Plan to burn national flag foiled as protesters demand release of Jagtar Johal, the UK national held in connection with killing of Punjab RSS leaders
New Delhi: After the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the campaign by Sikh protesters to free UK national Jagtar Singh Johal, alias Jaggi, arrested by the Punjab Police in 2017, reached the US on 26 January, when slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ were shouted in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington DC during the Republic Day celebrations.
Protesters of all age groups had gathered in small numbers near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy and shouted slogans against the government. They also demanded a referendum in Punjab for a separate country — ‘Khalistan’ — by 2020.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the protest was organised by a New York-based “pro-Khalistan group”, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which allegedly has links to Pakistan’s ISI.
“The demonstration by Sikhs for Justice outside the Indian Embassy in Washington was a flop show attended by around 15-20 people. They were completely outnumbered by flag waving, enthusiastic and patriotic Indians,” an MEA source said. “This demonstrates the hollow claim of SFJ that they enjoy wide support. They are a fringe group backed by Pakistan clearly bringing out the nefarious design of Pakistan to stir up trouble.”
Sourced told ThePrint that the main objective of the group was to burn Indian flags in New York as well as Washington DC but it was thwarted. “SFJ’s claim on their website that they burnt an Indian flag outside the Embassy is completely false,” the source added. “As the photos/videos show, no such thing took place. The claim is intended to cover up for their flop show.”
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The Sikh protest finally fizzled out as other members of the Indian community there organised another protest to counter them. Matters turned quite confrontational at one point prompting local police to stand in between both the groups to avoid a faceoff, sources said.
“The intent of flag burning is also an immense affront to the largest democracy on the earth and causing huge grief to the American Hindus,” said Harsh Sethi, president of the American Hindu Coalition based in Washington D.C.
The protests were also strongly condemned by the local Sikh community based in Washington, operating under the group Sikhs of America.
“Sikhs reside and have businesses not only all over India but also boast of a global presence. Such theatrical protests like flag burning are detrimental to the peace loving and harmony enhancing Sikh Community everywhere,” said a joint letter by the president of Sikhs of America Kamaljit Singh Soni and chairman Jesse Singh.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Harsh V. Shringla met the representatives of Sikhs for America and agreed to listen to their concerns.
The website of SFJ and its twitter account @sikhsforjustice was later suspended.
Protests demanding Jaggi have taken place in UK and Canada as well
While time and again Khalistani supporters have carried on with their movement demanding a separate country for the Sikh community, of late the protests have escalated considerably since the arrest of Jaggi by the Punjab Police in November 2017.
Jaggi, 32, is a British national who came to India in October 2017 to get married. He was arrested in Jalandhar along with three others over charges of targeted killings that took place between April 2016 and October 2017, including the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Jagdish Gagneja.
Announcing the arrest, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had then stated that there was a major conspiracy hatched by ISI to fan communal disturbances and disrupt peace in the state”.
Sloganeering and protests were also carried out by Khalistan supporters in defence of Jaggi in countries such as U.K., Canada and Australia. In the U.K, representatives of the Sikh community had also met British MPs urging them to pressure India to free him.
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