URGENT ALERT---Manager of Sikh Magazine forced int

[s s Jhamka]

forwarded from harjit singh

Vaheguru ji ka khalsa

Vaheguru ji ki fateh

Dear sangat ji

Could we please contact all human groups and local MPs regarding the harassment that Sikh activists are getting in Punjab, it’s becoming a daily occurrence and needs to be stopped. There needs to awareness regarding the outstanding issues off justice and freedom for the Sikh people.

Thanks

Rab rakha

harjit

URGENT ALERT---Manager of Sikh Resistance Magazine, Sikh Shahadat, Torture Survivor and Sympathiser of Sikh Movement Forced into hiding by India---

Surinderpal Singh, the young, vibrant manager of Sikh Shahadat Magazine, run by sympathizers of the sikh resistance movement, from head quarters in Punjab ( a magazine that tries to raise awareness of the sikh’s contemporary history in relation to the genocides suffered to rural Punjab) and a social worker to the current sikh political prisoners, has been forced into hiding by the Indian state.

In the 1990’s Surinderpal Singh, along with countless other sikhs faced terrible torture in Nabha Jail for his sympathies of the Sikh’s armed struggle against India. He served a full sentence for his sympathies for the Khalistan Liberation Forces, KLF, (whose former accused sympathizers like Daljit Singh Bittu and Gursharan Singh Gamma are still in jail) and the beliefs he held of the Indian state’s repression of sikh human rights. He also survived brutal physical and mental torture when so many people he knew didn’t.

Only days back a member of the KLF who was wanted for a decade and was in hiding, was captured and ‘interrogated.’ It is speculated that to

rture will have taken place. Amongst the names from old and new this person mentioned Surinderpal Singh. Now human rights groups are worried that Surinderpal Singh will be a target for the authorities who apparently want to put charges of ‘money laundering on him’ in lieu of his work as manager of Sikh Shahadat and other social work causes. Surinderpal Singh was also becoming politically active in the work of the Shiromani Khalsa Dal (SKD) which was a newly formed party to express the needs for sikh sovereignty and human rights, with several members still in jail and under the presidentship of Daljit Singh (currently in Nabha Jail) Daljit Singh has had 26 serious TADA cases collapse in Indian courts due to lack of evidence, yet eight years later he and fellow inmates and sympathizers of the sikh resistance movement, Gursharan Singh Gamma, continue to be tried in Indian courts. The SKD along with other pro sovereignty groups feel it is critical that India allow uninhibited, non harassed, and non ‘interrogation- threatening’ tactics in the Khalistan peace process, so that debate for each autonomous region in South East Asia take place democratically.

The other worrying trend is that authorities are using previous cases, where people have served their full sentence, and time, and yet subjecting them to ‘interrogation’ which could involve torture, under new charges.

Considering such people will have been subjected to brutal torture, such as Surinderpal Singh, this is a trend that is of concern to civil liberties groups. The Indian state is open to putting ‘speculative’ charges on many ex- prisoners. This is in contrast to their lax

approach to known terrorisers of the masses in Delhi and all over Punjab, because these people were part of the ‘state’ or friends of the Indian state – ie. in army, police or working for the state. Examples that come to the forefront are even current members of India’s serving government- eg. Jagdish Tytler and others like Sajjan Kumar whose roles in organi

zing pogroms and the mass murder of sikhs in Delhi is undeniable.

Surinderpal Singh by nature is very spirited, brave and gallant in what he has suffered. His commitment to the sikh movement and its heroic beliefs continues. The ‘fear’ of what the Indian state’s next move is is high for his family and friends. Some human rights activists are trying to seek anticipatory bail before Surinderpal Singh is ‘found’ so that he is not subjected to the interrogation that the Indian police has gone into extremes on in the past. Sikh groups around the world are urged to educate their members on the violation of human rights and continuing possible sinister implications of harassment that former members of the sikh resistance experience. Please inform all groups that you know of and inform your own civil liberties contacts; Amnesty International General Secretariat London, as well as the Foreign Minister within your own country about this episode. Please also find ways that Sikh Shahadat magazine become a global entity and remain a symbol of the rights to democratic speech of the sikhs.

Manjit Kaur, Shiromani Khalsa Dal (SKD).

Email: skd@yahoo.com, to help with any campaigning efforts. Please report any possible work you are doing on the net to help. We cannot enter into general liaising due to severe resource problems.