Around 25,000 Sikhs marked the 40th anniversary of the June 1984 Sikh Genocide by marching through London and holding a Freedom Rally in Trafalgar Square. The first march and rally took place in London 40 years ago on June 10, 1984.
Those gathered in Trafalgar Square were told UK government papers released after more than 30 years showed how the Indian high commissioner based in London urged then Home Office minister Douglas Hurd on June 7 1984 to arrest and intern around 200 presidents of all UK Gurdwaras to sabotage the first protest.
Special Branch told the Home Office minister this was not possible. The Indian Foreign Secretary then suggested to the British High Commissioner in Delhi the next day on June 8, 1984, that Sikh protesters in London could be shot dead. The British High Commissioner in Delhi set this out in a telex to the Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe.
The other important backdrop to the 40th-anniversary event has been the recent transnational repression by the Indian government targeting Sikh activists in the diaspora. The event marked the first anniversary of the mysterious death of 35-year-old Avtar Singh Khanda in the UK. The lawyer acting for the family is pushing for an inquest and public inquiry into his death.
Avtar Singh Khanda’s mysteriously death came three days before the high-profile assassination of Canadian Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside the Gurdwara where he was president in Surrey BC.
Dabinderjit Singh, the Principal Adviser of the Sikh Federation (UK) told media gathered: “40 years after the Sikh Genocide it is clear Sikhs will never get justice in India. The re-establishment of a Sikh homeland illegally annexed by Britain in 1849 is the only solution.”
“The election of Bhai Amritpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh Khalsa in Panjab, where most Sikhs live, exactly 40 years after the June 1984 massacre has demonstrated the freedom movement in the Sikh homeland is very much alive today and can no longer be denied.”
