AFP
London,
December 11
British Prime Minister Tony
Blair on Monday condemned attacks on the British Sikh community in the
wake of the September 11 attacks after meeting community leaders in
Downing Street.
The
delegation, led by Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh
Organisations, offered support for the war on terrorism during the
meeting.
The
prime minister was told that Sikhs have been the victims of abuse and
violence after being confused with members of Afghanistan's Taliban.
His
official spokesman later said: "We totally condemn the abuse and
attacks on the Sikh community.
"Preventing
these crimes and catching those responsible is a high priority for the
police."
Downing
Street said the policy of targeted military action was in line with the
Sikh belief that evil should be confronted.
The
spokesman added: "We welcome messages of support from Sikh leaders on
behalf of their community."
NETWORK OF SIKH
ORGANISATIONS UK
MEETING
WITH PRIME MINISTER RT HON. TONY BLAIR MP HELD AT
10 DOWNING STREET
MONDAY
10 DECEMBER 6PM
MEMORANDUM
OF SIKH CONCERNS PRESENTED BY LEADER OF DELEGATION, INDARJIT SINGH
·
Prime Minister, I would
first like to thank you for your far- sighted action in inviting leaders
of different faiths, to a historic meeting at No 10, at the commencement
of operations in Afghanistan, to get a fuller understanding of religious
sensitivities post September 11.
·
This meeting, and your
addresses to the Christian Socialist Conference last spring and the
earlier Holocaust Memorial Day address, were extremely heartening for
Sikhs. Your vision of religious tolerance, and the importance of the
underlying values taught by our different faiths, is remarkably similar to
that of Guru Nanak, who said that God is not the least bit interested in
our different religious labels, but in our actions.
·
I would also like to thank
you for your kind correspondence with me subsequent to the meeting of 8
October, and for arranging the meeting with John Battle MP.
·
British Sikhs fully support
your stance on the need to root out those who target innocent civilians to
make political points, and your government’s recognition of the parallel
need to tackle poverty and deprivation –the environment in which
extremism thrives. The fact that we’ve just come from a reception to
launch a booklet from the NSO, endorsing DFID’S proposals to halve world
poverty by 2015, underline the British Sikh community’s commitment to
the same goals.
·
Going back to the events of
Sepember 11 and their aftermath, Sikhs as Britain’s most visible
minority, became Britain’s most vulnerable community in the public
backlash against Osama Bin Laden. This arose from the fact that more Sikhs
than Muslims in the UK wear turbans. School children in particular, have
been subjected to hostile comment and playground violence.
·
Sikhs have fully supported
the government’s frequently stated warning that innocent British Muslims
should in no way be blamed for the events of September 11. All here today
have, on a number of different platforms, have expressed our support for
the British Muslim community.
·
Sikhs have noted with
concern, considerably less government or media support for Sikhs, innocent
victims of mistaken identity.
·
It may seem an aside, but
in talking frankly, it is appropriate to mention that while Sikhs have
been taking every opportunity to support the Muslim community, Muslim
extremists have been harassing Sikhs and Hindus, particularly girls, to
secure their conversion to Islam. You will probably be aware of how a few
misguided Sikhs and Hindus have turned to the support of the BNP to oppose
this conversion, and the harm this can do to inter faith relations.
·
These incidents underline a
widespread feeling among many Sikhs that a community that quietly gets on
with life and trying to make a positive contribution to British life with
its active promotion of tolerance, finds itself relatively ignored and at
a disadvantage compared to more vocal elements.
·
Although the British Sikh
population is thought to number about half a million, there is not a
single turbaned Sikh in Parliament, or in religious broadcasting in the
BBC or in Independent religious broadcasting. No wonder it’s difficult
to get a Sikh view heard. It also explains the ignorance about Sikhs and
Sikhism shown in the attacks on Sikhs and desecration of Sikh places of
worship following the events of September 11.
·
Prime Minister, let me
explain why we regard the turban as important. There were no symbols of
Sikhism up to the time of the ninth Guru, Guru Teg Bahadhur, who gave his
life defending the right of Hindus to worship in the manner of their
choice. At the time of his martyrdom, Sikhs hesitated to come forward to
claim their master’s body. Prime Minister, you will recall a similar
incident at the time of Jesus Christ’s martyrdom, when Peter thrice
denied to being a follower of Jesus Christ.
·
The tenth Guru, Guru Gobind
Singh decreed that Sikhs should always be ready to stand up and be counted
for their beliefs, however daunting the circumstances, and to this end he
gave us a uniform, of which the turban is an integral part. The turban
then, is an important symbol of our commitment to Sikh ideals of
tolerance, greater social justice and recognition of the equality of all
human beings, including the full equality of women.
·
Another symbol of Sikh
ideals is the kirpan. Although the law of the land allows Sikhs to wear
the kirpan, a government department has recently issued an arbitrary
letter suggesting the wearing of a wooden replica.
·
Those of us, who know you
personally, know that you will be appalled by any suggestion of less than
equal treatment of an important part of Britain’s multi- religious
community.
In
his response, the Prime Minister Tony Blair, agreed that these were
important concerns and that quiet hard working and responsible communities
like the Sikhs, could sometimes lose out compared to the more vocal. He
undertook to fully examine these concerns to ensure that the community was
properly recognised and enabled to play a full part in British life.
Members
of Delegation
1.
Indarjit Singh OBE JP
Director NSO, leader of delegation
2.
Jaswant Singh Heera,
Co-Chair NSO, Vice Chair Council of Sikh Gurdwaras, Birmingham
3.
Dr Parvinder Garcha,
Co-Chair NSO, General Secretary Singh Sabha Southall
4.
Mohan Singh Nijjar,
General Secretary NSO, General Singh Sabha Hounslow
5.
Gurbachan Singh Sidhu,
Deputy Director NSO, Nottingham based Sikh scholar
6.
Gurnam Singh Hundal,
General Secretary Barking and Seven Kings Gurdwaras.