**Please email the letter below to your MP.

To obtain the email address of your MP use the following link and your postcode: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP ** Dear [MPs name]

Sikh Homeland Lobby: Wednesday 28 June 2023 from 12 noon to 3pm

An open letter signed and supported by over 350 UK Gurdwaras and Sikh organisations was sent to Rishi Sunak on 24 April 2023 on negative actions by the UK Government towards the British Sikh community since he became Prime Minister. I wrote to you asking you write to Rishi Sunak to challenge him to explain why he has reneged on the written assurances given by Boris Johnson to the British Sikh community on 7 July 2022, including the unexplained U-turn on the arbitrary detention of Jagtar Singh Johal in an Indian jail since November 2017.

I also wrote to you asking you write to Michael Gove and challenge the controversial Bloom Review with respect to Gurdwaras and Sikh organisations and attached a briefing note produced on 1 May 2023.

The Sikh community has seen letters to MPs from: • Lord (Tariq) Ahmed, the Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on behalf of the PM primarily relating to Jagtar Singh Johal;
• Baroness Scott of Bybrook as the government’s minister for faith on the Bloom Review; • Tom Tugendhat, the Security Minister on pro-Khalistan extremism; and • Letters of support from MPs across the political spectrum criticising Rishi Sunak’s approach towards the British Sikh community and condemning the Bloom Review

Disappointingly Rishi Sunak has not responded to the British Sikh community or any elected representatives that wrote to him and appears to have delegated responsibility to junior Ministers to explain his actions. MPs have also had no response from Michael Gove on the biased and discredited Bloom Review.

The UK Government’s deliberate focus on “pro-Khalistan extremism” without presenting any evidence to appease the Indian authorities while ignoring the global threat of Hindutva and the right wing Indian Government’s move towards a Hindu Rashtra are a serious cause for concern. A Sikh lobby has therefore been organised for Wednesday 28 June from 12 noon to 3pm and has intentionally been Titled: “Sikh Homeland Lobby”. It is clear the UK Government is under pressure from a right wing Indian Government to silence Sikhs campaigning for self-determination and the re-establishment of a Sikh homeland.

India has slipped on every index of democracy and freedoms and many across the globe have concluded India has shifted to become an autocracy. When British Sikhs raise concerns on right-wing extremism, attacks and killings being promoted by the Indian Government we are vilified and labelled extremists, especially if we make our case for self-determination.

The 200 year Anglo-Sikh history, including the annexation of the Sikh Kingdom by the British and Partition of the Sikh homeland between India and Pakistan in 1947 set out in the letter to Rishi Sunak puts the UK Government and MPs in a very delicate and sensitive position when taking any position on a Sikh homeland. The Sikh homeland lobby will explore these issues and reflect on Rishi Sunak’s lack of response and approach to the British Sikh community.

I will be attending the lobby on Wednesday 28 June with other constituents and hope to see you in the Central Lobby between 12 noon and 1pm. We will be in a Committee Room (TBC 24-48 hours in advance) between 1-3pm where we hope to be joined by dozens of constituency MPs.
The aim is for MPs to understand the strength of feeling of British Sikhs on what is happening in India, support for a Sikh Homeland and expose the appalling approach by the UK Government towards the law-abiding British Sikh community that must change.

Yours sincerely, Your name and full address