ARREST OF SIMRANJIT SINGH MANN AND OTHERS IN PUNJAB

Motion Text

That this House notes with extreme concern the arrest on 14th May 2007 and continued detention by the Indian government of 62-year-old Simranjit Singh Mann and 20 others for peacefully protesting against the erection of a statue of the former Chief Minister of Punjab, who was responsible for the extra-judicial killings of thousands of Sikh youths in the 1990s; notes that it has been reported that Daljit Singh Bittu, the acting President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), is being charged with sedition because of his role in the Khalsa Action Committee, an umbrella body of Sikh religious organisations; and calls upon the UK Government to press the Indian government to draw back from what many regard as a campaign of oppression of free speech and legitimate political activity.