ISLAMABAD: In a highly significant development for the internationalisation of the Sikh freedom struggle, representatives from a range of leading Sikh organisations met with high ranking officials of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 15 August 2007 in order to seek British support for the implementation of the Sikh Nation’s right to self-determination.
According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, the meeting was organised with the assistance of ‘Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination’ (PNSD), a cross party group of Westminster parliamentarians which promotes self-determination as a peaceful means of conflict resolution, together with members of its Sikh Advisory Panel. The FCO was represented by Richard Chapman, its head of the India section within the South Asia team, together with colleagues from the FCO’s research and human rights divisions.
The FCO team was informed about the development of the Sikh aspiration to find peace, security and dignity within a sovereign state of Khalistan which would also offer a strategic solution to the dangerous nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan by forming a buffer state. This solution, together with a similar remedy to the conflict in Kashmir, would neutralise what most observers see as the most likely source of a deadly third world war. It would also enable the British and the Sikhs to re-establish a formal relationship based on mutual respect and co-operation.
The FCO was briefed on how Sikh efforts to secure their national rights within India since 1947 have been met with fierce opposition from the very inception of the Indian state. The categorisation of Sikhs as “Hindus” for the purposes of the Indian Constitution (which document has never been accepted by the Sikhs), the denial of a Punjab state based on linguistic lines (when other states were formed on that basis without controversy), the illegal appropriation of Punjab’s precious water resources by non-riparian Indian states and ultimately use of genocidal military force and pogroms which have left some 200,000 Sikhs dead since 1984 when the Indian army mounted its infamous invasion of the Goden Temple in Amritsar. The Sikhs have been left with no option but to protect their national interests by securing independence.
The ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ (national gathering) held at Sri Akal Takht Sahib on 26 January 1986 responded to Indian aggression by resolving to establish Khalistan and that remains the goal of the Sikh Nation. This was the only occasion over the last 30 years of repression when the Sikhs have freely determined their wishes in accordance the requirements of international law. Self-determination has been accepted by the UN as being not only a human right, but one without which all other human rights are open to abuse. It was made clear by the Sikhs the endorsement of the international community of any particular outcome is not required but that it should at least, if it had any doubts about Sikh demands, facilitate a plebiscite in Punjab under UN supervision so that a democratic and transparent outcome could be delivered by the voice of the people themselves.
The Sikhs referred to continued repression in Punjab as a raft of Sikh leaders, including Simranjeet Singh Mann, have been recently repeatedly detained, tortured and charged with sedition for simply calling for Sikh independence by exclusively peaceful and democratic means. This sustained repression of legitimate Sikh political activity had made the recent Punjab elections a farce and the Sikhs requested that the UK Government make it clear to India that such repression was an unacceptable breach of human rights and democratic norms. When asked about the current Chief Minister of Punjab and his ability to protect Sikh interests, it was pointed out that both he and his predecessor have previously openly called for an independent Sikh state and the FCO must draw its own conclusions about their subsequent ‘rehabilitation’ within the Indian establishment without achieving a single gain for the Sikhs in the process.
It was pointed out that India’s problematic relations with the Sikhs were similar to the conflicts in Kashmir, Nagalim, Assam, Manipur and Bodoland where national minorities were again suffering a much worse form of colonialism than the British had ever imposed. It was submitted that India’s appalling human rights record and its open defiance of its international obligations towards these nations meant that it was not appropriate for India’s claim to a permanent seat at the UN Security Council to be accepted.
The Sikhs asked that the UK Government take full account of the Indian state’s record in framing its policies towards that country, in line with the UK’s stated aims of promoting the rule of law and the values of democracy and freedom. Britain’s estimated 700,000 strong Sikh communities are anxious to see that Britain uses its influence wisely, especially given Britain’s own responsibility as an ex-colonial power in the region.
Specifically, the UK should agree to back the Sikh call for an international court to try those who have been responsible for the massive abuses of Sikh human rights since 1984, in the light of India’s policy of providing immunity to those who had engaged in state terrorism on its behalf. There is a mass of credible evidence – even public admissions by successive chief Punjab Police chiefs – of the systematic abuses, based largely on the work of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and an array of domestic human rights bodies such as the Punjab Human Rights Organisation. In addition, the UK should demand that India drop the death sentences against Professor Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, Jagtar Singh and Balwant Singh. It was made clear by the Sikhs that the death sentence had been used in India disproportionately against minorities in order to pander to the Hindutva agenda as promoted by the RSS which should be banned in the UK due to its ideology of hatred and links with violence.
A constructive and significant meeting was concluded with Richard Chapman assuring the Sikhs that the views expressed would be duly considered and that the UK Government takes seriously Sikh affairs as well as human rights. He and his colleagues were thanked by the Sikh attendees – Amrik Singh Sahota, OBE (Council of Khalistan), Gurmej Singh Gill (Khalistan Govt in Exile), Manmohan Singh Khalsa (Dal Khalsa), Jaswinder Singh Rai and Santokh Singh Saran (Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar) and Ranjit Singh Srai (PNSD).
