“India assassinated him, UK Covered it up” – Thousands attend Sikh activist funeral

Thousands attend funeral after new revelations of how UK authorities prevented an independent autopsy for Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda to investigate claims he was poisoned.

Thousands of Sikhs from across the UK gathered in Smethwick to pay their respects at the funeral of respected Sikh activist Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda yesterday (12th August).

From 9am until 5pm countless mourners came through Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick (Midlands, UK) and the Sandwell crematorium to pay their respects. The UK based Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement) figure passed in suspicious circumstances in June, just months after an Indian military figure publicly declared he would be “eliminated” by India’s intelligence services. Attendees were given leaflets (see below) explaining events around Khanda’s passing, as seen by his immediate support group.

Read more about the reaction to his passing in June here.

Khanda had long been a target for the Indian state for his leadership within the Khalistan movement, which aims to establish India’s Punjab as a free state run under Sikh philosophy. Support for Khalistan is prominent in Sikh community circles based on India’s mistreatment of Sikhs and the notion of Sikh sovereignty which is part of the faith.

Despite being based in the UK for most of his life and never being investigated or even accused of any specific crimes, Khanda was regularly labelled a “terrorist” within Indian media, which is currently ranked 161st of 180 countries for press freedom.

The venom towards Khanda exploded when he was falsely labelled as the culprit of an incident in March in London, which saw India’s flag pulled down from outside the High Commission building. Yesterday London’s Met Police finally confirmed that Khanda was NOT behind the flag incident in a statement given to Times of India (see image below). This was obvious to anyone that looked into the issue, with video evidence clearly showing Khanda was not even in the vicinity of the incident. However, Indian media relentlessly pushed the claim Khanda was behind the incident and fanatical Hindu nationalists echoed the fake news for months. Many openly celebrated Khanda’s death on social media and attributed it to India’s intelligence services when he passed in June.

Khanda passed just weeks after playing a prominent role at the June 2023 annual Sikh Genocide rally as a TV presenter for the Punjab Broadcasting Channel. A sudden illness saw him admitted to Birmingham City hospital, where he passed after a short stay. Official diagnosis labelled the cause Leukemia. However, the suddenness of the passing coupled with the threats from India have left much of the Sikh community justifiably convinced Khanda was assassinated, similarly to how intelligence agencies have killed others through poisoning.

In a video released on Friday prior to the funeral, speaking in Punjab Sikh community figure Shamsher Singh of the National Sikh Youth Federation revealed about the investigation into Khanda’s death, that:

• Birmingham City hospital admitted only the “basic” tests were conducted on Khanda
• An independent pathologist stated further tests would be required to investigate claims of poisoning
• Said pathologist was not allowed to examine Khanda, nor was his body allowed to be taken to a different venue for an examination

Anger against UK authorities was also found in the fact that the UK Home Office refused to allow Khanda’s elderly mother and sister attend his funeral from India. Both were recently shamelessly targeted for arrest by Indian authorities to intimidate Khanda from continuing to speak out against India’s constant anti-Sikh human rights abuses. Those arrests were used to justify the position of India that neither should be allowed to attend the funeral, which UK authorities fell in line with.

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

“The mass attendance through the day for the funeral of Bhai Avtar Singh, which saw everyone from elder women to young boys paying their respects to him, shows there is mass community support for what he stood for; namely the Khalistan movement.

“The support for this movement does not seem to be fading, even though now two major figures of it have been assassinated by India since June, according to the official position of the majority of Sikh orgs. However, what is fading is trust between Sikhs and the UK, due to the lack of action on India’s targeting of Sikh activists in the country, as well as various examples of collusion between the states to demonise and attack those associated with Khalistan.”

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com.