Sikhs for Justice rally in London gets green light

THE British government has no plans to ban a demonstration planned by a pro-Khalistan group in the UK as long as it is “within the law” and re­mains non-violent, a senior govern­ment official said last Friday (13).

Indian authorities had issued a de­marche to the UK government to take steps against a rally planned at Lon­don’s Trafalgar Square on August 12 by a group named Sikhs for Justice.

Described as a “London declara­tion” for a “Referendum 2020” the campaign seeks a “sovereign state of Khalistan”, with claims that the rally next month will be attended by Sikhs from the UK, Europe and the US.

“In the UK, people have the right to gather together and to demon­strate their views, provided that they do so within the law,” a British gov­ernment spokesperson said.

“However, we will not tolerate any groups who spread hate or deliber­ately raise community fears and ten­sions by bringing disorder and vio­lence to our towns and cities and the police have comprehensive powers to deal with such activities,” the spokesperson added.

The response came after India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is­sued a statement as news of the rally emerged earlier last week.

“We expect that the UK govern­ment will not allow any such group, whose intention is to spread hatred and impact our bilateral relations, to use its country,” said MEA spokes­person Raveesh Kumar.

The MEA stressed that the majori­ty of the Sikh community, in Britain and around the world, have “very good relations with India”.

“As far as such small groups are concerned, these are fringe elements and their job is to spread hatred and communal disharmony,” he added.

The Sikhs for Justice group claims that its Referendum 2020 campaign is the first-ever referendum of the global community of around 30 mil­lion Sikhs.

“London Declaration is a peaceful campaign for a non-binding referen­dum on the question of Sikhs’ right to self-determination, as guaranteed by the UN Charter and International Convention on Civil and Political Rights,” it said in a statement.

The August 12 date for the rally has been selected to coincide with India’s 72nd Independence Day on August 15.