A British Sikh peer says that UK home secretary Priti Patel’s was “right” to say during a speech to a US think tank that “Sikh separatist extremism has caused considerable tensions in recent years”.
A video of the speech Patel made to the Heritage Foundation in Washington last November has recently surfaced on Twitter, with some Sikhs criticising her for putting Sikh extremism alongside Daesh and Hamas as security threats facing the UK and US.
But Lord Rami Ranger, a peer in the House of Lords and chairman of the British Sikh Association, said that as home secretary of the UK, Patel “is right to ensure Britain never becomes a launchpad for terrorists”.
“Every British citizen who has taken an oath of alignment to Her Majesty the Queen must be loyal and work hard to become an asset to the nation. Engaging in criminal activities against any nation is punishable by law. With the new nationality bill, they could be removed from the country and stripped of their citizenship,” he said.
Ranger urged “anti-India Sikhs” to be like the Sikh Guru who “were committed to their Mother India and paid supreme sacrifices to preserve India’s ancient civilisation”. Anti-India Sikhs should learn from the Kashmiri militants who have been terrorising their fellow Kashmiris for three decades and have gained nothing except to hinder the progress of Kashmiris along with causing death and destruction to their fellow citizens,” Ranger added.
Explaining the Sikh extremism reference, a UK government spokesperson said: “The government supports the universal right to freedom of expression. However, there is a balance to be struck and we are clear that this must be done within the law. We are committed to tackling those who spread views that promote hatred against individuals and communities and work closely with international partners to tackle extremism in all its forms.”
