Waris Panjab De NZ/Supplied
The Sikh community has organised a protest in Aotea Square to show support for a separatist preacher who is on the run in India according to police.
Members of Aotearoa’s Sikh community held a protest in Aotea Square on Tuesday to show support for a self-styled preacher and separatist leader in India.
Amritpal Singh, 30, was declared a fugitive on Saturday after he evaded capture in Jalandhar, Punjab, according to the police.
Authorities sought to arrest Singh, who is a popular leader within the Khalistan movement which wants to create a separate country for followers of the Sikh religion.
The Indian government considers the Khalistan movement to be a national security threat, and it is outlawed. Singh is accused of spreading communal tension in Punjab.
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Singh caught national attention in India in February after hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station to break out one of his aides.
Waris Panjab De New Zealand spokeswoman Sarabjeet Kaur said many people in the Sikh community believe Singh has in fact been arrested.
Indian authorities have cut internet access to 27 million people in Punjab. Supporters of Singh have taken to the streets in the Sikh-majority state to protest and 112 people have been arrested.
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North Shore Sikh Society has been cooking thousands of meals for people caught in Auckland’s flooding overthe past few days.
Kaur said use of internet shutdowns and digital censorship is becoming a standard feature of the “shrinking space for democratic dissent” in India.
“It is feared that the provincial and union authorities will eliminate him physically and show his disappearance in their own defence.”
Singh draws inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a preacher who was accused by the Indian government of leading an armed insurgency for a separate Sikh homeland – Khalistan.
Bhindranwale, and many of his followers were killed by the Indian army when they stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.
Kaur said the protest aimed to bring attention to “ongoing human rights violations” against the Sikhs in India.
“The Sikh community has always stood united with the local whānau of Aotearoa, whether it’s pandemic or the natural disaster, hence, this is the time now when we seek your support in this period of pain for our home roots,” she said.
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