Uk Tolerance Of Sikh Groups Worries India

[gurd1981]

How come Jagtar Singh Khalsa and Balraj Singh Khalsa have the same RED and BLUE fonts appearing in their posts?

Its good the Indians are quaking in their boots, and this was only a peacful vigil, can't imagine how they gonna feel when you put thier telephone numbers on this site.

Maybe the indians are only worried about sikh federation because they are the ones who arranged this event. if bscf or whatever had arranged it then they would be worried about them. is it that hard to work out?

why not be constuctive and positively try and achieve something rather than knock others?

are we saying Bhai sahib Mohinder Singh Ji are a indian agent?

[gurd1981]

It is good what the federation have done over this last week....but lets be sensible and be constructive.

whats the way forward?

what can we now do?

anybody got any ideas?

why do we all get into knocking eachother?

[msjskb]

That is a valid point.....why do we spend our time criticising others. For once lets try and get on together....dare i mention the word .....UNITY.

If they don't like Vgilis then why not have a candle lit outside the indian embassy everyday?

How about getting students to have a weekly vigil?

We could dedicate kirtan programmes to the prisioners?

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

That is a valid point.....why do we spend our time criticising others. For once lets try and get on together....dare i mention the word .....UNITY.

If they don't like Vgilis then why not have a candle lit outside the indian embassy everyday?

How about getting students to have a weekly vigil?

We could dedicate kirtan programmes to the prisioners?

148427[/snapback]

Lol, thats actually a good idea, the weekly vigils outside the Indian Embassy.

The government releasing that newspaper article has just given us more drive and motivation!

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Phateh!!!

[kuljeet]

Can someone explain the need to put numbers of other Sikh organisations up? What are we trying to achieve? Seems like a childish act. The weekly vigil is a good idea.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

The full version of the Times of India article that was published on 20 January 2006 is below:

By Rashmee Roshan Lall

Times News Network

LONDON: India has questioned Britain's commitment to fighting global terrorism of the non-Islamist kind by raising concerns about the new prominence and political legitimacy allegedly being given to "Sikh extremist groups" based here, The Times of India can reveal.

Indian concerns centre around a "candle light vigil" outside the British parliament 48 hours ago, in what many believe to be an overly shrill attempt by Sikh groups to underline their "opposition to the (Indian) death penalty and call for the release of all Sikh political prisoners held in jails in India."

Despite India voicing its concerns, the vigil went ahead with London's Metropolitan Police declaring there were "no grounds" for it to be banned.

Indian concerns include the allegation that the vigil's organizer, the Sikh Federation (UK), is a front organization for a British-proscribed terrorist group, the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). The Sikh Federation has always denied the charge.

India has complained that "many of the declared office bearers of the Sikh Federation… are the same (as those of the banned ISYF)". It alleges that the Sikh Federation chairman Amrik Singh Gill was the ISYF's former president; its vice-chairman Kuldeep Singh Chaheru was formerly ISYF (Damdani Taksal) president until the faction merged with the ISYF and general secretary Narenderjit Singh was once president of ISYF (Bitoo).

The Sikh Federation claims to be the UK's first and only Sikh political party with aspirations to represent the 336,000 Sikhs totted up by the census. Its spokesman Jagtar Singh has always claimed that "the Sikh vote matters in about 40 to 50 key (British) constituencies, marginals, where there are a large number of Sikh votes and where there are (Labour) cabinet and junior Ministers that 'depend' on the Sikh vote."

Though many, including Sikh-sympathetic British MPs question the Federation's statistical reckonning, South Asian observers say British politicians are increasingly pursuing the "votebank politics" well known on the Indian sub-continent. These MPs, say sources, are increasingly mouthing messages that are music to the ears of fringe and extremist Indian and Pakistani groups.

British officials have countered Indian objections to the vigil and the Sikh Federation with the argument that the grounds to ban or proscribe an organisation would need to be proven illegal activities rather than its name or office-bearers'.

The row is thought to be the first time Sikh separatism and Britain's domestic politics and foreign policy are visibly meeting in a head-on collision.

It is thought to be part of a campaign of increasing Indian vigilance to nip alleged overseas-financed-and-fuelled separatism in the bud. Many believe it to be an attempt to prevent Indian human rights coming under too bright and unrelenting a spotlight in various Western capitals.

India was officially placed on Britain's so-called "white list" of safe countries deemed to have adequate human rights protection, barely two years ago. Now, the virulence of the Sikh campaign to highlight perceived Indian abuses, is seen to hack at the very root of India's demand it be at the international top table because it an enlightened democracy and an emerging economic superpower.

The January 17 London vigil, attended by several British MPs, was conducted in 100 cities worldwide, its organizers, the Sikh Federation ( UK) claimed.

But MP Rob Marris, who belongs to Prime Minister Tony Blair's governing Labour Party, represents an estimated 15,000 Sikhs in England's key Sikh constituency of Wolverhampton South West and unprecedentedly launched the All Party Parliamentary Group for UK Sikhs last July, told this paper the January 17 vigil was attended by a mere 30 to 40 people.

Marris, who is regularly cited by sections of the separatist Sikh community here as "sympathetic" to the Khalistani cause, firmly denied ever promoting Sikh separatism and insisted the Sikhs' candle light vigil did not launch a call for Khalistan under the approving eye of British parliamentarians.

Several British MPs understood to have a sizeable number of Sikh voters in their constituencies have told TOI that Sikh separatism may be a bogey whipped by an overly anxious India because the "Sikh Federation is trying to show itself as the hegemonistic power but it is not…the tide is going out for Khalistan…the movement's high water mark was more than a decade ago".

But many, including Marris, say India can take the puff out of allegedly anti-Indian campaigns organized by UK groups by doing two simple things: "Stop human rights abuses and allow Amnesty International and the UN rapporteur to travel freely in the country".

The Indian attempt to urge Britain to rein in a burgeoning, increasingly vocal number of UK-based Sikh organizations comes just two months after Sikh groups organized a high-pitched rally in the iconic Trafalgar Square in central London. According to some observers, the rally was as an attempt to call into question Indian territorial integrity through "calls for freedom and independence for Sikhs…(because) India is denying the Sikhs their lawful right to self-determination".

TOI understands that Indian concerns include a marked increase in the lobbying of British MPs by "separatist Sikh" organisations wedded to the Khalistan cause, such as the Sikh Federation ( UK). Indian concerns also include new, high-pitched campaigns by Sikh groups here to portray Sikhs in India as prey to repeated human rights violations in Punjab and Uttaranchal.

[o_singh]

all other options available to the then (ISYF) failed so they needed another money looting organistation so thats why another federation was formed in 2003 by the very same crooks that looted and raped funds of all the gurudwara's they had a hold on , until be public saw the light and took them back.

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

i got a headline for these characters:

India's Intolerance Worries Sikh Groups

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

can you imagine if for once the table was turned on india and the world got to see what a rotten piece of garbage Indian government's moral fiber is.