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Sending a Message, Loud &
Clear
WSN Bureau
 A historic
gathering of an estimated 15,000 Sikhs held a demonstration and
rally in central London on Sunday, June 7, and demanded that the UN
establish, 25 years after the holocaust, a criminal court to
investigate and punish those guilty of of the notorious Indian army
attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984 in which
thousands of innocent Sikh worshippers were killed.
In what will be a
wake up call for those in Delhi who claim to have seen off the
struggle for an independent Sikh state in Indian-controlled Punjab,
the gathering also gave enthusiastic support for a Sikh homeland.
Speeches, banners,
placards and a masive show of hands called for the right of
self-determination in international law. There was a clear
underlining of the Sikh nation’s aspiration for freedom within its
homeland along with a desire to see a resolution of the Kashmir
conflict.
Leaders of the
Federation of Sikh Organisations, UK later delivered a memorandum to
10 Downing Street calling for the UK Government to take a lead on
international intervention on behalf of the Sikhs.
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In what will be a wake up call for
those in Delhi who claim to have seen off the struggle for an
independent Sikh state in Indian-controlled Punjab, the
gathering also gave enthusiastic support for a Sikh homeland. |
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The call for an
international criminal court extends to dealing with those who
carried subsequent atrocities, including the genocide in Delhi and
elsewhere in November 1984 when some 20,000 Sikhs were butchered in
just three days following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The level
of anger at the continued impunity afforded by the Indian state to
the guilty was clearly visible among the Sikh protestors and
speakers at rallies in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square.
Reputed human
rights bodies such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
have for many years condemned India’s refusal to punish the guilty,
even where the evidence of their crimes is readily available; they
and other human rights defenders have formally complained to the UN
Human Rights Council about India’s policy of impunity.
 Speakers at
Trafalgar Square included Fabian Hamilton, MP who castigated the
attack on the Golden Temple in June 1984 as an appalling crime, the
memory of which cannot be erased with the passage of time. John
Spellar, MP regretted that after 25 years there had been no redress
for the victims of the systematic atrocities. Jean Lambert, MEP
spoke of the need to give due recognition to peoples who
legitimately pursue their rights in the face of state terrorism.
Sikh leaders,
including some who had travelled from Punjab to be there, urged the
international community to discharge its responsibility and hold
India to account for the abuses which have led to the deaths of
200,000 Sikhs over the last 25 years. They spoke of India’s denial
of Sikh political, religious, cultural, economic and territorial
rights as well as the illegal appropriation of Punjab’s river waters
by India. The gathering honoured the memory of all Sikhs who had
lost their lives in the conflict by observing one minute’s silence.
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At a special
event at the House of Commons earlier in the week leading
Parliamentarians joined Sikhs in commemorating the horrific
events of 25 years ago. At that meeting Lord Ahmed, John
McDonnell MP, John Spellar MP, Rob Marris MP and others, after
hearing an account of the impunity afforded by India to the
guilty given by Brad Adams (Asia Director, Human Rights Watch)
called for the UK Government to impose travel bans on those
Indian politicians and security officials widely suspected of
directing or carrying out atrocities against the Sikhs.
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At a special event
at the House of Commons earlier in the week leading Parliamentarians
joined Sikhs in commemorating the horrific events of 25 years ago.
At that meeting Lord Ahmed, John McDonnell MP, John Spellar MP, Rob
Marris MP and others, after hearing an account of the impunity
afforded by India to the guilty given by Brad Adams (Asia Director,
Human Rights Watch) called for the UK Government to impose travel
bans on those Indian politicians and security officials widely
suspected of directing or carrying out atrocities against the
Sikhs. It is clear that the Sikhs have not forgotten the trauma of
the genocide and intend to make the guilty face justice
notwithstanding India’s refusal to punish them.
Sikhs also made
clear at that event in Westminster their commitment to resolve the
Indo-Sikh conflict by exercising their right to national
self-determination in the form of a sovereign Sikh state of
Khalistan. The meeting was addressed by Navkiran Singh, a leading
human rights lawyer from Punjab, who condemned India’s policy of
impunity for past crimes as well as highlighted continuing abuses.
In particular he called for an end to the ongoing criminalisation of
Sikh leaders who peaceably call for Sikh political rights to be
respected – 19 were charged with sedition last month for simply
saluting the Sikh national flag.
10
June 2009
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