London: The Daily Telegraph covered what was happening in Trafalgar Square yesterday. Surprisingly the mainstream media has not reported on the show of Sikh solidarity from yesterday. However, it has been picked up on social media and the response of non-Sikhs shows its wider significance.
Sikh Gathering in solidarity with the people of London and Manchester at Trafalgar Square.
British Sikhs has once again came out in solidarity and stood united shoulder to shoulder with the people of London and Manchester in their hard time.
What the minority Sikhs experienced 33 years ago in terms of the 1984 Sikh Genocide was heart-wrenching and likewise.
Sikh Gathering At Trafalgar Square.
The Indian authorities, unfortunately with the support of foreign powers maligned Sikhs across the globe as ‘extremists and terrorists’, simply for standing up to Indian state terrorism in the 1980s or highlighting gross human rights violations.
In India much of the media, influenced by the Indian authorities continue to portray all Sikh activism in a negative light. However, Sikhs in the diaspora have been challenging that negative stereotype.
The wider public through their own direct experiences of living and working with Sikhs appreciate their respect for cultural diversity, hard working and peace loving as people who deserve the support of the international community in their struggle for justice and freedom.
Another View of the gathering.
30 years after the 1984 Sikh Genocide the British public and Sikhs across the globe learnt of the direct military assistance provided by the Margret Thatcher-led government to attack the Darbar Sahib Complex Sikhs holiest shrine in Amritsar.
Our response has not been to respond by using violence, but use peaceful democratic means such as protests, legal challenge and political pressure to get to the truth. We however in turn need the support of governments and the international community to expose the Indian authorities on the international stage.