By P.S.Jheeta
BIRMINGHAM: The hunger strike which the Sikh political asylum detainees from India held at Winson Green Prison, Birmingham, May 1012 was not only in protest of the discriminatory treatment they have encountered here and in the jails of Britain, but was also in protest to the Indian authorities for not leaving them any alternative except that of seeking refuge in a foreign state.
‘On the one hand they have not been administered the appropriate respect and regard by prison authorities for their faith and person, having been Served meat when a facto vegetarian diet was clearly Stated and subjected to verbal abuse Simply because of language barriers, On the other hand, the Indian High Commission, giving full favor to the allegations of the: genuine asylum cases, has added to the distress and anxiety of detainces by not making available paper work nor issuing passports of the asylum applicants who have given in to the intimidation of being imprisoned in a foreign land.
We oppose the detaining of asylum seekers, as they are not criminals but are expressing their human right to flee a state which they allege is oppressive. These allegations should not inspire the remanding persons like tried and guilty criminals.
Furthermore the Home Office must note that in considering the cases of the refugees, if any are forced to return to India due to ill treatment here, or if any applicant is deported, then it is the Home Office which must bear responsibility for the torturing of any re: turned persons, and at worst direct responsibility for the extrajudicial killing of any returned persons (as per encounter to use Punjab police’s terminology).
It is no wonder that many Sikhs have been left with no option but to leave home, family and friends, having visioned the deadly and dark end their companions or friends have already experienced in India.
‘We ponder on what the parents: of asylum seekers deported back to an India will think of the desires and aspirations they have of the world community.
‘The Council of Sikh Gurdwaras appeals to the media, academics and politicians of the democratic and free world to give thought to the situation in Punjab. We also hope that they do not fall prey to the Punjab police briefings and Indian Government propaganda, so that in some way an objective voice can be channeled effectively to halt the random and successive killing of Sikhs from village to village; to put a halt to trial by bullet of suspected militants and political campaigners; to halt the continued holding and murder by police “encounter” of Sikh scholars; to put an end to press gagging, intimidation of journalists, lawyers and human rights campaigners so that accountability can be restored.
We demand the right for Sikhs to practice their religion freely and for Sikhs to be given the chance to flourish as other community’s do in their home states. We expressly seek for Sikhs to be given the right to self-determination, aright which can only be sought through the aid of the international humanitarian community, by the grace of the Almighty.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 21, 1993
