LONDON: Pro-Khalistan Sikhs living in Britain have been warned by British counter-terrorism police that their lives are at risk due to the rise of Khalistan activism and state-sponsored intimidation by the Narendra Modi regime, according to media reports.
The Times reported that pro-Chalistan Sikhs in the UK had been handed “Ottoman notices” in which West Midlands Police warned of “threats to life” against them. British Sikh activists fear they could be linked to assassinations planned in the United States and Canada by agents of the Indian regime.
British police issued the notice to Osman after calling for further investigations into the sudden death of Khalistani activist Avtar Singh Khand, 35, who campaigned for a separate Sikh state and died suddenly and mysteriously in Birmingham in June. The head of the Canadian chapter of Sikhs For Justice, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed a few days later by agents of the Indian state on Canadian soil. Khanda’s family and Sikh groups have said they suspect he was killed in a possible poison attack by the Indian regime.
Osman’s threatening letters are issued by British police to warn a potential victim of the threat of death or the risk of murder. An Osman alert (called a “life threat alert”) is issued when police have enough information to be aware of the risk of danger, but not enough evidence to arrest a potential killer. The extent of such tensions is underscored by Osman’s issuance of notices to Sikhs, who are commonly associated with warring organized crime gangs and allow police to warn a potential victim.
Sikh leaders in Britain have long warned that the Indian government is suppressing dissent in the diaspora and trying to silence separatists who want an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan.
One Sikh who received Osman’s warning told the paper that he initially believed the threat came from religious fundamentalists in the West Midlands community, who targeted him because he was not afraid to speak out about their rhetoric. However, since Indian agents have been accused of the murder in Toronto and plotting the assassination in New York of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) founder and leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, they believe it is the Indian state.
In November 2023, the US State Department charged an agent of the Indian government with directing the assassination attempt on US citizen Pannun on US soil. The indictment released also provided new evidence that Indian agents killed Nijjar and were desperate to kill Pannun.
The man, whose brother and father also received Osman’s notice in the West Midlands, said: “Linking up with the Indian government would make sense because me and my dad are both vocal in the community and independent. I posted things against the regime on Twitter and Instagram. There are a lot of serious things going on in the Sikh community and I don’t think it’s impossible.”
He admitted that it would be a “rather big conspiracy” but added that the possibility now “cannot be ignored due to international events”.
US prosecutors said in November that Indian intelligence had recruited Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, to pay a hitman $100,000 to carry out the assassination of Pannun in New York.
Leaders of the UK Sikh community have warned that peaceful protesters who have legitimately called for the independence of Khalistan have been blacklisted by the Indian government and branded as enemies of the state.
Jas Singh of the Sikh Federation UK said Sikh leaders were taking protective measures, including not traveling alone. “There’s a really heightened sense of concern.
Jas and other community leaders are calling for a formal inquiry into the death of Khand, who died suddenly at Birmingham City Hospital within days of being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and a blood clot in his lung.
Indian authorities accused Khand of pulling down the national flag at a March protest at the Indian High Commission in London. He was named in the state press but the Metropolitan Police confirmed he had not been arrested as part of its investigation. Sikh activists say efforts for a private autopsy have been blocked and believe it is no coincidence that Khanda’s death followed weeks of coverage in India’s state media.
The Sikh man, who received Osman’s warning and is in his thirties, said he tried to find out from West Midlands Police who was behind the threat against him and his family, but was told they could not provide any further information.
“They just told me to take safety steps to protect myself,” he said. “The police did nothing else.
The man said he had heard of other warnings being handed out since he, his brother and father were given those in March. “Something stinks, it doesn’t make sense. If they were Sikh fundamentalists, they have seen us many times since then on their own and done nothing. In the context of what happened in Canada and these international threats, it really makes me wonder what’s going on.”
At the weekend, a large number of Sikhs gathered at Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Smethwick, at the invitation of the Federation of Sikh Organizations (FSO) to express their deep concern at recent high-profile examples of transnational repression in Canada, the US and the UK. by the Indian government targeting Sikh activists in the diaspora. Sikh leaders said they were angry at the silence of the Rishi Sunak-led British government on the multinational crackdown by the Indian government.
They said that while the Canadian government and the US administration publicly exposed the Indian government for ordering acts of terrorism against Sikh activists on Canadian and US soil, the UK government under Sunak was in touch with the Indian regime.
Resolutions were also passed condemning the UK government under Sunak for demonizing and targeting Sikh activists to appease India by fraudulently introducing the phrase “pro-Khalistan extremism” into the UK government’s vocabulary to appease India rather than address the threat to Sikh safety and security. activists in Great Britain.
Dabinderjit Singh, senior adviser to the Sikh Federation (UK), said: “These resolutions are a signal to all British politicians in a general election year who visit Gurdwaras hoping to speak out to be put on the spot for the false demonization of Sikhs.” and transnational repression by the Indian government.
“The Labor Party and its leaders have made promises to the Sikh community and there are high hopes that the incoming Labor government will take a positive approach to the concerns of the Sikh community. We must have a radically different approach to India. The likes of Sunak as Prime Minister and Priti Patel as Home Secretary shamelessly used their positions to target British Sikhs to appease India without proper challenge.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “We received information which suggested that members of the family may have been at risk of harm. We have processes in p
