Amritsar/ New Delhi (November 14, 2013): UK Prime Minister David Cameron is on three day visit to Indian sub-continent. In wake of his visit Sikh organization, Dal Khalsa, has written a letter to the British PM. The Sikh body has raised various issues concerning the Sikhs with the visiting PM. A copy of the letter has been sent to the Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) by Kanwarpal Singh, political secretary of Dal Khalsa.
The text of letter is being reproduced here for the information of the readers of the Sikh Siyasat News:
The Prime Minister of United Kingdom
Through: Sir James David Bevan, British High Commissioner to India
Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr. David Cameroon:
As you descend on Indian soil on the day (14th Nov) of the birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru –who grossly undermined and cheated the Sikh nation, we are keen to know what the British authorities have done about the tragic event of November 1984.
The British government through its High Commission in Delhi definitely knows what happened on the streets of Delhi in November 1984. It was a death dance in broad day light. Your government knows the results of various commissions that the Indian government set up. You also know that the Sikh residents of United Kingdom are seized with the matter and are working hard to get acknowledgement from the United Kingdom that the killings was nothing short of genocide.
It is unfortunate that the West which witnessed the anti-Sikh pogrom on the streets of Delhi in November 1984, but despite a passage of 29 years, has chosen to remain silent.
Though you have visited New Delhi regularly, this being the third time in 2 years, there is hardly any engagement on this and other questions that would have a mark on Sikh-Anglo relations.
This year we complete 29 years of the pain inflicted upon us in Delhi and hundreds of other cities of the country. This year, the Sikhs have worked hard and submitted a memorandum signed by a million people to UNHRC to recognize 1984 killings as ‘genocide’. This year, Dal Khalsa along with SAD (Panch Pardani) organized a Freedom March’ on the streets of Jalandhar reiterating that nothing short of self-determination will deliver solace and peace to the Sikh people. Thousands of young Sikh marchers have sought a UN probe into the killings of 1984, after having failed to get justice from all legal and political fora of the country.
As you engage India on various issues concerning bi-lateral relations, we request you to take up issues of international importance and those having a bearing on a sizeable Sikh population of your country. As a member of the UN Security Council, you must prevail upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to boldly ask the UN to investigate November 1984 killings of Sikhs. Great Britain as the cradle of democracy is on test and we do not want to see you fail the same.
We are deeply concerned and disturbed about the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between India and the UK, under which the Indian authorities are likely to launch a fresh wave of witch-hunting of Sikhs in the UK in the coming months. If Great Britain allows that it would open a fresh chapter of injustice to the Sikhs living in the UK upholding the cause of freedom and justice of the Sikh people in their homeland. The parameters of this Treaty should be made public.
We would also like to express our discontent on your participation in the CHOGM meet in Colombo. While your Canadian counterpart Mr Stephen Harper has chosen to boycott CHOGM on account of the ‘ongoing reports of intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities and extra-judicial killings’, it is highly improper for you to participate in the event and provide legitimacy to the present day rulers of Sri Lanka, whose hands are soaked in the blood of innocent Tamils. Sri Lankan acts of inhumanity have been documented by the UN Human Rights Council and publicly denounced by the Commissioner for Human Rights -Ms. Navi Pillay.
We seek your intervention, as your country is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and can influence the course of history of the beleaguered Sikhs. Your government should support the Sikhs in their endeavor to get a UN probe into the November 1984 carnage. It would be a small step for us to come out of the insurmountable pit the Britishers had put us in 1947.
Yours sincerely
Kanwar Pal Singh
Secretary for Political Affairs
Dal Khalsa