Sikh community protests against India following Sushma Swaraj's UNGA speech

NEW YORK: The Sikh community protested outside the monumental building of United Nations (UN) Headquarters following Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj’s striking speech at the UN General Assembly session on Saturday.   

Railing against India, the Sikh community raised slogans in favor of Khalistan and giving it a status of a new state.

The activists reminded India that their atrocities over Sikhs can not last longer, “the day is not far when a new state of Sikhs will be established”.

Calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a killer of Sikhs and Muslims, the demonstrators demanded India to hold a referendum in 2020 in entire Punjab.

“If referendum is conducted then 90 percent of the Sikh community will vote for a separate state,” the protesters said.

Moreover, Sushma Swaraj, during her speech tried to mislead the international community by accusing Pakistan of sabotaging all opportunities for peace talks.

“We are accused of sabotaging the process of talks. This is a complete lie. We believe that talks are the only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes. Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they stopped, it was only because of Pakistan’s behavior,” said Sushma Swaraj during her speech at UNGA.

The Indian minister acknowledged that Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan wrote to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi suggesting a meeting between foreign ministers in New York and that India accepted the proposal but again blamed Pakistan for India’s own refusal to hold talks.