Khalistan referendum deferred until 2021

The Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) group announced their much discussed plan for a Khalistan (free Sikh homeland) referendum has been deferred from 2020 until 2021, where it will start from the UK, London.

The announcement was made this week (18th November) during a livestream event by SFJ which saw the legal and political advocacy group present their Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) that will oversee the referendum. The referendum is being pushed to ascertain tangible levels of support for the state of Punjab to become separate from India, as a Sikh homeland.

The referendum will see voting stations set up for 15th August in London, with further announcements coming about similar set-ups in different countries. Voter registration is already taking place via https://yes2khalistan.org/. The deferral has come about due to both barriers put in place by the Indian state that deem this democratic referendum “terrorism” and the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The livestream event was presented by Chris Whitehouse of the Whitehouse Consultancy group in English and SFJ head of media Dupinderjit Singh in Punjabi. Whitehouse Consultancy are a political communications and public affairs specialist group that are working with SFJ. You can watch the livestream in full by clicking here.

The full lineup and role of the PRC group was also revealed on the event, led by Dane Waters, a political strategist that has been employed by the George Bush administration and worked on six different presidential campaigns. As Chair of the group, Waters said that the PRC was established to ensure the Khalistan referendum is “carried out in a way which meets international norms and procedures”, adding “democracy is the ultimate tool for peaceful resolution”, a view the SFJ have long pushed in regards to Sikh-Indian state conflict. However, it was made clear the PRC does NOT hold any position on the referendum or the issue of Khalistan itself. The PRC will be monitoring the referendum’s processes to oversee the results.

US based Paul Jacob, director of Citizens in Charge, a group that works to protect the initiative and referendum process of US citizens, was presented as another member of the PRC and said “We are the referees here. We will oversee that things are done fairly”. Other members of the PRC include Sweden based Bruno Kaufmann, a respected journalist that focuses on world democracy, UK based Professor Matt Qvortup, a professor of Applied Political Science and International Relations and finally Spain based Yanina Welp, a former principal researcher at the Centre for Democracy Studies that closely followed the Catalonia referendum.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, General Counsel of SFJ, welcomed the formation of the PRC to oversee the referendum, whilst also highlighting their importance based on the continuing suppression of moves to organise the democratic referendum in Punjab, which includes Indian authorities arresting citizens for even liking Facebook posts about the referendum. Speaking on the aims of the referendum, Pannun said “Once we have a majority mandate, which we hope to get, we will lay our claim to the United Nations…to seek the liberation of the Sikh nation from India”.

Read more from Pannun on what the campaign is about in his own words, here.

Labour MP of Birmingham Perry-Bar Khalid Mahmood took part in the event, saying “Sikhs are defined as a race. Therefore, they are entitled to their own state. They have been denied this since 1947 by the Indian government. The people of the Sikh nation have been tortured and acted against, most notably in the attack on the (Golden Temple) Sri Harmandir Sahib in 1984 by Indira Gandhi and her troops. That was a huge abuse of civil rights. There has been daily torture of Sikhs who just want recognition for who they are, and that has been done continuously by the Indian state.”

Other participants in the four hour long event included Dr Bakhshish Singh (USA Sikh community figure and President of the Khalistan Council), Jatinder Singh Grewal (International Policy Director for SFJ), Parmjit Singh Pamma (Sikh activist most known for being at the centre of an extradition claim by India in 2015) and Brian McGleenon (journalist with experience covering sedition).

The current kisaan (farmers) protests taking place across India based on newly government implemented exploitative laws, which hugely impacts the millions of Sikh farmers in the country, was raised as an issue which highlights the need for the referendum and right for Sikh self-determination. This was raised alongside regular mentions of issues connected with the 1984 Sikh Genocide and a long history of conflict between Sikh sovereignty and the Indian state as reasoning to the need and support for Khalistan. In 1986 at a Sarbat Khalsa (meeting of initiated Sikhs), support for Khalistan was ratified as a mandate of the Sikh nation.

An online statement posted after the event by SFJ claimed, “India failed to stop the online global conference of Punjab referendum on November 18. India hired cyber mercenaries to attack Sikhs For Justice’s Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. India stopped the live broadcast of The WhiteHouse Consultancy UK in Punjab.” These acts are common,
with India continually blocking SFJ websites and/or social media profiles from being accessed in the so-called “biggest democracy in the world”.

In accordance with Sikh practice, an Ardas (Sikh prayer) was done to seek the support of The Divine for the SFJ referendum plans.

Sikh PA will continue providing updates on this campaign as they come.