's superlaser.


title: Alderaan

text: Early drafts of the "Star Wars" story include references to at least two planets which later evolved into the concept of Alderaan. "Star Wars" author George Lucas included a planet called Alderaan in early treatments; in "The Star Wars" (1973), "Alderaan" is a city-planet and the capital planet of the galaxy (prefiguring the planet Coruscant which later featured in the films). The draft script opens with a scene in which an "eerie blue-green" planet called "Aquilae" is threatened by an armed space fortress.


title: Alderaan

text: In Lucas's 1975 draft, "Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars", the capital planet of Alderaan is described as a floating city in the clouds, "suspended in a sea of cirrus methane". A planet described in Lucas's draft script as being "under siege by the Imperial Legions of Alderaan" and which is later destroyed is named as "Ogana Major". Early sketches commissioned by Lucas from conceptual illustrator Ralph McQuarrie show a design which very closely resembles Cloud City, as featured in the later sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back". In Lucas's third draft, the Imperial City of Alderaan has become the home world of the Sith Lords, and Darth Vader holds Princess Leia captive here. Lucas continued to hone his script, aided by screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz; names of planets and characters were revised and the narrative was improved, and by the fourth draft, scenes on the Imperial capital planet had been moved to a space station called the Death Star and the peaceful world destroyed by the Empire had taken the name Alderaan.


title: Alderaan

text: The on-screen depictions of Alderaan in the "Star Wars" films are scant; the distant planet is seen momentarily in "Star Wars" (1977) prior to its destruction, and in "Revenge of the Sith" (2005) a short scene shows a city amid a snow-covered, mountainous landscape.


title: Alderaan

text: Alderaan was originally featured in the first film, "Star Wars", released in 1977. The opening scene depicts the capture of a small spaceship from Alderaan, the "Tantive IV", by the Galactic Empire, and introduces the character of Princess Leia Organa, a princess of the Royal House of Alderaan who is played by Carrie Fisher.


title: Alderaan

text: Alderaan appears in a later scene in the film, but is only shown on-screen in a distant view from space as the Empire's gigantic space station, the Death Star, moves into orbit around the planet. The battle station's commander, the Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) orders the Death Star's superweapon to be fired at the planet as both a test of the superlaser at full power and as a message to the rest of the galaxy that the price of any type of resistance was extermination. Alderaan explodes instantly in a ball of fire. It is later shown that the shattered planet has been reduced to a cloud of asteroids as the "Millennium Falcon" spaceship attempts to visit the planet.


title: Alderaan

text: The destruction of Alderaan meant that it was not depicted in subsequent "Star Wars" films until the series of prequel films was produced. The planet made its first on-screen appearance since 1977 in "" (2005), appearing briefly at the end of the film. The adoptive father of Princess Leia, Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) is seen piloting a starship to the planet's surface, which is shown as a mountainous, alpine region covered in snow. Landing his ship in a citadel among the mountains, he brings the newborn Princess Leia into his royal palace. The backdrop for these scenes was created by compositing landscape footage of Grindelwald in Switzerland with CGI images of the city.


title: Alderaan

text: The planet is not featured in the 2016 film "Rogue One", but the character Bail Organa makes an appearance, stating that he will return to Alderaan to wait for his daughter, Leia, to bring the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. This precedes the narrative of the 1977 film, "A New Hope". He dies when the Death Star destroys the planet.


title: Alderaan

text: In an episode of the animated television series "" entitled "Assassin", Ahsoka Tano has premonitions of Padmé's death on Alderaan.


title: Alderaan

text: The mercenary Carasynthia "Cara" Dune, in "The Mandalorian", is a former Republic Shock Trooper from Alderaan, according to Moff Gideon, which she later confirms.


title: Alderaan

text: The planet appeared in the first and sixth episodes of the streaming series "Obi-Wan Kenobi", in scenes depicting the Organa's residence and its surroundings.


title: Alderaan

text: The comic series "" (2015) deals with Princess Leia and Evaan Verlaine (a female rebel pilot also native from Alderaan), rescuing survivors from Alderaan's destruction. It also features a brief flashback to Leia's childhood on the planet and her relationship with her adoptive father Senator Bail Organa.


title: Alderaan

text: In "Star Wars" #33 (2017), Leia tells Luke that sometimes she can see Alderaan among the stars as, from certain perspectives in the galaxy, its light has not ceased to emit.


title: Alderaan

text: Alderaan is mentioned frequently and also serves as a location in several works in the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe, the collection of books, comics and other material considered outside official canon, now branded "Star Wars Legends". In various stories, Alderaan is presented as the home of the characters Tycho Celchu, and of Ulic Qel Droma who fought in the Great Sith War in 4000 BBY.


title: Alderaan

text: The 1981 NPR/BBC radio drama adaptation of "Star Wars" features scenes set on Alderaan, in which Princess Leia discusses her mission to acquire the Death Star plans from agents of the Rebel Alliance with her father, Bail Organa (Prestor Organa). In a later scene, she is confronted by the Imperial commander Lord Tion and accused of treason. It is established that Alderaan has a strict policy against weapons.


title: Alderaan

text: In Michael A. Stackpole's 1998 novel, "I, Jedi", Alderaan features as the sanctuary of the Caamasi when their home world of Caamas is devastated by the Galactic Empire.


title: Alderaan

text: Alderaan is featured in a 1991 role-playing game, "Graveyard of Alderaan" (part of ""). It describes how, after the Clone Wars, Alderaan's massive war machine was dismantled, and the weapons were placed aboard an armory warship called "Another Chance". The ship was programmed to continually jump through hyperspace until called home by the Alderanian Council. Bill Slavicsek, who wrote the game's sourcebook, later drew from it for his edition of "A Guide to the Star Wars Universe".


title: Alderaan

text: In the Dark Horse comic "Dark Empire" (1991–1992), New Alderaan is a Rebel Alliance colony planet populated by Alderaanians who were off-world when Alderaan was destroyed. Mon Mothma's daughter lives there.


title: Alderaan

text: The planet appears more substantially in "Star Wars" reference guides to fictional locations. According to Kevin J. Anderson's "The Illustrated Star Wars Universe" (1995) and Wallace, Kolins and McKinney's "Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons" (1998), Alderaan is covered by wild grasslands, plains, forests and mountain ranges. The planet has no ocean, but has a semi-frozen polar sea, and thousands of lakes and rivers. It is rich in biodiversity, populated by a wide variety of flora and fauna, such as the nerf and the thranta.


title: Alderaan

text: Human life on the planet is evidenced by a number of cities, built to harmonize with the natural environment such as on canyon walls, on stilts along the shoreline or under the polar ice. The capital city, Aldera, has been built on a small island in the center of a caldera. The Alderaanian people value arts and education highly, and place high importance on their participation in the Galactic (later Imperial) Senate and the promotion of peace through demilitarization. The largely democratic society is formed as hereditary constitutional monarchy, ruled by the King or Queen of Alderaan from the Royal House of Antilles and later, due to marriage, the House of Organa. The planetary government is the High Council of Alderaan, presided over by a First Chairman and Viceroy.