Act Now to Protect Sikhs in America

Sikh American Organizations Unite to Condemn Transnational Repression

An unprecedented group of organizations from the Sikh community - Jakara, Ensaaf, Sikh Research Institute, Sikh Coalition, SALDEF, Kaur Republic Media Group & Sikh LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project - have come together and released an updated backgrounder and call to action to address Indian Transnational Repression targeting the Sikh community. Included in this document are policy, media and advocacy requests to hold India accountable.

This repression, which is now well documented, takes the form of surveillance, social media censorship, visa denial and deportation, harassment, misinformation and doxing, and assassination. The impact reverberates throughout the Sikh community, and impedes the ability to speak, organize and worship freely.

The effort comes in the wake of additional revelations from The Guardian and Washington Post. The former reported in April that Indian authorities tried to recruit violent militants based in Pakistan to help carry out extrajudicial assassinations of Sikhs based there. The latter reported just weeks later that Samant Goel, India's intelligence chief, signed off on the global assassination program, and that Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, probably did as well. This confirmed what Sikh activists have said all along, including in the newly released document: “[t]hese acts are not part of a rogue operation; they are part of a global assassination program targeting Sikhs, authorized by the highest levels of the Indian government.”

The shareable 3 page graphic is below, you can find it online here. The content speaks for itself. It’s a clarion call to all Americans, allies and legislators to both protect Sikhs and hold India accountable.