Uk Sikh Protest Rally

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

UK SIKH PROTEST RALLY

Wednesday 15 August outside the Indian High Commission in London from 2-4pm

Each year Sikhs protest outside the Indian High Commission in London on 15 August, which marks Indian Independence. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Sikh slavery and the plan was more Sikhs should protest this year.

Given recent developments:

- the continued detention of Simranjit Singh Mann and 20 others since 14 May

- the recent arrest of Daljit Singh Bittu for his role in the Khalsa Action Committee and protests against the Sirsa Dera chief, which remains a challenge to Sikhs; and most recently

- the sentencing this week of Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh to death by hanging and life imprisonment for Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh, and Lakhwinder Singh

it has been suggested their should be a much larger gathering and protest rally on Wednesday 15 August.

It would be good if around 10 coaches could be arranged from locations, such as, Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, East London, Gravesend, Leicester, Slough, Southall, Wolverhampton etc. and minibuses from other locations such as Bedford, Bradford, Bristol, Leamington, Leeds, Luton, Manchester, Nottingham, Southampton, Walsall, Wednesfield, Willenhall etc. Those in and around London will also be able to travel by public transport. This should ensure a protest rally of 600-800 Sikhs.

Please speak to the Management Committees at your local Gurdwara and put pressure on all Panthic organisations to ensure transport is arranged so there is a good turnout. Youngsters that often read such messages should pass the word around locally, via the internet and ensure announcements are made at Gurdwaras for the next two weeks. Given it is the Summer we must aim for a good mix including more youngsters, women and children.

Similar protests are likely to be taking place on 15 August in other countries like Canada, Germany, USA etc.

Sikhs from a number of European countries have also been in touch to ask the Sikh Federation (UK) to help co-ordinate a European-wide protest outside the European Commission in Brussels - national and European Parliaments are all closed in August. This is being planned on a different date, details will be released as soon as possible.

A small contingency from the UK will also make the trip, but Sikhs from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium etc. will be there in larger numbers – with coaches to be organised from these countries. The Sikh Federation (UK) is liaising with the EU External Affairs Commissioner so a co-ordinated written approach can be made to the Foreign Ministers of all 27 Member States of the European Union.

[Hardeep__singh]

Khalsa Ji to get more attention on this, this should be in the main section, I think its good to make awareness for good causes as this and get the indian government to be aware that Sikhs are here.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Khalsa Ji to get more attention on this, this should be in the main section, I think its good to make awareness for good causes as this and get the indian government to be aware that Sikhs are here.

Admin - Sticky please.

Also may want to put it as a news item.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

UK SIKH PROTEST RALLY

Wednesday 15 August outside the Indian High Commission in London from 2-4pm

Each year Sikhs protest outside the Indian High Commission in London on 15 August, which marks Indian Independence. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Sikh slavery and the plan was more Sikhs should protest this year.

Given recent developments:

- the continued detention of Simranjit Singh Mann and 20 others since 14 May

- the recent arrest of Daljit Singh Bittu for his role in the Khalsa Action Committee and protests against the Sirsa Dera chief, which remains a challenge to Sikhs; and most recently

- the sentencing this week of Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh to death by hanging and life imprisonment for Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh, and Lakhwinder Singh

it has been suggested their should be a much larger gathering and protest rally on Wednesday 15 August.

It would be good if around 10 coaches could be arranged from locations, such as, Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, East London, Gravesend, Leicester, Slough, Southall, Wolverhampton etc. and minibuses from other locations such as Bedford, Bradford, Bristol, Leamington, Leeds, Luton, Manchester, Nottingham, Southampton, Walsall, Wednesfield, Willenhall etc. Those in and around London will also be able to travel by public transport. This should ensure a protest rally of 600-800 Sikhs.

Please speak to the Management Committees at your local Gurdwara and put pressure on all Panthic organisations to ensure transport is arranged so there is a good turnout. Youngsters that often read such messages should pass the word around locally, via the internet and ensure announcements are made at Gurdwaras for the next two weeks. Given it is the Summer we must aim for a good mix including more youngsters, women and children.

Similar protests are likely to be taking place on 15 August in other countries like Canada, Germany, USA etc.

Sikhs from a number of European countries have also been in touch to ask the Sikh Federation (UK) to help co-ordinate a European-wide protest outside the European Commission in Brussels - national and European Parliaments are all closed in August. This is being planned on a different date, details will be released as soon as possible.

A small contingency from the UK will also make the trip, but Sikhs from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium etc. will be there in larger numbers – with coaches to be organised from these countries. The Sikh Federation (UK) is liaising with the EU External Affairs Commissioner so a co-ordinated written approach can be made to the Foreign Ministers of all 27 Member States of the European Union.

STICKY PLEASE?

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Somebody sent a message to ask:

Where is Southall coach going from?

Response was as follows:

1) Suggest Sikh youth, elders and women to ask nicely each Gurdwara Management Committee in Southall to organise some transport. It will test which Gurdwara Management committees are or are not concerned about any of the issues to be raised- 60 years of slavery, political prisoners, activities of the Sirsa Dera chief, death sentences against Sikhs etc.

2) Make contact with representatives of any of the Panthic organisations e.g. Dal Khalsa or radio stations like Akash Radio.

3) If all fails - public transport is a good solution from Southall.

Hope this helps.

Similar logic would apply to other towns concerned that a coach/minibus may be difficult to organise. Although public transport is only really an option in and around London.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

WHY SIKHS SHOULDN’T CELEBRATE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE

15 August marks India’s Independence Day and prolongs the suffering of the Sikhs. We are clear about our nationhood, but it is denied by the Indian State and the Indian political class which are not prepared to allow us basic rights.

Sikh sacrifices for freedom

Prior to independence Sikhs were less than 1.5% of the population, but their contribution to the freedom struggle was immense. 77% of those sent to the gallows were Sikh as were 81% of those sentenced to life imprisonment. During the Quit India Movement many indiscriminate arrests were made and Sikhs contributed 70% of the total Punjabis arrested. More than 60% of the 20,000 who joined the Indian National Army were Sikhs.

100-150 million refugees resulted from partition in August 1947 with 40% of all Sikhs becoming refugees. Partition resulted in up to 2 million people being murdered and another 10-50 million being injured.

Sikhs betrayed and promises broken

India’s founding fathers gave numerous solemn promises that the Sikhs freedom and dignity would be safeguarded. Jawaharlal Nehru said that “the brave Sikhs of Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area set up in the north of India wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom”. These promises were conveniently forgotten after independence and the Sikhs were dismissively told by the same Nehru that the “circumstances had now changed”.

Sikhs have rejected India's Constitution

Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru gave the Sikhs assurances that after India achieves political freedom no Constitution shall be framed by the majority community unless it is freely acceptable to the Sikhs. This promise was repeated throughout the period up to independence. When the Constitution was produced in 1950 it failed to deliver any safeguards or political rights for the Sikhs as a people or nation. The Sikhs therefore refused to sign the Constitution and have never accepted it. Article 25 even denies Sikhism, the fifth largest faith in the world, separate recognition as a religion – an affront that is widely seen as a deliberate act of suppression of the Sikhs.

Demands for greater autonomy were dismissed

The Indian authorities have systematically discriminated against the Sikhs since 1947 and subverted or suppressed all legitimate political demands for greater autonomy. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 1973 set out the basis on which the Sikhs were prepared to accept a political union within India, as a federal state. This demand for internal self-determination was pursued through decades of peaceful protest and attempts at negotiation with the central government. The demands were never seriously considered and given the history of the conflict between the Sikhs and India since 1984, this would now be too little too late.

Gross violation of Sikh human rights

In the last 30 years the Indian authorities have unleashed a rein of terror through gross violation of human rights of Sikhs in an attempt to extinguish the calls for freedom and Sikh independence.

In June 1984 the Indian army attacked the Golden Temple Complex and 125 other Sikh Gurdwaras in Punjab and massacred tens of thousands of innocent Sikh pilgrims. This laid the foundation stone for an independent sovereign Sikh State, Khalistan.

In November 1984 tens of thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred in Delhi and over 130 other cities throughout India by well-orchestrated mobs under the direct supervision of senior Indian politicians and officials.

Over 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered and disappeared since 1984. Many Sikh political prisoners still languish in Indian jails without charge or trial and others have been falsely charged and sentenced to death by hanging. Illegal detention and torture of Sikhs is common place and well documented by independent human rights organisations.

Sikh nationhood and independence

Sikhs first secured political power in the form of an independent state in 1710, after suffering centuries of foreign invasions and alien domination. The larger sovereign Sikh state was established in 1799 and was recognised by all the world powers. The Sikhs, after the two Anglo-Sikh wars, lost their kingdom and the Punjab came under British rule in 1849. However, in giving up power Sikhs were party to several Treaties with the British.

Gurjeet Singh

Sikh Federation (UK)

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry277772

[Singh, Mahan]

WHY SIKHS SHOULDN’T CELEBRATE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE

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Sikh nationhood and independence

Sikhs first secured political power in the form of an independent state in 1710, after suffering centuries of foreign invasions and alien domination. The larger sovereign Sikh state was established in 1799 and was recognised by all the world powers. The Sikhs, after the two Anglo-Sikh wars, lost their kingdom and the Punjab came under British rule in 1849. However, in giving up power Sikhs were party to several Treaties with the British.

Gurjeet Singh

Sikh Federation (UK)[/size]

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry277772

Though I have not read any treaty document myself, but, I understand that in the treaty of 1849 with the British, the conditions were agreed upon that some territories of the Sikh Empire such as Jammu and Kashmir and some areas such as Chamba (and smaller territories which later became part of what is now Himachal Pardesh) were agreed to be given as principalities to the Dogra (Hindus who pretended to be Sikhs) generals and administrators in the Khalsa Army who collaborated with the British. The rest of the area under the Khalsa Raj was taken over by the British only as the care takers of the Khalsa Raj in suspension ( presumably to be given back to the Sikh when the situation stabilized). To 1930 the British kept claiming that the situation in Punjab remained volatile. So the territory of Khalsa Raj was under the control of the British as the care takers. If that was the case, Punjab was never made legally a part of British India but was treated as part of India for administrative convenience only (as was Burma and Ceylon for a while). However in 1947 all the parties behaved as if there was no treaty of the kind.

S. Simarnjit Singh Mann mentioned it (in a news/article) a few years back.

Now, is there anybody in Sikh Federation (UK) who may be in a position to check this out whether it is true or not?

.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

WHY SIKHS SHOULDN’T CELEBRATE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE

.....

.....

.....

Sikh nationhood and independence

Sikhs first secured political power in the form of an independent state in 1710, after suffering centuries of foreign invasions and alien domination. The larger sovereign Sikh state was established in 1799 and was recognised by all the world powers. The Sikhs, after the two Anglo-Sikh wars, lost their kingdom and the Punjab came under British rule in 1849. However, in giving up power Sikhs were party to several Treaties with the British.

Gurjeet Singh

Sikh Federation (UK)[/size]

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry277772

Though I have not read any treaty document myself, but, I understand that in the treaty of 1849 with the British, the conditions were agreed upon that some territories of the Sikh Empire such as Jammu and Kashmir and some areas such as Chamba (and smaller territories which later became part of what is now Himachal Pardesh) were agreed to be given as principalities to the Dogra (Hindus who pretended to be Sikhs) generals and administrators in the Khalsa Army who collaborated with the British. The rest of the area under the Khalsa Raj was taken over by the British only as the care takers of the Khalsa Raj in suspension ( presumably to be given back to the Sikh when the situation stabilized). To 1930 the British kept claiming that the situation in Punjab remained volatile. So the territory of Khalsa Raj was under the control of the British as the care takers. If that was the case, Punjab was never made legally a part of British India but was treated as part of India for administrative convenience only (as was Burma and Ceylon for a while). However in 1947 all the parties behaved as if there was no treaty of the kind.

S. Simarnjit Singh Mann mentioned it (in a news/article) a few years back.

Now, is there anybody in Sikh Federation (UK) who may be in a position to check this out whether it is true or not?

.

Somebody already working on this who is associated with the Sikh Federation (UK).

[kullykhalsa]

any idea on the coaches...if so will the times/contact details be put up here?!

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

any idea on the coaches...if so will the times/contact details be put up here?!

Over the next 10 days can Sikhs in different towns and cities provide confirmed details of transport arrangements.

Coach or minibus:

Time of departure:

Place of departure:

Suspect confirmations will start to come in about 5 or 6 days time.