London, UK, 20th April 2012 – UNITED SIKHS
handed the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, a letter on Monday asking him
to call on India to abolish the death penalty and to free Balwant Singh
Rajoana, who is facing the death penalty.
“Bhai Balwant Singh has already served 17 years behind bars for his role in
the political assassination of the former Chief Minister of Panjab, who he
held responsible for the torture, kidnap and killing of innocent Sikh youths
in the 90s,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS legal director, in the
letter that was handed to the Prime Minister on Monday during a Vasakhi
reception at his official residence at No. 10 Downing Street, which was
attended by more than 200 UK Sikhs.
UNITED
SIKHS brought to the PM’s attention Amnesty International’s report on human
rights violations in Panjab at the following link.
The PM was informed that Sikhs in the UK have signed petitions addressed to
their MPs and MEPs asking them to intervene, to stop the execution of
Balwant Singh Rajoana. UNITED SIKHS also reminded the PM about the
continuing challenges to religious freedom globally, especially in the
aftermath of 9/11.
“We congratulate you for declaring that there is a place for religion in the
public place, even though it is a private matter,” Mejindarpal Kaur said to
the Prime Minister whilst handing the letter, after presenting an oil
painting by a UNITED SIKHS volunteer, an artist trained at the renowned
Slade School of Art (London) of a Sikh doing prayers during ishnaan (holy
dip) in the Sarovar at Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. The Prime Minister was also
presented a book titled ‘The Golden Temple of Amritsar, published by a
social enterprise company, Kashi House.
“Since the Vasakhi of 1699, initiated Sikhs are mandated to wear the five
Kakaar (or 5 Ks) (articles of faith) - Kesh (unshorn hair covered by a
turban), Kirpan, Kangga and Kecchaera.
If a nation’s borders define its physical boundary, a Sikh, a member of a
nation without borders, is defined by his/her identity. Any transgression of
this is an attack on his/her being,” Mejindarpal added in the letter that
highlighted, amongst others, the following three issues concerning the
wearing of Kakaar in the UK :
Sikh students continue to be denied their right to wear the Kirpan in many
schools even though there is a specific defense in the Offensive Weapons Act
for the wearing of the Kirpan in schools;
Sikh prison officers and Sikh
lawyers/legal officers on legal visits are not allowed to wear their Kirpan,
even though PSO 4550 permits a Sikh chaplain to wear a Kirpan. This is
despite a recommendation to approve the wearing of the Kirpan by prison
staff following a comprehensive consultation that was carried out in 2008 by
the National Offender Management Service (“NOMS”), an executive agency of
the Ministry of Justice. This recommendation was reversed by a subsequent
director general of NOMS.
Sikhs travelling through European airports continue to be humiliated and
harassed by the indiscriminate removal of their turbans ever since the
implementation of EU regulation 185/ 2010, which prohibits the use of hand
held scanners as a primary screening technique in favour of mandatory hand
searches. We thank your government for standing up for Sikhs and conducting
an 18 months trial (ending in mid Aug 2012) to see if security could be
achieved by not applying Reg 185 at 22 UK airports. We request your
government to take the lead in Europe of by recommending that Para 4.1.17 of
the reg 185n could be used to exempt Sikhs from arbitrary removal of their
turbans.