- By Vanessa Pearce
- BBC News, West Midlands
Preet Kaur Gill, the Labour MP for Edgbaston, stated the lives of Sikh activists have been in hazard
A cross-party group of MPs is ready to meet with the federal government’s security minister over the safety of Sikh activists living in Britain.
Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill stated issues have been raised after an “intelligence hit list” appeared on a quantity of Indian media channels.
“It talked about 20 Sikhs who don’t live in India referring to them as enemies of the state,” she stated.
Six British Sikhs have been named, with some now below police safety, she stated.
A gathering is ready to happen on Tuesday.
Some Sikh activists have been contacted by police to inform them their lives have been in hazard, she defined.
The letters – also called Osman warnings – are issued if officers develop into conscious of an actual and speedy risk to someone’s life.
“They have said they’ve had threats, they’ve had harassment and intimidation,” stated the MP for Birmingham Edgbaston.
“Those are the levels of concerns we are seeing about transnational repression and seeing different states trying to further their ideologies here in the United Kingdom by suppressing peoples’ voices and their right to speak up on human rights violations,” she stated.
Sikh activists protest exterior the Indian High Commission in London, calling for an unbiased Sikh state referred to as Khalistan
West Midlands Police stated it totally reviewed the case and there have been no suspicious circumstances and no want to re-investigate.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed in British Columbia
“What we really want from the securities minister is a reassurance from the government that firstly it’s taking the appropriate steps to support and protect the British Sikh community from any unlawful threats or attacks,” Ms Gill stated.
“These are British nationals and we’ve got to make sure the government is taking this very seriously,” the MP added.
“But also they’ve got to really listen and hear accounts from these individuals as to what it is that they’ve experienced and so that we can absolutely raise these concerns appropriately with the Indian counterparts.”
The Indian embassy in London stated it had no remark to make and the UK authorities stated it takes the safety of people’ rights, freedom and safety critically.
