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LONDON: India has questioned Britain's commitment
to fighting global terrorism of the non-Islamist
kind by raising concerns about the new prominence
and political legitimacy allegedly being given
to "Sikh extremist groups" based here,
The Times of India can reveal.
Indian concerns centre around a "candle light
vigil" outside the British parliament 48
hours ago, in what many believe to be an overly
shrill attempt by Sikh groups to underline their
"opposition to the
(Indian) death penalty and call for the release
of all Sikh political prisoners held in jails
in India."
Despite India voicing its concerns, the vigil
went ahead with London's Metropolitan Police declaring
there were "no grounds" for it to be
banned.
Indian concerns include the allegation that the
vigil's organizer, the Sikh Federation (UK), is
a front organization for a British- proscribed
terrorist group, the International Sikh Youth
Federation (ISYF). The Sikh Federation has always
denied the charge.
India has complained that "many of the declared
office bearers of the Sikh Federation… are the
same (as those of the banned ISYF)". It alleges
that the Sikh Federation chairman Amrik Singh
Gill was the ISYF's former president; its vice-chairman
Kuldeep Singh Chaheru was formerly ISYF (Damdani
Taksal) president until the faction merged with
the ISYF and general secretary Narenderjit Singh
was once president of ISYF (Bitoo).
The Sikh Federation claims to be the UK's first
and only Sikh political party with aspirations
to represent the 336,000 Sikhs totted up by the
census. Its spokesman Jagtar Singh has always
claimed that "the Sikh vote matters in about
40 to 50 key (British) constituencies, marginals,
where there are a large number of Sikh votes and
where there are (Labour) cabinet and junior Ministers
that 'depend' on the Sikh vote."
Though many, including Sikh-sympathetic British
MPs question the Federation's statistical reckonning,
South Asian observers say British politicians
are increasingly pursuing the "votebank politics"
well known on the Indian sub-continent. These
MPs, say sources, are increasingly mouthing messages
that are music to the ears of fringe and extremist
Indian and Pakistani groups.
British officials have countered Indian objections
to the vigil and the Sikh Federation with the
argument that the grounds to ban or proscribe
an organisation would need to be proven illegal
activities rather than its name or office-bearers'.
The row is thought to be the first time Sikh separatism
and Britain's domestic politics and foreign policy
are visibly meeting in a head-on collision.
It is thought to be part of a campaign of increasing
Indian vigilance to nip alleged overseas-financed-and-fuelled
separatism in the bud.
Many believe it to be an attempt to prevent Indian
human rights coming under too bright and unrelenting
a spotlight in various Western capitals.
India was officially placed on Britain's so-called
"white list" of safe countries deemed
to have adequate human rights protection, barely
two years ago. Now, the virulence of the Sikh
campaign to highlight perceived Indian abuses,
is seen to hack at the very root of India's demand
it be at the international top table because it
an enlightened democracy and an emerging economic
superpower.
The January 17 London vigil, attended by several
British MPs, was conducted in 100 cities worldwide,
its organizers, the Sikh Federation ( UK) claimed.
But MP Rob Marris, who belongs to Prime Minister
Tony Blair's governing Labour Party, represents
an estimated 15,000 Sikhs in England's key Sikh
constituency of Wolverhampton South West and unprecedentedly
launched the All Party Parliamentary Group for
UK Sikhs last July, told this paper the January
17 vigil was attended by a mere 30 to 40 people.
Marris, who is regularly cited by sections of
the separatist Sikh community here as "sympathetic"
to the Khalistani cause, firmly denied ever promoting
Sikh separatism and insisted the Sikhs' candle
light vigil did not launch a call for Khalistan
under the approving eye of British parliamentarians.
Several British MPs understood to have a sizeable
number of Sikh voters in their constituencies
have told TOI that Sikh separatism may be a bogey
whipped by an overly anxious India because the
"Sikh Federation is trying to show itself
as the hegemonistic power but it is not…the tide
is going out for Khalistan…the movement's high
water mark was more than a decade ago".
But many, including Marris, say India can take
the puff out of allegedly anti-Indian campaigns
organized by UK groups by doing two simple things:
"Stop human rights abuses and allow Amnesty
International and the UN rapporteur to travel
freely in the country".
The Indian attempt to urge Britain to rein in
a burgeoning, increasingly vocal number of UK-based
Sikh organizations comes just two months after
Sikh groups organized a high-pitched rally in
the iconic Trafalgar Square in central London.
According to some observers, the rally was as
an attempt to call into question Indian territorial
integrity through "calls for freedom and
independence for
Sikhs…(because) India is denying the Sikhs their
lawful right to self- determination".
TOI understands that Indian concerns include a
marked increase in the lobbying of British MPs
by "separatist Sikh" organisations wedded
to the Khalistan cause, such as the Sikh Federation
( UK). Indian concerns also include new, high-pitched
campaigns by Sikh groups here to portray Sikhs
in India as prey to repeated human rights violations
in Punjab and Uttaranchal. |
