London, United Kingdom (March 11, 2014): Tamil, Sikh and Ukrainian campaigners came together on 3rd March 2014, at 10 Downing Street, to vocalise and affirm the call for freedom, justice and independence for their respective nations and for all suppressed and subjugation nations around the world.
Supported by a large vigil, six campaigners, including Sikh dissident leader Simranjit Singh Mann from Punjab, delivered a special letter to Prime Minister David Cameron (copy attached). Simranjit Singh was a direct victim of the Indian state’s 1984 onslaught on Punjab and the Sikhs.
A view of 3 March 2014 vigil
Tamil, Sikh and Ukrainian campaigners supported the start of a symbolic Tamil Justice & Freedom walk from 10 Downing Street to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Several Tamil activists commenced the 460-mile walk from outside Downing Street and will be joined by further activists along the way.
The united multi-national gathering, also, coincided with a thunderous debate on the same day in the House of Lords, led by Lord Singh, about the UK government’s whitewash and cover up in response to incriminating top secret documents released initially on 12th January 2014 and thereafter, about its role in the infamous 1984 Indian government military attack on Punjab. In the Lords debate, participating Lords cogently criticised the UK government for it’s callous cover up and failure to provide clear answers.
In the above six-page letter to David Cameron, campaigners stressed their anguish with the uneven, selective and opportunistic nature of UK Government foreign relations with regards to multiple national-ethnic freedom struggles of small nations across the world. “Whereas, defending Ukraine is strategically vitally important to Britain and western governments, Russia’s ongoing genocidal occupation of Chechenya is simply being ignored. The Chechens are being left as hapless victims of the Russian war machine – kill, brutalise, terrorise and suppress.” says Jagdeesh Singh, 1984 Genocide Coalition.
Campaigners point to a similar disparity between the British Government’s pro-active role in Syria. “Whereas, the militant resistance to the official Syrian government is being morally backed, financially funded and materially resourced by the UK and US governments, with William Hague urging that Syrian officials be prosecuted for crimes against humanity; the same Governments remain utterly silent on atrocities by India and Pakistan in Kashmir, Punjab, Baluchistan, Manipur and other regions in South Asia.”
The letter refers to the recent incriminating revelations, initiated on 12th January 2014, linking the UK Government to the 1984 Sikh genocide in India. Two further cogent documents in a sequence of documents released to date, were provided with the letter. These reveal Margaret Thatcher’s full, unqualified backing to Indira Gandhi for the genocidal military onslaught amounting to a full scale war on the civilian population of Punjab. The British PM commends Indira Gandhi for her military approach to the Punjab question and, in contrast, supports her desire for a political approach to the Tamil question in Sri Lanka.
“These further documents add to the widening jigsaw of the secret, sinister collusion between these two cold, callous, conniving Prime Ministers.“ says Jagdeesh Singh.
The initiative was supported by Nations Without States, which is a leading umbrella campaign group for stateless, suppressed nations around the world. In the May 2014 European elections, Nations Without States in conjunction with the National Liberal Party, is rallying support for eight grassroot Tamil, Sikh, Kashmiri, Kurdish, Sabah-Swarak, Azerbaijan and other candidates in the London area standing for Self-Determination for all nations.