Controversial US Hindu org condemned for anti-Sikh statement

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A statement from a North American Hindu group BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) has been condemned for having “anti-Sikh claims”.

In a video about the launch of their new BAPS Mandir (Hindu place of worship) in New Jersey (11.11.23), famous holy Sikh site Sri Harmandir Sahib (Darbar Sahib) was shown as one of various “Hindu places of worship”. The video was met with backlash from the Sikh community for the anti-Sikh claim, which pushes a Hindutva (Hindu extremist) agenda of encompassing Sikhi within Hinduism.

This rhetoric is particularly dangerous and though it has been on the rise recently, it has long-standing roots. The RSS and the Indian government have made countless efforts to absorb Sikhi into Hinduism as part of a cultural genocide in Punjab. Just a couple of months ago leading Sikh body the SGPC had to make a statement stressing the uniqueness of Sikhs in response to an RSS chief claiming that “all Indians are Hindus”.

This new BAPS Mandir in New Jersey has been part of a labour scandal in the past few years. The group is accused of violating several US federal and state laws, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and wage and hour laws.

BAPS allegedly recruited Dalit (considered “low caste” within the Hindu caste hierarchy) workers from India and forcibly confined them to the Mandir where they were under constant monitoring and their passports were confiscated, in what may be an issue of caste discrimination, a common issue within Indian circles. The workers were reportedly paid $1.20 an hour, New Jersey’s minimum wage is $12 an hour.

BAPS has close links to the BJP party and is therefore also affiliated with the RSS. Modi has tweeted about his support for BAPS on several occasions too and he considers HH Mahant Swami as his mentor.

The video no longer seems to be on official BAPS pages but remains online.

Sikh educational and advocacy groups remain continuing to counter agendas to dilute the Sikh faith. For more information on this, email media@SikhPA.com.

Is Rishi Sunak covering up evidence of Indian anti-Sikh interference in the UK?

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Today (1.12.23) Indian media have reported news of RAW (India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence bureau) agents being “asked to leave” the USA and the UK this summer.

The move came after the suspicious death of Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda in Birmingham (UK) from suspected poisoning and the assassination of Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar this June. The second in command in London was told to leave the UK around the same time the head of the RAW base in San Francisco was also expelled from the USA. RAW was also denied from replacing its chief officer in Washington (DC, USA).

RAW now has no official presence in North America for the first time since its inception, according to reports. In the summer, RAW underwent mass upheaval after the resignation of its Chief Samant Goel. US based Sikh human rights group later released a detailed report of Goel leading massacres of Sikhs through the 90s.

The Indian media revelations have been released as part of more information coming from the USA’s indictment this week of an Indian national – known trafficker Nikhil Gupta – for planning the assassination of New York (USA) based activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in yet another twist in the ongoing geopolitical upheaval caused by India’s war on the Khalistan movement in the West.

Speaking on the situation, Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said, “UK Sikh orgs will be shocked to learn that an Indian intelligence officer was asked to leave the UK, shortly after the deaths of two Sikh activists sent shockwaves through the world.

“UK Sikh efforts to have this government come clean about its relationship with India and the targeting of Sikh activists have been ignored since at least 2014, but remained strong through various campaigns such as #FreeJaggiNow, #FarmersProtest, #WestMidlands3 and more. And within this climate to think Rishi Sunak covertly oversaw the discreet expulsion of an Indian intelligence officer may look like clear evidence that the UK is trying to cover-up for an Indian thuggish transnational repression campaign against Sikhs.

“Global Sikh communities will be demanding immediate answers from Rishi Sunak. Why was this expulsion of an Indian intelligence officer not made public? What was he doing that led to him being kicked out? What presence do RAW have in the UK now?”

Read an extract of a news report on this groundbreaking story from India’s The Print below (30.11.23).

Two senior Research and Analysis Wing officers were asked to leave their stations in major Western cities earlier this summer, ahead of a decision by United States prosecutors to initiate criminal charges in the wake of the spy agency’s alleged role in an assassination campaign targeting pro-Khalistan activists, intelligence sources have told ThePrint. 

RAW was also blocked from replacing its station head in Washington, DC, it is learnt.

Expelling the officers was part of a series of moves intended to signal anger against what the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom saw as violations of the unwritten conventions which govern the operations of RAW in those countries.

The officers were the head of the RAW station in San Francisco and the second-in-command of its operations in London, the sources said.

The officers are of senior and mid-senior levels in the Indian Police Service (IPS). ThePrint is withholding their names as both remain in service with RAW.

In addition, the Government of India was denied permission to post an officer to replace RAW’s station chief in Washington, DC, who returned home earlier this year. The new officer, in line with long-standing RAW convention, was to have taken charge before the scheduled retirement of the organisation’s former chief, Samant Goel, on 30 June.

The shuttering of RAW’s stations in San Francisco and Washington DC, coming on the back of the publicly-declared expulsion of its station chief in Ottawa, Pavan Rai, has left the organisation unrepresented in North America for the first time since it was founded during the tenure of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1968.

Prosecutors in the United States have claimed that ethnic-Punjabi alleged drug dealer Nikhil Gupta was offered up to $150,000 by an individual claiming to work for the Indian intelligence services to arrange the murder of an unnamed Khalistan lawyer and activist.

Though the indictment does not name the purported victim or the Indian intelligence service, government sources have told ThePrint that US officials told interlocutors in New Delhi that RAW conspired to assassinate top Khalistan activist and lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Following the gangland-style killing of alleged Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, The Washington Post revealed Wednesday that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns had met with their counterparts in India earlier this year to demand accountability in the case.

The expulsion of the RAW officer in San Francisco, Indian government sources said, was intended to underline their message that the US would not cooperate with Indian intelligence if the agency continued offensive operations in the West, an Indian intelligence officer familiar with the case said.

Even though national security officials in the UK gave no reasons for asking for the removal of the RAW officer from London, a second officer noted, the action seemed to be of a symbolic nature, since it targeted the junior of two so-called “disclosed” positions at the High Commission of India in the city, whose status as intelligence officers is known to the host government.

According to the source, British intelligence had, however, voiced unhappiness on several occasions over the increasing involvement of RAW in Sikh diasporic politics in the country under former chief Goel, a Punjab-cadre IPS officer who served in operations against Khalistan terrorists before joining RAW.

“The general practice with these things,” says one senior RAW officer, “is that an overenthusiastic intelligence officer will be called in by the secret service of the host country, and told not to be a naughty boy. There might be a gentle reminder that the officer is under surveillance, just like their officers in our country. If the problem really escalates, the Ambassador or High Commissioner might be involved, but things have never gone this far.”

Drug trafficker arrested for India Govt USA Sikh assassination plot – Global Reaction

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Today (29.11.23) the US Justice Department released an indictment confirming charges against an Indian national working directly with the Indian government to orchestrate an assassination of a Sikh activist on US soil.

The indictment on the planned assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, lead of the Sikhs For Justice Khalistan Referendum, gave concrete insight into an issue which has been discussed since September, after Canadian authorities revealed the Indian State’s hand in the assassination of Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the respected Surrey (BC) based community figure shot dead in the carpark of the Gurdwara where he was President.

Below we share important global reactions which highlight various aspects of this news.

Media inquiries for interview opps, resources or more- media@sikhpa.com.

Sikh-Punjabi diaspora centered media outlet Baaz News initially broke down the indictment with key takeaways, which included details on the arrest of trafficker Nikhil Gupta in the Czech Republic, how he worked on orders of an “Indian government employee” to “contract a hitman” to assassinate Pannun. Sikh social commentary magazine Panth Punjab also highlighted how “the assassination campaign is the new cornerstone of BJP’s strategy of containing Sikh resistance”.

The American Sikh Congressional Caucus also backed government efforts to challenge anti-Sikh transnational repression. It was also pointed out that Gupta was working with India to arrange more assassinations, with the Hindu extremist criminal quoted in the indictment as saying “we have so many targets”, which included referencing Nijjar and “three other jobs in Canada”, along with the New York targeting of Pannun.

Details also revealed how the planned hits were scheduled to only take place outside of official US-India meets.

Many also welcomed India’s ongoing anti-Sikh agenda being confirmed by the USA.

British Columbia (Canada) community figure, respected Sikh educator Gurkeerat Singh who has done extensive grassroots engagement in Punjab, highlighted how Hardeep Singh Nijjar openly relayed that he knew India was trying to hire local criminal gangs to carry out a hit on him, detailing what turned out to be the exact tactic US authorities found India to be using to kill Pannun.

Calls were also made for the passing of UK Khalistan figure Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda by suspected poisoning to be investigated too, including by Barrister Michael Polak of Polak Law who is leading a push for an official government inquiry into India’s involvement in the death.

Politicians around the world have commented on the US indictment, emphasising a need to have India’s transnational repression looked into further.

Various Sikh groups, including Sikhs For Justice via spokesperson Pannun himself, released statements on the situation.

Calls for the suspicious murder of USA based Sikh activist Satwinder Singh Bhola were also raised. Bhola had his throat slit outside his home in 2015, with $1000 cash he was carrying left untouched.

UK Sikhs react to random “hate crime” attack in Slough

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UPDATE (01.12.23): Sevadaars (selfless servants) supporting Inderjit Singh have confirmed that the attack against him is now being investigated as a hate crime by police.

Last Tuesday (21.11.2023) a 58-year-old Sikh man was attacked and hospitalised in what local groups are calling an anti-Sikh hate crime by a group of teenage boys in a Slough Park.

Inderjit Singh was walking in Langley Memorial Park after work at around 7pm. Still in his work clothes, he was approached by a group of white teenage boys just outside the park. Slough, is a large urban town in South East England, just outside of West London. Slough has a significant Sikh community, which has been in the town among wider Asian communities for decades.

The incident saw one teen grab Inderjit Singh’s beardly randomly. After Singh pushed him away, another teen then kicked him whilst someone else approached him from behind, grabbing Singh’s coat and pulling him to the ground. The boys then circled him and kicked him on the ground. They kicked his head, but Singh was protected by his dastar (Sikh turban). The attackers were aged 13-16 and all white.

Singh sustained three broken ribs and swelling and cuts to his hands.

The police have informed Singh that they cannot obtain any video footage of the attack, but local Sikhs, including Inderjit Singh’s son, went to the shops near where the incident happened, asking for CCTV footage after this. He was told by the shop keepers that the police had not even asked for any of the footage, and that the perpetrators are always hanging around by the shops.

In a video with West London based Sikh run community group AK Media, Singh explained the attack and made an appeal to the Sikh community. Watch it here. Various Sikh community groups have come together to begin patrols in the area to look into the issue and prevent any further anti-Sikh attacks.

Singh believes the attack to be racially motivated, and has stressed the insistence of his attackers on grabbing his beard, a religious symbol for Sikhs.

Singh made an appeal to both the Sikh community and the Slough community, talking about how the park is used by children and how communities need to come together to ensure that it is a safe space.

There has been a notable increase in anti-Sikh hate crime in the UK as well as in North America, particularly in the past year.

Read: https://www.sikhpa.com/anti-sikh-hate-crimes-breakout-across-usa/ and https://www.sikhpa.com/elderly-sikh-beaten-to-death-in-latest-new-york-anti-sikh-attack/

With this unprovoked attack of Singh suspected to be racially motivated, Sikh groups are calling for more action from police, who are appealing to any members of the public who may have witnessed the assault to get in touch with Thames Valley Police.

TIME magazine interview with Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

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World renowned current affairs magazine TIME is known for holding interviews with many important figures during historic times. This week, after news of a foiled assassination attempt by India against his life, TIME caught up with Sikhs For Justice General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the lead figure of the Khalistan (free Sikh homeland) Referendum campaign.

Here we share the interview in full. The full piece can be found here. Sikh PA do not endorse much of the framing of Sikh issues by TIME, with it showing influence from anti-Sikh sources regarding events in 1984 and more.

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com.

TIME: Last Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 about India’s “possible” involvement in an assassination plot where you were the target. Were you aware of these intelligence reports before the news became public?

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun: I will say that on this particular question, and this is my official statement, the Indian government and the Modi regime want to kill me, they want to eliminate me for running the global Khalistan referendum voting campaign. The attempted assassination plot that has been uncovered by the FT, and to which the Biden administration has given its statement, is not about me anymore. It is a challenge to American sovereignty. It is a threat to freedom of speech and democracy in America itself. But I’ll let U.S. authorities speak more on this.

Did the news surprise you, or was it something that you were expecting? What was your reaction?

Let me tell you something. For the last three years the whole Indian narrative, backed by the Modi government, has been built on who they declared in 2019 as a terrorist. What would you consider terrorism? An act of terrorism is when you’re bombing or killing innocents, or even when you’re killing for a political goal. A political assassination is also an act of violence. 

I am the most wanted terrorist in India out of the 140 list. How is that possible? That should give you an answer. I’m aware of the threats to my life, which I really do not care about. But I will not respond back with violence. I will not use a bullet. I will never incite the people of Punjab who are working with me to go and take violence as the path. Because that is exactly what I’m fighting. We are fighting India’s violence with votes.

[Pannun ranks 11th on India’s terrorism list under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. TIME viewed INTERPOL letters dated Aug. 2022 that reject the terrorism charges leveled against Pannun by the Indian government.]

What reasons might the Indian government have for being involved in a plot to assassinate you? 

We have never been given an opportunity to present our case just because India has labeled us as terrorists. They were able to successfully kill hundreds of thousands of Sikhs in Punjab in the name of counter-insurgency. There are reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the U.S. Department of State in 1994, and other agencies about what transpired between 1984 to 1995. But we haven’t had a peaceful and democratic resolution to the contentious issue that has never been asked since 1950: should Punjab be an independent country? Should the people of Punjab, after going through the genocidal violence, still want to be associated with the Union of India? It was never asked of the people of Punjab in 1947, nor has it ever been put up on a ballot. We are going to open this question up through the Khalistan referendum voter registration in Punjab on Jan. 26, 2024. 

So they cannot afford for me to be alive as I have achieved a narrative. I’m able to educate, and peacefully and democratically challenge India’s narrative of terror and terrorism. The people of Punjab have a right to self-determination. They have the right to their economic resources which are being plundered by India. And nobody has done it in the past.

INDIA-CANADA-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-PROTEST
Members of United Hindu Front hold banners depicting Justin Trudeau Canada’s Prime Minister and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun during a rally along a street in New Delhi on September 24, 2023.Photo by Arun Sankar—Getty Images

If, as you say, the Indian government has become so concerned in recent times about Sikhs on foreign soil advocating for Sikh issues in India, why do you think that is?

One is that they were successfully able to make Punjab a killing field from 1984 to 1997. And if you look into the factual history, those who survived, the Sikhs from Punjab, left and settled between America, Canada, the European Union, Australia, and the UK. They now speak on behalf of Punjab because the dead bodies of the victims can’t come out from their graves to speak. But for those who are living, it is our duty to start the campaign again.

Now, there is another exodus of Sikhs who are facing Indian atrocities in Punjab and moving out. We are able to successfully start a new revolution, calling the peaceful and democratic means of the Khalistan referendum and creating and bringing back the movement of Khalistan, which is labeled as an act of terrorism.

Can you tell us why there are such large diaspora Sikh communities outside of India, especially in countries like Canada and the U.S.?

The Sikhs that moved from 1984 until 1997 did so due to India’s repression of the Sikh community. They moved because of their persecution based on their religion and political opinion. They are still moving because of that.

[Sikhs have migrated overseas in significant numbers since the late nineteenth century during the imperial expansion of Britain when they were involved in armed services and security forces as policemen. From 1920 onwards, there were also significant permanent settlements of the Sikh community in countries like Canada and the U.S. Another wave of migration occurred from 1984 to 1992, when militant Sikh organizations fought for national self-determination against a Congress-led Indian government.] 

It’s reported that you angered Indian officials this month after issuing a video where you warned Sikhs not to fly on Air India because it would be “life-threatening.” What did you mean by this?

I was saying “boycott” Air India, but the whole Indian narrative shifted to “bomb” Air India. Somebody has to be a zombie to not differentiate between boycotting and bombing.

Did the FBI, U.S. government officials, or Canadian government officials (since you are also a Canadian citizen) offer you any form of security or protection?

I would have all these questions directed to the U.S. administration. 

The U.S. Department of Justice is currently debating whether to unseal the indictment against at least one of the alleged perpetrators in a New York court or to wait until Canada finishes its investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder. Do you think it should make the allegations public now?

It’s up to the DoJ. They are the ones who should be responding.

If the allegation that India was involved in the assassination plot against you turns out to be true, how do you think the international community should respond?

I would like to see foreign governments, whether it’s the U.S., Canada, European Union, or the UK, put their foot down and hold India accountable instead of trying to have trade talks with India. India is using trade as a tool to suppress freedom of speech and expression and to label somebody like me as a terrorist. There should be action against anyone who is involved, whether it’s a diplomat or an employee.

In the case of Nijjar, India rejected Canada’s claims about New Delhi’s possible involvement and called them “absurd.” What is your response to that?  

I am an American, and if somebody is trying to assassinate me, I think it is the responsibility of the Biden administration and U.S. authorities to do something. We will be watching how [the Biden administration] will react. Do they value business, or do they value democracy? Do they value human rights, or a rogue state like India, which has already proved that it will use terror and violence and that it is not a trusted partner? 

Are you or others in your community concerned about surveillance from the Indian government, something which India denies doing?

Through their diplomatic missions, India is already doing it and they have openly threatened to do it. In this particular case of Sikhs, they are using this information, which they are gathering in case files against family members of those who are involved. And it is the responsibility of the host country to stop these activities and dismantle these networks. Canada has taken the first step in doing so by expelling India’s RAW chief. 

[The Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, is India’s foreign intelligence agency. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly previously told the press that the Trudeau government had expelled the RAW head in Canada on Sep. 18.]

Some experts say that within the Sikh community in India, and to some extent even the Sikh diaspora, there is less of an urgency for a separatist homeland compared to other issues like farmers’ protests, high debt, and drug addiction. Would you agree?

No. That’s why [the experts] are professors and we are revolutionaries who work on independence. They work on research papers, and we work on changing the narrative and bringing the facts out. Do research papers fail to take into account that a whole generation has been wiped out between 1984 to 1997? Who’s going to account for that? Just because India labeled [those who were killed] terrorists? This is my open challenge to India. 

In India, there is also a sentiment that the government has a legitimate case in clamping down on Sikh militancy in Canada and the U.S. to protect national interests. Is the Indian government justified in wanting to do so through legal means like extradition?

I don’t know where it was written that India has pious territorial integrity. Was it written in the Bible that nobody can challenge India’s territorial integrity? And if somebody challenges India’s territorial integrity, the world should stand up on its feet and extradite people who are challenging it? The label that this is a threat to India’s national interest—are we bombing a parliament? Are we inciting violence? No. What exactly is the issue? The issue is simple. Give the Sikh people a right to vote on a basic and fundamental question. They are forcing us to a place where one day again there will be an issue that India will not be able to handle. 

Can I ask what you mean by that? 

First, you take away the right for people to vote, and without this question being asked and answered about Khalistan or independence from India. And then, you are telling us that if you talk about it in America, if you campaign on a peaceful and democratic vote, we’re going to kill you. And if India commits violence, we will respond, we will hold them accountable under international laws.

How would India’s current actions compare to previous Indian policy regarding issues of Sikh separatism? 

First, it was national terrorism by successive Indian governments, where they killed thousands in the name of counterinsurgency in Punjab and called them terrorists. Now, the campaign has come to the global stage and become transnational terrorism. They are doing the same thing, planning assassination plots in the name of terrorism against people who are pro-Khalistan.

Are you scared for your life?

No. I will still go ahead with the Khalistan referendum campaign, even if somebody tells me there’s going to be an Indian tank coming to crush me if I do.

Respected Punjabi activist arrested after stand against anti-Sikh RSS school

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Respected Punjabi-Sikh activist Lakha Sidhana was arrested after exposing anti-Sikh activities in a Punjab school earlier this month.

Sarvhitkari Vidya Mandir School is a school in Mansa (Punjab) which is openly run by RSS, the Hindu extremist group known to push fanatical nationalist and bigoted ideologies. After locals highlighted anti-Sikh activities in the school Lakha Sidhana led a protest outside it on Tuesday (07.11.2023). A heavy-handed response from police than saw Lakha arrested.

Lakha, a respected community activist who gained global support for his pro-Punjab stances during the #FarmersProtest, was released late the same night, though the arrest is seen by many as a warning towards him continuing this kind of grassroots mobilisation. Lakha Sidhana was a close associate of Deep Sidhu, the actor and Sikh activist who died in suspicious circumstances in February 2022.

The protest against the school evidence that the school came after Sikh pupils reported being told to remove their dastaars (Sikh turban) and karas, along with teaching disinformation about the Sikh faith which dilutes it into Hinduism. The Punjab based school was also said to be preventing pupils speaking in Punjabi, including by imposing punishments on pupils found speaking it. The school was found enforcing Hindi and Hindu prayer in the mornings on non-Hindu pupils. There is also concern about the fact the school requested some pupils to attend evening classes outside of school hours, a request parents viewed suspiciously.

Many Sikhs have accused India of imposing a cultural genocide in Punjab for decades now. Since Indian independence,
Sikhs have not been recognised as a separate religion from Hinduism in the constitution, and the well-documented efforts to have Hindi the main spoken language of India is seen as an attempt to erase the unique identities within India which are apparent from state-to-state. Various incidents of Punjab based schools trying to force Hindi on pupils have been reported for decades.

Activists like Lakha Sidhana are seeminlgy perceived as threats to the Indian establishment in the ways that they have called out the Indian government for this cultural genocide.

In response to the backlash, the school’s management decided to criticise Madrassas (Islamic seminaries) as the real issue in India. This kind of inflammatory petty discourse is demonstrative of Hindu extremist tactics to distract from their own issues by making accusations about minorities of India.

However, in recent days there seems to have been some change coming out of the protesting. Vidya Bharti Punjab, the umbrella organisation which owns the school, has posted in Punjabi on their facebook page. Lakha has also released videos saying he is unfazed by the arrest and will continue his fight to ensure Punjabi remains the prominent language of Punjab. Wider Sikh efforts to clamp down on anti-Sikh disinformation in Indian schools continues.

Dossier on mass murdering #SikhGenocide police officer released

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Ensaaf, a US based nonprofit organisation seeking justice for human rights violations in Punjab, has released a dossier on former Punjab Police Officer Sumant Kumar Geol, detailing at least 128 enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions committed under his watch.

Samant Kumar Goel was the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s. This is the period in which the Punjab Police became notorious for ‘fake encounters’, when people, mainly young Sikh men, were arrested and never seen again (murdered).

The dossier contains a map which visualises how Goel not only permitted his subordinates and other security forces to commit acts of violence against the residents of his own assigned jurisdictions, whilst also allowing them to travel extraterritorially in their targeting.

Due to Goel’s gusto in taking up the genocidal role, his career advanced under the Indian Government. Up until summer of this year Goel remained in prominent roles within India’s policing departments.

The dossier does not present the full extent of the atrocities carried out under Geol’s command. Any cases that have incomplete incident dates or locations are excluded, as well as any cases of arbitrary detention and torture. In reality, there are many additional cases in which Goel is likely to be guilty, but the denial of the Indian government and their efforts to cover up these human rights abuses silences victims and their families.

The work of Ensaaf is compiled through painstaking village-to-village documentation of evidence across Punjab.

Find the full dossier at https://data.ensaaf.org/official/S0024/detail/.

Foreign Affairs report calls for UK to “respond assertively” to #FreeJaggiNow case

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This week the UK Foreign Affairs Committee published its “Combatting state hostage diplomacy” report in which they called out the UK government’s failure to hold India to account in the case of Jagtar Singh “Jaggi” Johal.

The damning report found that the UK government has been either “too slow” or “entirely unwilling” to call out India, as well as other countries guilty of arbitrarily detaining people.

The report called out the “reluctance of the Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister to even call on the Indian Government to release Jagtar for fear the authorities in India will limit consular access, despite significant allegations of torture”. The most recent example of this is UK PM Rishi Sunak’s visit to New Delhi for the G20 summit, where he eventually and seemingly reluctantly raised Jaggi’s case to Indian PM Narendra Modi after previously deciding not to call for his release, which saw him called out by even his own MPs.

For a full timeline on Jaggi read – https://www.sikhpa.com/FreeJaggiNow/

Jaggi’s case, amongst others, demonstrates the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) “inability to ensure that their own guidance to keep UK citizens safe is followed”. They have recently been accused of undermining public trust and hurting victims and their families by harbouring an “unnecessarily defensive culture” around their handling of state hostage takings and arbitrary detentions.

The UK government has been told by the report that they must reform by taking a zero-tolerance approach to state hostage taking and arbitrary detention of British citizens. It has been six years and not one UK Prime Minister has sought Jaggi’s release. The government has two months to respond to the report’s findings and recommendations.

Reprieve’s Director of Policy and Advocacy Dan Dolan commented on the report saying:

“It’s not news that the Government is failing Jagtar Singh Johal, but it’s noteworthy that so many senior MPs from all parties are now calling them out for that failure.

“The Foreign Affairs Committee’s report reveals how badly the Foreign Office is letting people like Jagtar down. The language the Committee uses could hardly be stronger.”

He went on to call for action, saying that:

“It’s not too late for the Government to heed the Committee’s recommendations. Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly should seek Jagtar’s release, and make clear to the Indian government that Britain will not stand for one of its own being imprisoned for years without any legal basis.”

Last week (18.10.2023) was Jaggi and his wife’s 6th wedding anniversary, an occasion which they have never celebrated together. The anniversary highlighted how long Jaggi has been arbitrarily detained and the failures of the UK government to secure his release.

Jaggi Awareness Week is coming up from the 4th-11th of November and will be commemorated internationally.

Jaggi’s brother, activist Gurpreet Singh Johal and lead of the #FreeJaggiNow campaign, will also be on tour in Canada from the 28th of October to the 3rd of November, where he will be sharing his experiences and discussing India’s oppression of Sikh activists.

The report also requested registry of foreign agents to become mandatory, amid wider allegations of Indian State covert practice in the UK.

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com.

Elderly Sikh beaten to death in latest New York anti-Sikh attack

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UPDATE: The attacker Gilbert Augustin is now being prosecuted under hate crime legislation (31.10.23).

An elderly Sikh man has died after becoming at least the sixth Sikh to be subjected to a bigoted violent attack in New York (USA) since 2022.

Jasmer Singh, a resident of Queens in his late 60s, was driving his wife home from a doctor’s appointment on Thursday (19.10.23) afternoon when he was involved in a minor collision with another vehicle. The driver of the vehicle, 30-year-old Gilbert Augustin, reacted violently to Singh trying to call the police after the collision, and left Singh with two front-teeth missing and a broken skull according to his son. Singh later died from these injuries in hospital.

The news was first broken by New York community figure Japneet Singh, a candidate for state senate, who revealed that it was later found Augustin was already a wanted criminal sought by the New York Police Department prior to the killing. Augustin is now being held without bail whilst his charges for manslaughter, assault and aggravated unlicensed operation (at least, not including charges for other incidents he was wanted for) are being processed.

However, in what is set to cause outrage, African American Augustin is for now not being charged with a hate crime, despite witnesses reporting him yelling insults about Jasmer Singh’s dastaar (Sikh turban).

In a TV interview, Jasmer Singh’s son expressed disappointment about the missing charge of a hate crime, whilst also emphasizing the devastating impact of the attack on his mother who witnessed the killing. Many other Sikhs will share similar sentiment due to an ongoing issue of anti-Sikh acts in New York since last year.

In January 2022 Mohammed Hassanain assaulted a Sikh taxi driver at JFK airport whilst screaming insults about “turbaned people”. Three elderly Sikh men were targeted in hate crime robberies carried out around April last year in Richmond Hill, Queens, leading to US Sikhs mobilizing to create safety networks for the community. However, just last week a Sikh teen was attacked in the same district by a man referencing his dastaar and saying “we don’t wear that here”. Including Thursday’s killing of Jasmer Singh, the last five documented violent bigoted crimes against Sikhs in the New York area have been carried out by African Americans, which does not include previous incidents such as a random hammer attack in 2021 where a Sikh dastaar wearing man was told “you’re not the same skin”, which was also not taken up as a hate crime.

Local police affirmed that the recent anti-Sikh on the teen was part of a wider pattern of increased hate crimes, believed to be fueled by divided tensions stemming from the ongoing Israel genocide in Gaza, following a Hamas terror attack in the country earlier this month.

The Sikh Mayor of Hoboken Ravi Singh Bhalla,, in New York neighboring state New Jersey, also recently revealed receiving ongoing death threats. And in yet another sign of the anti-Sikh sentiment prominent in the East Coast New York area of the USA, Sikh orgs revealed that a recent viral bigoted post about Sikhs was selectively shared in the last week. On October 15th Conservative Republican media commentator user @Kevin_Smith45 shared an image of Sikhs at a New York gun range in an effort to suggest it was an issue of concern, resulting in a widespread global backlash against the Loud Majority USA host. Smith tried to claim he posted the picture to simply gauge reaction. However, Misl New York and Dal Panth New York revealed the picture was taken of the group partaking in standard Khalsa (initiated Sikh collective) training in May, and thus was shared this week amid the heightened global tensions, seemingly with the intention of stoking xenophobia.

Speaking on the issue, Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said:

“It is clear that an issue of bigotry usually only associated with white supremacists has also penetrated the African American community. This issue means those sporting Sikh identity are targeted solely for how they look by people who have a deluded idea about what it represents.

“Conflation of the Sikh identity with terrorism has been an American issue since 2001 at least, and it has cost Sikh lives. There also seems to be anecdotal correlation between portrayal’s of Islamic extremism in mainstream news and attacks on Sikhs across the world.

“This issue is made worse by callous and dangerous propagandists willing to push an idea that Sikh extremism is a threat in Western countries, a baseless allegation stemming from the Indian State’s effort to justify its targeting of the Khalistan (free Sikh homeland) movement“.

Humanitarian aid and community legal advocacy group United Sikhs are among various Sikh representatives pushing for the killing of Jasmer Singh to be taken up the authorities as a hate crime.

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com.

Anti-Sikh hate crimes breakout across USA

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Two separate anti-Sikh hate crimes were reported in Fremont (California) and Queens (New York) yesterday, just as the FBI reported a record number of such incidents.

In California, an Indian nationalist extremist entered the premises of Fremont Gurdwara Sahib in the evening and began ripping down Khalistan (free Sikh homeland) posters, then attacking an elderly member of sangat (Sikh congregation). In New York, an African American screamed at a 19-year-old Sikh “We don’t wear that in this country”, regarding his dastaar (Sikh turban), before punching him several times.

The Indian nationalist extremist in Fremont was quickly apprehended by sangat and detained until police arrived to arrest him. Videos of him screaming “Khalistan is a terrorist organization” as he got arrested have gone viral. The background of the assailant is yet unconfirmed, although some local reports have said he was a Hindu man.

Local sources say he is being charged with vandalism and a hate crime. In July of this year, Hindu extremist Indian Army figure Major Gaurav Arya called for India to fund America’s “underworld” to attack Khalistanis after protests in San Francisco. Arya has been accused of raping his housemaid and murdering her husband in India.

Meanwhile a manhunt has been issued as police look for the suspect (pictured below) of the Queens incident, which occurred on a bus on Sunday morning. The 19-year-old Sikh, who is keeping his identity hidden, was taking the bus to attend a local Gurdwara program.

The attacks came on the same day as a Muslim family were attacked in Chicago, resulting in the tragic murder of a six-year-old by a white supremacist, another extremist group known to attack Sikhs. Many feel the outbreaks of violence are signs of increased xenophobia amid wider heightened tensions due to divides drawn from Israel’s ongoing Gaza Genocide, following a Hamas terror attack in the country last week. Wider accounts across various Western countries of hate crimes (including antisemitic, Islamophobic and more), and even other acts of terrorism have been reported in the last week. A NY officer speaking to media did confirm an increase in hate crimes after recent global incidents.

Concerns of Sikhs continuing to be targeted are being fueled by attempts to align support for Khalistan with Islamic terror, a narrative pushed on social media by both Hindu extremists and Western Indian State propagandists such as UK based Charlotte Fleetwood and Canada’s Daniel Boardman.

The Queens incident may be particularly worrying to many Sikhs, given recent history of anti-Sikh violence in the area aimed at the elderly just last year, an issue which only seemed to end when one main perpetrator was found dead the same year. In yesterday’s incident the bus passenger who attacked the Sikh man also told him to “take that mask off” before launching his assault and attempting to pull off his dastaar, which left the teen with cuts and bruises.

Further highlighting anti-Sikh issues in the USA, a New York based Conservative Republican social commentator received mass backlash for sharing a picture of Sikhs at a gun range, insinuating it was a worrying sight, which some commented on with coy threats. Twitter used @Kevin_Smith45 did apologize and delete his tweet thereafter, claiming he posted it only to see what reaction it would cause.

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In another sign of increased anti-Sikh hate crimes, approximately two weeks ago, a Slough (UK) Sikh resident reported to community groups she was aggressively accosted by a group of Indian men for having a #FarmersProtest sticker on her car. The issue was circulated on social media in effort to encourage Sikhs to be aware of potential danger from fanatics attacking the community.

Respected Sikh run media outlet Satluj TV have most recently reported that they have found evidence which points to the Fremont attacker being directed to carry out the attack by Indian Consulate officials. Indian diplomats have been in the spotlight for their role in anti-Sikh activities ever since Canadian authorities confirmed their involvement in the June assassination of Shaheed (Martyr) Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Meanwhile, anyone with more information on the Queen’s suspect can call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

The day of anti-Sikh incidents came just as US intelligence agency the FBI released its annual report of hate crime statistics, which revealed the highest number of anti-Sikh hate crimes ever recorded in the USA from 2021-2022. Read more on this from community legal and political advocacy group The Sikh Coalition, including their criticism of why the FBI’s stats are “woefully incomplete” and also a link for their Allied Against Hate Toolkit.

Find it all here- New FBI Data Reports Highest Anti-Sikh Hate Crime Victimizations – Sikh Coalition.

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com.