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An agency for those denied agency
A news agency for a faith that isn’t bigger than one per cent of the population of any country such as the UK, Canada or Australia, where there are the largest numbers of Sikhs outside India, and run by a team of just two is a big deal. The news agency has provided
coverage of the 2020 and 2021 farmer’s protest against three laws passed by the Indian Parliament, and the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in October 2023.
Deepa Singh, also known as Kaldip Singh Lehal is the founder of the group Sikh Youth UK who was arrested at Gatwick airport while returning to the UK and subjected to a humiliating detainment and “interrogation…like a terrorist”, he claims, under the
government’s counterterror law in December. He’s also given Sikh PA interviews. “If it weren’t for the Sikh Press Association, a lot of Sikh voices,
especially ours wouldn't be heard,” says Deepa.
But “censorship and targeted interference remain barriers” to the agency’s work, say Everything 13 (E13), the charity that Bhai Jagrai
Singh started to launch projects like Sikh PA. Its press officers have received threatening phone calls after covering certain issues, while online death threats are a frequent occurrence says Jasveer Singh. Originally from the UK, he’s now based in British Columbia (BC), Canada, which has a large Sikh population, working for the agency from there. “There have also been character attacks which involve tarnishing the reputation of staff, legal threats and even efforts to have the association labelled an extremist organisation,” says Jasveer.
He says that while some of those behind these may be “Indian nationalist bots” and some may not be real people, “if they’re willing to threaten someone like me, then the people that are active who are bringing thousands together to be part of this movement…they want them killed”. A former staff member was also prevented from entering India because of his journalism, says Jasveer.
Because the West “became apathetic to Indian interference, overlooking it for trade deals,” borders do not keep the community safe, he explains. As support for Khalistan and criticism of India has increased and India has stepped up its efforts to silence activists, enclaves in the diaspora where violent criminal Indian nationalist gangs work have appeared, he claims.
“But Sikh faith is entwined with tales of courage and sacrifice,” says Jasveer adding that carrying out the work of Bhai Jagrai Singh, who died in 2017 age just 39, is a “task of honour”. “We are the voice for the voiceless, a megaphone for the unheard of our community,” says
Jasveer. “That must continue regardless.”