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Phoolka seeks support of British
MPs for November 1984 anti-Sikh criminals
Jagmohan Singh
 WESTMINSTER,
LONDON: On the eve of the 25th year of the anti-Sikh
pogrom against Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of India, activist
advocate and author Harvinder Singh Phoolka sought the support of
British Parliamentarians for prosecution of anti-Sikh criminals and
support for the campaign for the worldwide restriction on the travel
and entry of genocide perpetrators Jagdish Tytler, Sajan Kumar an
Kamal Nath.
Addressing
parliamentarians in the Jubilee room of the Parliament, as part of
the campaign organised by Sikh Federation (UK) and hosted by Rob
Marris, MP, the chair of the All Parliamentary Group for UK Sikhs in
the British Parliament, he stressed that the passage of 24 years has
proved that the Indian state is not interested in deliverance of
justice and therefore it was incumbent on the international
community to ensure that nowhere in the world is there place for
those who have committed crimes against humanity. He urged
parliamentarians of the three major parties who attended the event,
including Minister John Spellar, and Shadow Attorney General Edward
Garnier to join this campaign launched by the Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International,
Liberty and the
Redress Trust.
During his
impassioned speech, Harvinder Singh Phoolka, a senior advocate in
the Supreme Court of India told MPs in the UK Parliament that the
1984 genocide of Sikhs was the beginning of government sponsored
violence against the Sikhs in
India.
 He
said that we all now live in a small world and criminals anywhere
are a threat to all. He rued the fact that governments of various
countries had more evidence and reports about the 1984 carnage, but
despite that they did not take any step. Successive governments
failed to exert sufficient diplomatic and political arm-twisting to
ensure that
India respects
rule of law. He said that British Parliamentarian should take the
lead and ban the entry of the troika of perpetrators to the United
Kingdom and hoped that other countries would follow suit.
This major lapse
inured the government to be oblivious of the hate and hurt campaign
by lumpens in the country, resulting in the current situation
wherein Christians have become the target of the attack of fascist
forces. In between the Sikhs and the Christians, the Muslims too
were at the receiving end and are still so in a different way.
Nevertheless, it
is heartening to note that many governments have questioned the
impunity granted to the police, paramilitary and right-wing bodies
over the anti-Christian violence in the states of Orissa and
Karnataka. In the last few weeks the
USA, UK and
Australian Governments have expressed their concerns to India over
the continued anti-Christian violence. The French President on
behalf of the 27 EU countries and civil society groups in the
53-nation Commonwealth has also raised their disquiet.
Harvinder Singh
Phoolka addressing MPs from each of the three main political parties
urged them to get the UK Government and nations across the globe to
recognise that the violence against minority communities is in an
act of state terrorism. MPs were told the Government of India must
be forced by the international community to appreciate that communal
violence targeting minorities is totally unacceptable.
Zimbabwean human
rights lawyer, Kevin Laue, representing the Redress Trust explained
the practical steps that needed to be taken and said that emphasized
that a heavy dose of political will was required to ensure success
of the campaigh.
29
October 2008
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