Sikh Debate in UK Parliament

kaur-1 · #1 (**permalink**) 24-Dec-2006, 00:26 AM

Sikh Debate in UK Parliament

Wednesday 6th of December 2006

The Sikh Federation (UK)

London, UK - A one and a half hour Adjournment Debate took place in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday December 5th. The debate in Westminster Hall on the Punjabi Community in Britain was broadcast live on the BBC Parliament website. The debate will be shown on BBC Parliament on Saturday 9 December at 0600-0730, and Monday 11 December at 0000 and 0300.
The issues listed below were raised during the debate after being set out in a 12-page briefing prepared by the Federation and supplied to over 100 MPs.
• Lack of representation in the House of Lords
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-news/14760-sikh-debate-in-uk-parliament.html
• Targeting Sikhs to take up more public appointments
• Need for information on Sikhs in public employment
• Need for separate ethnic monitoring of Sikhs in the Census 2011
• Collecting information on those speaking the Panjabi language in the Census 2011
• Need for a Code of Practice on Sikh articles of faith
• Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar's case
• Access to Panjab to Amnesty International and the UN Rapporteur on Torture
• UN-led inquiry into the anti-Sikh pogroms of November 1984
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=14760
• Restrictions on Sikh articles of faith in Europe
• Difficulties for Sikhs travelling through Brussels airport
• Restrictions on Sikhs wearing their Kirpans in the EU Parliament
• Police response to attack against 15 year old Sikh schoolboy in Edinburgh
A number of other issues were raised regarding education, development, the environment and heritage. However, no other Sikh organisation is understood to have approached MPs about Sikh concerns, which MPs suggested showed a lack of representatives and contacts across the country. Instead the Government Minister responsible gave the first public indication of the government reliance on two Sikh advisers that guide them on all matters relating to faith issues.
On the 20th of November, in an article in the Guardian it was stated, 'The government only works with those groups that tell them what they want to hear'. The Guardian article mentioned the Network of Sikh Organisations and Sikh Human Rights Group (SHRG). The Minister in the debate mentioned the Network and the 'privately run' British Sikh Consultative Forum, which many in the community is run by a Director of the SHRG.

Source:Panthic Weekly: Sikh Debate in UK Parliament

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