UK Sikhs prepare for annual march commemorating Bluestar anniversary

Thursday, 06/06/2013

http://www.punjabnewsline.com/news/uk-sikhs-prepare-for-annual-march-commemorating-bluestar-anniversary/80601

LONDON: Tens of thousands of Sikhs will gather in London on Sunday 9 June to mark the 29th anniversary of the Indian army attack on the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar in June 1984.

Sikhs from across Britain will begin to assemble in Temple Place and Surrey Street near Temple tube station. The remembrance march led by the Panj Pyare (five beloved ones) with swords drawn will begin in the Strand near the Indian High Commission at around 1pm.

The march will head for Trafalgar Square and then pass through Whitehall where Sikh representatives will stop at 10 Downing Street and deliver by hand a memorandum for the British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

This year the memorandum is being delivered a few months after David Cameron became the first ever sitting British Prime Minister to visit and pay his respects at the Golden Temple. Sikhs are hopeful he now has a much better understanding why Sikhs worldwide remain deeply dismayed and angered by the actions of the Indian authorities in sending in troops to the holiest of holy places for the Sikhs and killing hundreds if not thousands of pilgrims - innocent men, women and children.

On the back of David Cameron’s visit and first-hand experience of the Golden Temple Sikhs will be renewing their call for the support of the British Government as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to tackle the continued injustices Sikhs face within India. This includes asking for an Independent UN led enquiry into the treatment of Sikhs in India from June 1984 onwards.

After calling at 10 Downing Street the march will continue past the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, enter Parliament Square, go past the Houses of Parliament and end with a two-three hour freedom rally in the Millbank lining the River Thames. Numbers taking part in the march and rally are expected to be so significant that police are preparing to close the Millbank from Lambeth Bridge with Sikhs heading back as far as the Houses of Parliament and Parliament Square.

In the last 12 months there has been unprecedented activity by British Sikhs in relation to human rights and the use of the death penalty in India. A 100,000+ petition was handed in at 10 Downing Street in December 2012, a Parliamentary debate on the death penalty in India took place in February 2013 and continued peaceful demonstrations have also taken place, including a mass protest on 15 April 2013 regarding the failings of the Indian judicial and political system as regards the imminent hanging of Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar.

Bhai Amrik Singh, the Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK) said:

‘Ultimately, the only solution to conflict in Punjab will lie in the exercise of self-determination by the Sikhs, in accordance with international law, by which means the Sikhs will be able to protect themselves, their natural resources and their “honour, dignity and independence”. We are committed to peaceably establishing an independent sovereign Sikh homeland, a state often referred to as Khalistan that will provide lasting stability in the region.