Suppressing Sikh Voices: The Draconic efforts of the Indian Government

Disclaimer: this article was written about the events of March 18th-21st. The situation is ongoing and the number of imprisoned Sikh activists continue to rise; global protests are underway and news outlets continue to be censored.

154 Sikh activists arrested; gatherings of over four people restricted by the police; telecommunications cut off across the state: such is the situation in Panjab as of March 21st. On March 17th, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Panjab signed a bill enacting Section 2 of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885. This allows the government to issue a state-wide ban of most telecommunications; including the internet (subsequently all social media platforms), SMS and all mobile phone services. The disablement of the internet and phone services has led to a complete communication blackout in the state, affecting as many as 27 million people.

Additionally, the government has issued Section 144 of the Indian code of Criminal Procedure 1973. Section 144 ‘prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area’ and can lead to individuals being accused of rioting, a legal measure that has been noted as ‘draconian’ by the leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh. India’s extreme clamp down on the state of Panjab is all a part of their attempt to dismantle the Sikh organisation ‘Waris Panjab De’ (Heirs of Panjab, referred to as WPD in this article).

Both WPD’s efforts and wider Sikh activism in the region is focussed on tackling India’s oppression of the Sikh population in Panjab: their goal is ‘to inspire Punjabi youth to reject drugs and embrace the Sikh faith’. A central part of Sikh campaigns for the past century has also been the establishment of an autonomous Sikh state, Khalistan. In Indian nationalist discourse these efforts are often labelled as separatist and fundamentalist. These terms not only villainise the Sikh community’s desire for independence, they also grossly mischaracterise and overlook the history of India’s oppression of its Sikh population. 

Since 1947, the Indian state has maliciously suppressed Sikh voices. When India and Pakistan were formed, Panjab was promised autonomy by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru; this promise never came to fruition. In the 1970s, following decades of religious marginalisation, Sikhs presented the government with the ‘Anandpur Sahib Resolution’ (a bill requesting the recognition and protection of the Sikh faith). Despite being passed in 1973, the bill was largely ignored and resulted in the Sikh-led ‘Dharam Yudh Morcha’ (Righteous Campaign) of 1982.

Indira Gandhi’s government viewed this movement as a secessionist terrorist effort and sent the military into Sri Harmandir Sahib/the Golden Temple (the holiest site for Sikhs) initiating Operation Bluestar and setting the scene for the 1984 Sikh Genocide. This led to Gandhi’s assassination (at the hands of her two Sikh bodyguards) which incited violent murders, rapes and kidnappings of countless Sikhs: 2,733 Sikhs were killed within three days and over 50,000 were displaced.

In their attempts to disenfranchise WPD, the Panjab State Police and paramilitary forces have been sent into the region to arrest WPD members, most notably their leader Bhai Amritpal Singh. In the eyes of the Indian government, Amritpal Singh and his followers are a threat to national security. Although the individual charges on Singh are being contested, the arrest of dozens of other members of WPD and Sikh activists are blatant breaches of the United Nations’ ‘International Bill of Human Rights’. Article 9 of the IBHR states that ‘No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.’ The targeting of Sikh activists on falsified and unproven grounds largely contradicts this. The Indian government is able to bypass several of these freedoms through their implementation of the National Security Act.

The NSA, a descendant of the colonial-era Rowlatt Act, allows for the state to imprison anyone without just cause for up to 12 months. As of 21st March, five Sikh activists and associates of WPD have been charged under the NSA and moved to Assam (the Northeast of India). Despite attempts at legal intervention, Section 16 of the NSA states that the government cannot be legally challenged if the act was intended in ‘good faith’: a vague wording that allows the government to justify all uses of the act.

The president of the World Sikh Organisation, Tejinder Singh Sidhu has noted how ‘state-wide blackouts have been a tool of genocide and were used in 1984 to facilitate the mass killing of Sikhs by the Indian state.’ The similarities between the current situation in Panjab and the 1984 massacres of Sikhs have alarmed the Sikh-Panjabi diaspora who fear a repeat of history. Philanthropist and Khalsa Aid CEO, Ravi Singh, has also noted how this suspension of telecommunications is frighteningly reminiscent of the 1984 media blackouts.

Due to this history of censorship and brutal intervention, the Sikh community fears the extrajudicial murders of WPD members and their supporters. Currently, news on Amritpal Singh’s captivity varies with his legal advisor claiming he was abducted by the Panjab police after a car chase and Indian authorities claiming he is still a fugitive. There are growing concerns that the government intends to carry out a ‘fake encounter’ and murder Singh via extrajudicial means.

Since the Indian government implemented these severe measures, accounts bringing awareness to Sikh oppression across the world have been ‘withheld’ on Twitter and Instagram. The Indian government has blocked anyone within the country from accessing information that threatens to expose their flagrant abuse of human rights and dismissal of freedom of expression.

Currently, countless figureheads and news sources on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have been blocked in India; and the telecommunications ban has been extended to 23rd March in areas surrounding Amritsar. If these alarming policies are not brought to the world’s attention and stopped by the Indian government, the impact on Panjab and the Sikh community could be devastating – India cannot be allowed to perpetuate its oppressive agenda in silence.