The large turnout last year was on the back of several incidents of desecration of the Sikh Holy Scriptures, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the killing and brutal beatings by Punjab police of Sikhs peacefully protesting against the desecrations a few weeks earlier. Besides indiscriminate firing, police used water cannons, tear-gas, and lathi charges to disperse protesters conducting morning prayers.
It has been widely reported that the police has today been conducting raids across Punjab and have arrested or rounded up at least 1,500 Sikhs, including many of the organisers mobilising support for the Sarbat Khalsa to prevent a high turnout.
acre site for holding the Sarbat Khalsa stating law and order concerns. An appeal has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking permission for the Sarbat Khalsa, but it looks as though the legal hurdles and the heavy handed tactics may prevent the Sarbat Khalsa from taking place.
A spokesman for the Sikh Federation (UK) said:
Ironically one of the issues that was to have been raised and pushed by the Sikh Federation (UK) at the Sarbat Khalsa was the need for a full independent investigation in the UK following the revelation reported last Friday in The Times and Daily Mail that the UK Parliament was misled in February 2014 by David Cameron and William Hague on SAS involvement in the Sikh Genocide in the 1980s.