Sikh activist in the UK on Indian ‘hit list’ in constant fear of ‘being killed at any time’ | UK News

Kulwant Singh Mothada is afraid for his life. 

He spends much of his day checking the four CCTV feeds that cover his house. When he drives to work, he regularly changes his car and route.

This is a quiet suburb of Wolverhampton, grey and wet when I visit. It is hard to imagine much ever happening here.

But Mr Mothada is fearful that, even in these sleepy streets, he could be assassinated by the Indian state. And he has good reason to worry.

Others are already dead.

“The hit list was shown on TV with our pictures and our faces have been seen worldwide,” Mr Mothada tells Sky News in his first television interview.

“So I’m a lot more cautious than before because we can be killed here in the UK at any time.”

The “hit list” is a charge sheet drawn up by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) – the country’s counter-terror department – against 16 individuals, all accused of violating terror laws. Six of them live in the UK.

Last year, Mr Mothada was watching an Indian television channel, when a news report came on. In bombastic style, it named “enemies of the state” – and Mr Mothada was one of them.

“Of course I was shocked that they showed the report on TV with my picture,” he says.

“We know that we’ve become the government’s targets, so that does not mean that we are safe and can get on with our day-to-day as normal.

“Whenever we go outside or travel, we’re very careful and since then haven’t left the country because [the Indian government] has given us such a big threat.”

Mr Mothada, 62, is an activist who supports a Sikh homeland – separate from India – called Khalistan.

So were others on the list, several of whom are now dead.

A string of deaths

In May last year, Paramjit Singh Panjwar was gunned down in Lahore, Pakistan.

Six weeks later, Hardeep Singh Nijar was shot dead outside a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in Vancouver.

The Canadian government caused a diplomatic incident when it publicly accused India of being behind the assassination – a claim vociferously denied by India.

The same month, the FBI foiled an alleged plot to assassinate another activist on the list, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

A Department of Justice indictment says the person who allegedly tried to organise the killing said: “We have so many targets.”

And also that same June, Avtar Singh Khanda, a British activist, died suddenly.

Police insist there was no evidence of anything other than natural causes. But many in the Sikh activist community think the death is suspicious.

Mr Mothada is clear, saying: “That government is looking to assassinate anyone outside of the country who raises their voices for human rights, violations and justice.

“This is to ensure that we’re not able to raise our voices in international countries.”

And he thinks that the UK – unlike Canada and the US – is ignoring the issue to appease India.

He said: “Since the hit list was released, I’ve been feeling insecure, that something may happen in the future.

“If I am assassinated then it’s the British government’s total responsibility.”

Sky News asked the Indian High Commission for comment. A press officer acknowledged the request but said that it would not be possible to supply a response before publication, because of the co-ordination with various different government departments.

‘I am a law-abiding citizen’

The NIA alleges that the organisation Mr Mothada is part of, Sikhs for Justice, is a radical extremist group attempting “to propagate sedition as well as enmity on the grounds of region and religion, to radicalise impressionable youth, to cause disturbance to peace and harmony and to raise funds for terrorist activities”.

I put that to Mr Mothada.

Mr Mothada replies: “I live here in the UK and am a law-abiding citizen. The United Nations gives us the right of self-determination.

“All we do is raise our voices peacefully on how the Sikh community are treated in Punjab.”

It is an extremely contentious issue. Even in the UK, a protest outside the Indian High Commission last June turned violent, although Mr Mothada says this was because of another group.

A violent, complex history

But in India, in the 1970s and 1980s, some parts of the campaign for a separate Sikh state in the province of Punjab did result in conflict.

The armed insurgency was met by a harsh government crackdown. Thousands were killed.

In June 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had holed up. Hundreds, possibly thousands, died.

Months later, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, which led to a series of bloody anti-Sikh riots.

The insurgency largely petered out inside Punjab by the 1990s but the Khalistan movement lived on most vocally in the Sikh diaspora – in countries like Canada, the US and the UK.

That history is very much still alive – and still very complex, even in Britain.

Martyrs and assassins

Half an hour’s drive from Mr Mothada’s house is Guru Nanak Gurdwara, a large place of worship in Smethwick, Birmingham. Some 25,000 people attend each week.

Its president, Kuldeep Singh Deol, shows me around, stopping to point a row of photos on the wall called The Martyrs of the Sikh Homeland Khalistan. Among them are some of the victims of the Golden Temple massacre.

But photos of the two assassins of Indira Gandhi are also proudly displayed.

I put it to Mr Deol that many would class those men as terrorists – and that hanging their photos supports the Indian position, that the Khalistan movement is not simply about peaceful protest but also encourages political violence.

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” Mr Deol says.

“These guys stood up, when the Indian government was going round from village to village, after attacking the Golden Temple, they went round from village to village eliminating anyone who looked like a Sikh.”

“As Sikhs, we’re supposed to stand up against atrocities and defend others. But if we can’t defend ourselves we can’t defend others. It was a very bad time 35, 40 years ago. And for us, it’s still continuing.

“People aren’t safe in India. If they speak up, if they’re vocal, they’re attacked.”

And that fear is now felt in the UK, Mr Deol says: “The Sikhs are worried and upset, that even in this current climate, Sikhs are being targeted across borders in different countries.

“They’re concerned about the British government not speaking up about it.”

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A spokesperson for the Home Office told Sky News: “The UK is proud of its diverse communities, and British Sikhs contribute immensely to the strength of our society.

“We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously. Anyone who believes that a crime has been committed or is concerned for their safety should contact the police.”

Back in Wolverhampton, for all the precautions Kulwant Singh Mothada is taking, he remains defiant and committed to his activism.

“I want to give a message to the Indian government and agencies on behalf of the Sikh community: You cannot silence mine or the Sikh community’s voice by giving death threats or sharing hit lists.”