Two Slough residents claim they and their families’ lives are being put at risk by the Indian government – and one says he needs round-the-clock protection from the police.
Kamaljit Kaur and Gurcharan Singh allege they are being threatened because they support an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region – against the wishes of the Indian government.
They have spoken out as councillors were set to debate the issue at Slough Borough Council yesterday Thursday 25 July.
Mr Singh claimed he faced a ‘direct threat from the Indian government’ as a member of the Dal Khalsar organisation, which campaigns for a Sikh state of Khalistan.
English-language Indian news reports suggest India’s government wants Mr Singh to be arrested for his involvement in a protest outside the Indian High Commission in London last year.
Mr Singh said: “Two people in Slough are facing direct assassination threats from the Indian government.” He added: “I’m under direct 24/7 police protection.”
Mrs Kaur – a former Labour councillor – said her husband is also at risk. She said her husband is an activist campaigning for a referendum on Khalistani independence and, claimed that his details have been published on the website of India’s National Investigation Agency.
She said: “It’s true there are people in Slough that are at risk.”
Councillors in Slough are set to debate and vote on whether to write to the government expressing concerns about the safety of Khalistan activists in the town.
The call has been raised by independent councillors Sabia Akram and Waqas Sabah, who are both from Muslim backgrounds. But a former Slough mayor has sent a petition to the council calling for the motion to be removed from the agenda as it is divisive.
Mewa Singh Mann collected 56 signatures for a petition he says is on behalf of the Sikh community.
The petition argues that Sikh people do not face discrimination in Slough – noting that the town’s MP Tan Dhesi is the UK’s first Sikh MP to wear a turban in parliament.
It says the proposal is ‘a deliberate attempt to create division and ill feeling towards the Sikh community’. It adds: “The Sikh community, along with other residents of Stough, will, not tolerate any attempts to disrupt the peace and unity that we collectively cherish.”
But councillor Akram says she raised the call on behalf of Sikh residents in Slough that she had spoken to. And the motion appears to have attracted widespread attention, with the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in the West Midlands – one of the largest in Britian – writing in support.
The Sikh Federation UK – a pro-Kahlistan organisation – has also called on councillors to ‘rise above any local political game playing’ and vote for the motion.
Councillor Akram said: “I’m not pro-Kahlistan or against Khalistan. But there are people in this town at risk today because of their political views.
“Even if they are a minority group they still deserve a voice. If the safety of a few people is at risk then we are all at risk.”
The issue was set to be debated at Slough Borough Council yesterday Thursday 25 July.
The Sikh Federation (UK) Slough branch that has hundreds of local members and supporters has written to all Slough councillors ahead of tomorrow’s Slough Borough Council motion on the 1984 Sikh Genocide.
Four separate letters have been sent to the group leaders for the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent group and copied to the councillors in each of their groups. The motion has been tabled by two members of the Independent group.
Slough councillors have been urged to rise above local and national party politics and unite on this fundamental human rights issue given Slough has one of the largest Sikh community’s in the UK.
Around 3,500 Sikhs from Slough signed a 1984 Sikh Genocide petition of over 1 million that was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council over a decade ago. Dozens of Sikhs travelled from Slough to Geneva to deliver the petition.
Similar motions are planned in the 40th anniversary year in over a dozen different towns and cities of the UK where large numbers of Sikhs live to keep up pressure on the new Labour Government.
The motion also condemns the Indian government for transnational repression targeting Sikh activists, including death threats to Sikhs in and around Slough and the lack of respect for the rule of law on foreign soil by the Indian authorities.
The motion also specifically mentions the release of British national Jagtar Singh Johal who has been tortured and has been in arbitrary detention in an Indian jail since November 2017.
Last week we wrote to David Lammy ahead of his visit to India this week to follow up on the Labour Party’s promise in opposition and use his influence as the Foreign Secretary to secure Jagtar’s immediate release and return to the UK.
We are pleased he has taken up the matter in Delhi today and are expecting to get a full briefing from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) upon his return to the UK.
Dabinderjit Singh OBE, the Principal Adviser for the Sikh Federation (UK) was born in Slough and wrote to David Lammy last week and sent the letters to Slough councillors earlier today. He said:
“We have urged councillors to rise above any local political game playing and stand together to uphold human rights and recognise the act of genocide that took place 40 years ago against Sikhs in 1984.”
“All three Gurdwaras, our main Sikh institutions in Slough, directly support us in many of our campaigns, including the recognition and justice for the 1984 Sikh Genocide.”
“We are in discussions with councillors across the political spectrum in other towns and cities so it is vital this motion is passed in Slough tomorrow.”
“Our members and supporters will be present at the debate of this motion tomorrow and any councillors that vote against this motion will be challenged.”
“We will want to know why they are not standing up for our human rights so we can keep the local Sikh community informed about the actions of their elected local representatives and whether they should continue to get their support.”
All councillors have been sent a copy of the Sikh Manifesto ahead of tomorrow’s consideration of the motion and suggested to become familiar with Sections 6 to 10 providing details of the 1984 Sikh Genocide, India’s transnational repression and the plight of Jagtar Singh Johal.
