American Sikh orgs launch campaign against “transnational repression”

Sikh Organizations have come together in a campaign to challenge India’s transnational repression against American Sikhs.

The coalition, consisting of seven Sikh organizations, has produced a document going into detail on how it is important to “act now” to protect Sikhs in America and “bring India and all responsible officials to account“, through actions including demanding President Joe Biden “sign the Transnational Repression Policy Act”.

The groups involved are California based community advocacy group Jakara Movement, genocide documentation and data focused Ensaaf, legal and political advocacy groups The Sikh Coalition and SALDEF, educational outlet The Sikh Research Institute, Sikh LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project, and politically focused outlet Kaur Repulic Media Group.

The campaign comes after a year in which the repression from the Indian state that Sikhs across the world have been
feeling has come to light in the Western media, partly due to US authorities thwarting an effort to kill American Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York last year.

Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s assassination in Canada has been confirmed as being orchestrated by Indian authorities by a subsequent Canadian investigation after he was murdered in Surrey Guru Nanak Gurdwara last June. Following that, in November last year, New York based lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, lead of the Khalistan Referendum campaign, was the target of a failed Indian assassination. Both incidents have triggered legal investigations, with arrests now having been made and prosecutions pending.

The document explains how “A senior field officer with the Indian government ordered the assassination of a Sikh American on U.S. soil. The intelligence official, based in India, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman, who, unbeknownst to them, was a confidential informant for the DEA. They intended to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh activist and lawyer.”

In the summer of 2023, the FBI warned several Sikhs in the US that their lives could be in danger too and this January the FBI sent out a Punjabi language message encouraging members of the Sikh community to report issues of transnational repression.

With the history of injustice against Sikhs by the Indian state and evidence the current authoritarianism
and fascism of Modi’s government has breached foreign borders, many American Sikhs have been vocal on how it is incredibly important to protect the constitutional rights and human rights of Sikhs in the US.

Sikhs and other marginalised communities in the US fear that they could also be targeted by India in the same way that Pannun has been, which includes family land confiscated in a move which is viewed as a major human rights breach by many.

The Sikh orgs state that “India will undoubtedly continue to violate the rule of law and longstanding human rights principles inside the U.S., and other states will follow their example and engage in similar acts of repression, targeting their critics abroad.”

So, what can you do?

The document sets out ten points on what the community can do to hold the US government
accountable for protecting Sikh rights. This includes expressing solidarity with the Sikh community and regularly convening conversations about authoritarianism and human rights in India, and generally demanding justice, action, and transparency from the US state.

Read the full document here: https://assets-global.website-
files.com/5e29591964852b5d27d96ea4/664b6f73857d29a225b91f32_Act%20Now%20to%2
0Protect%20Sikhs%20in%20America.pdf