Sikh orgs celebrate political prisoner released after 28 years

Sikhs across the world celebrated news of the release of Sikh political prisoner Bhai Lal Singh this week, after 28 years imprisoned in India.

Lal Singh, whose real name is Manjeet Singh, spent almost three decades in prison after being given a life sentence under the draconian and globally condemned Terrorist And Disrupted Activities Prevention Act (TADA). Indian law allows for someone serving life to be eligible for release after 14 years.

Bhai Lal Singh was imprisoned in 1992 for charges relating to planned targeted attacks on Indian nationalist leaders and government authorities with the aim of the “liberation of Kashmir and creation of Khalistan”.

The imprisonment of Lal Singh occurred during the peak period (1984-1995) of the Indian state perpetrated Sikh genocide, which saw police murder thousands of mainly Sikh men through ‘fake encounter’ arrests. These massacres have been documented by the likes of India supreme court barrister Satnam Singh Bains through the Punjab Disappeared documentary and the Ensaaf group, founded by Harvard Law graduate Jaskaran Kaur. Whilst the peak period of the Sikh genocide is seen to have ended 25 years ago, the most recent ‘fake encounter’ murder documented by Ensaaf occurred in 2012, whilst murders of Sikhs at the hands of police have also happened since in different circumstances.

The actions of freedom fighters like Bhai Lal Singh are largely seen by Sikhs as a necessary resistance movement against the Sikh genocide. Bhai Lal Singh was one of the names that Sikh activist Bapu Surat Singh gave to the Indian state, whose release he demanded when he started his still ongoing hunger strike. You can read more about the activism of Bhai Lal Singh, a highly respected name within the Khalistan movement that was once wanted by the FBI, here via the National Sikh Youth Federation (NSYF).

Sikh Relief, a humanitarian charity that run the Sikh Organisation of Prisoner Welfare Project (SOPW), have been supporting Bhai Lal Singh since 2009 through legal aid and also providing financial support for his family, including paying for the education of his daughter.

In a social media statement on his release, Sikh Relief stated “Today is a culmination of the unrelenting, quietly diligent work and effort by Sikh Relief’s SOPW project for over 10 years. Keeping the legal fight alive whilst simultaneously offering support to the family of Bhai Lal Singh we have ensured that no Sikh Prisoner of Conscience is forgotten or left to wonder in solitude.

“With another release, and over 280 Sikhs before him, we resolve to continue supporting our Sikh Prisoners of Conscience until the last one has their freedom returned to them.”

Bhai Lal Singh’s message to the Sikh World after his permanent release from Indian prison after 28 years. In India any person sentenced to imprisonment for life is granted permanent release after 10-14 years of imprisonment but Bhai Lal Singh is released after 28 years. @sikhpa pic.twitter.com/vtNrCV16dl

— ਪਰਮਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ || Parmjeet Singh (@iamparmjit) August 24, 2020

A transcription via NSYF of a video from Bhai Lal Singh speaking after his release reads “Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh, the past 28 years have passed in jail according to the will of Akaal Purkh with care and contentment. Today on account of the great blessing of Akaal Purkh a permeant release had been made. I am thankful for the Ardaasa of all the Sangat, efforts of individuals and jathebandia. For the past 36 years I have had the great good fortune of passing my time as a lowly servant of the Khalsa Panth, for the future my Ardaas is in the Charan of Akaal Purkh, that somehow, as a lowly Sikh servant, continue to take your Seva from me. I ask forgiveness for any mistakes Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh”.

The issue of Sikh political prisoners being detained for decades beyond a standard sentence is seen as one of the examples of ongoing oppression of Sikhs in India. Organisations like Sikh Relief and the recently formed Sikh Legal Assistance Board, run by the legal team of Jagtar Singh Johal, continue to provide legal advocacy for Sikhs imprisoned under the draconian TADA law and the more recently used and widely condemned UAPA law.