Second anti-Sikh “fake news” Times article prompts concerns

The second article on Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement) in The Times UK to be branded “fake news” within two weeks has prompted concerns about Indian State influence on the newspaper.

An article released on 9th April in the prestigious establishment media outlet was headlined “India halts UK trade talks over Sikh extremists”. The article claimed unnamed “sources” in the British government revealed trade talks between the nations were halted until Britain further condemned an 18th March Sikh protest outside India’s London High Commission. A spokesperson for Britain’s Department for Business and Trade has since confirmed this is false.

The 18th March demonstration saw three windows allegedly cracked by protesters, along with the Indian flag by momentarily pulled down, leading to one arrest (and no charges pressed as of yet). The incident was shamelessly called a “terrorist attack” by some Indian media.

The #PunjabUnderSiege situation triggered the protest and dozens more by Sikh diaspora groups across the world in the last three weeks, after Indian authorities cut off the internet in Punjab to cover-up mass human rights breaches during the targeting of Sikh activists. To date over 1500 Sikhs have been imprisoned or detained during the operation, including journalists, academics and even teenage, elderly and disabled protesters. Although up to 300+ are reported now to have been freed, many are still “missing” within police imprisonment.

Indian authorities claim the operation in Punjab, which involved thousands of officers and paramilitary groups, was designed to “crackdown” on a Sikh faith based movement led by Sikh leader Bhai Amritpal Singh. The charismatic head of social reform group Waris Punjab De (Protectors of Punjab) had garnered attention for his efforts against the addiction and drug dealing epidemic in the state, which is well known to be entwined with corrupt local authorities.

The official reason for the operation was due to Bhai Amritpal Singh leading a raid on a police station in late February to free prisoners being tortured for being affiliated with him. Indian police are well known to use torture during custody, even on those they intend on freeing quickly. Bhai Amritpal Singh’s targeting is also connected with his open support for Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement). Talk of secessionism is officially illegal in India.

On 27th March The Times released an article by Kapil Komireddi titled “Separatist or stooge: mystery of Amritpal Singh, Sikh preacher on the run” which is filled with false information, regurgitating pure Hindu ultranationalist propaganda, with baseless claims about Amritpal Singh which contradict his own words in the many video interviews he has given. The Sikh Press Association remain chasing up a complaint with The Times on the article.

The 9th April article on trade talks were also condemned for headlining Sikh Khalistan support as the alleged main focus of trade talk concerns, when three other issues regarding UK-India trade were also mentioned, including Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s recent comments on Indian migrants, which The Times themselves claimed at the time had put trade talks “in peril”.

Speaking on the issue, Sikh PA Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said “Sikh groups from all over the world challenged the basis of the article, and the fact that within 24-hours its content were officially debunked have raised serious concerns about what is going on at The Times when it comes to reporting on Sikh issues in Punjab, centered around Khalistan.

“The articles in The Times are well below the expected standard of journalism in British press. Why they would allow themselves to be used to push anti-Sikh Hindu ultranationalist propaganda will raise many questions about what is going on behind the scenes there.

“It has long been known the Indian State works to influence Western media to help cover-up its many human rights abuses. The uptake in this since the #PunjabUnderSiege situation has been noticeable, with bias and imbalanced articles appearing in The Times and The Washington Post. The Times must be embarrassed by the latest article being revealed as ‘fake news’ so quickly, and we hope this will see a change in their approach from hereon.”

The Sikh Press Association will continue to pursue the issue with The Times.