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By Geeta Mohan: The Sikhs in the UK are very beautiful people and the vast majority of them are decent, kind, hardworking and generous, UK faith advisor Colin Bloom told India Today TV.
A report by Colin Bloom, who is an independent faith engagement advisor, was unveiled by the UK government on Wednesday. The report, titled ‘Does Government ‘do God’?: An independent review into how government engages with faith’, goes into detail of how members of the British Sikh community expressed their growing concern over a small but extremely vocal group “hijacking” the Sikh faith to push a subversive pro-Khalistan narrative.
“A tiny minority is very aggressive and involved in pro-Pakistan extremism and is disproportionate. They make threats. The challenge that we saw was that the British government has to address it, deal and crackdown on the rise of pro-Khalistan extremism. The Sikhs are being let down by a small extreme minority,” Bloom said.
Speaking about foreign funds (from Pakistan), Bloom said: “I don’t go into that much detail and won’t share them on television, but we have our suspicions. We are looking into finding who is empowering them. It is clearly bigger than one can imagine.”
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So, is Pakistan involved? “The truth is that I don’t know. I have some suspicions that that might be the case but it is up to the British authorities now to investigate these things. Certainly, funding and enablement is coming from organisations and bodies possibly outside of the UK. Where it becomes coercive, illegal and aggressive, the British authorities need to get involved. Membership of a proscribed organisation is an offence. Those who are part of such organisations are breaking the law and will be punished,” Bloom said.
On Pakistan media’s reports demonising Sikhs, Bloom said: “I’ve seen those reports. The great majority of British Indians, whether they are Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims, or have no faith at all, make a tremendously huge contribution to the UK. They are the nicest people.”
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“The biggest victims are people living within that faith,” Bloom said about Islamist extremism. “The biggest victims of Islamist extremism are Muslims. It is important to be aware. A small minority of Islamists are ruining it. The biggest challenge is Islamist extremism.”
“Maybe 25 years ago we would never have used that term,” Bloom said about Hindu nationalism. “The fact that we are using this term means perhaps the British government must be aware of it. It is a lot smaller than what some people have made it out to be. It isn’t a problem. My recommendation to the government is that they keep a watching eye on it.”
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