India has been a place where innocent people are killed, Sikh activist says

India has been a place where innocent people are killed, said Ranveer Singh, operations manager of the UK-based organization Everything's 13, at an international conference titled Racism and Violence Against Sikhs and Other Minorities in India: The Reality on the Ground held in Baku on Friday, Report informs.

He noted that historically Sikhs emerged not merely as an ethnic group or a religion, but as a sovereign people. Singh stated that as a result of colonialism, more than two million Sikhs were displaced from their lands, tens of thousands were killed, and entire Sikh democratic structures were dismantled.

According to him, under India's new constitution, Sikhs were not recognized as a separate nation or a religious group. Instead, they were administratively categorized as Hindus and forced into a new political reality shaped by Indian nationalist identity.

Singh cited scholars who argue that this was not a simple bureaucratic mistake, but rather a strategic attempt to weaken the political consciousness and existence of an independent people, significantly influencing the formation of the Indian state.

The speaker further emphasized that India has deliberately used force against Sikhs during different periods. He claimed that the objective was to eliminate the younger generation of Sikhs, particularly those aged between 15 and 35.

He added that much of the information about torture and persecution of Sikhs comes from survivor testimonies. "These accounts are horrific and remain a constant source of trauma for Sikhs around the world," Singh said, reiterating that India has been a place where innocent people were killed.