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Sikhism was recorded as the religion of 336,179 people in the United Kingdom at the 2001 Census. (Other sources regard the Sikh population as being between 600,000 and 750,000.) While England is home to the majority of Sikhs in the UK, small communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. According to the 2011 England census there were around 420,196 Sikhs living in England alone.

History

Note that the first Sikh settler in Britain was Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838-1893), the Last Sikh Emperor of the Imperial Sukerchakia Dynasty, from 1844-1849. He arrived In England in the year 1854 having being exiled from his Kingdom by the British. His mother Empress Jind Kaur (1817-1863), arrived in 1860 at Kensington in Victorian London, settled permanently, after fighting the British for a long time until the fall of the Sikh Dynasty in 1849. She was given permission by the British Parliament to settle on English soil.

The First Sikh Settlers started migrating from the Punjab in 1911, when the first Sikh Gurdwara was opened in London. During the start of the First and Second World Wars respectively, there was already an established Sikh presence in many parts of England. In London itself the community was small but this grew very rapidly during the 1950s and 60s and faced much racism and discrimination, mainly owed to the appearance and skin colour. Sikh's still suffer from this racism. In June 2013 the British Sikh Report was first published documenting the Sikh communities needs for the first time in a concise report. The report also details the history of the Sikh community in Britain since the start of the 19th Century to the present date. The report indicated that around 74.5% of Sikhs experienced racism in the United Kingdom, with around 53% experiencing racism in the past 18 months alone. The BBC also reported that around 71% of British Sikh women "have experienced gender discrimination" and "have done so within their extended family". Other findings include that 30% of British Sikhs identified with caste, but only 3% thought it was important. In addition to this around 95% said they were proud of being born and living in the UK. Overall 650 Sikhs filled out an online questionnaire from which the data was extrapolated.

Sikhs also fought bravely and courageously with the utmost manner with the British in the British Indian Army, which was made up of Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Gurkha's and other Indians. In total the number of casualties numbered over 83,000 in both world wars.

Law

Sikhs are exempt from a couple of British laws; for example they are permitted to ride motorcycles without a helmet (so long as they are wearing a turban) and are permitted to carry around their Kirpan in situations where it would otherwise be seen as an offensive weapon. In February 2010 Sir Mota Singh, Britain's first Asian judge, criticised the banning of the Kirpan in public places such as schools.

Controversies

According to the Daily Mail, in 2007, commissioner of police, Sir Ian Blair stated the police were targeting extremist members of the Muslim community who were allegedly forcing vulnerable girls to convert to Islam in response to claims made by the Hindu Forum, Sheikh Musa Admani, an imam, said Islamic extremist groups may be evading university bans on groups such as Hizb ut Tahrir and Al-Muhajiroun The Times published a report on radical Muslims being accused of blackmailing young Hindu and Sikh women into changing religion in "groomed conversions" on campuses. The article pointed out that such abuses were rarely reported to the police since "the stigma of a child converting to Islam often silences Sikh and Hindu parents". Young Hindu and Sikh women were often "drugged and photographed in compromising positions" then blackmailed into converting to Islam. "Many comply because they are so afraid of shaming their parents or being rejected by their communities." In 2007 a Sikh girl's family claimed that she had been forcibly converted to Islam, and they received a police guard after being attacked by an armed gang.

An academic paper by Katy Sian published in the journal South Asian Popular Culture in 2011 explored the question of how "forced conversion narratives" arose around the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom. Sian, who reports that claims of conversion through courtship on campuses are widespread in the UK, says that rather than relying on actual evidence they primarily rest on the word of "a friend of a friend" or on personal anecdote. According to Sian, the narrative is similar to accusations of "white slavery" lodged against the Jewish community and foreigners to the UK and the US, with the former having ties to anti-semitism that mirror the Islamophobia betrayed by the modern narrative. Sian expanded on these views in 2013's Mistaken Identities, Forced Conversions, and Postcolonial Formations.

Coverage by a BBC Inside Out programme in September 2013 showed several alleged cases of young Sikh women being groomed by Muslim men, with one alleged ex-groomer even admitting that they specifically targeted Sikh girls. Bhai Mohan Singh of the Sikh Awareness Society (SAS) was at that time allegedly investigating 19 cases where Sikh girls were allegedly being groomed by older Muslim men. However the organisation is known to have radical anti-Muslim Sikh elements according to the Mail on Sunday and Huffington Post; Faith Matters, a charity based on interfaith cohesion, notes that the group have ties with the English Defence League (EDL) and have even set up secret meetings at demonstrations in the past. The SAS however deny the allegations and have sought to distance themselves with the organisation. The BBC Nihal Show on the Asian Network also discussed the issue and debated the merits of the grooming claims in September 2013.

See also

• List of Sikhs
• Sikhism in England
• Sikhism in Northern Ireland
• Sikhism in Scotland
• Sikhism in Wales

Further reading

• Sikhs in Britain: the making of a community (Zed, 2006) by Prof. Gurharpal Singh and Dr. Darshan Singh Tatla.

References

1. 2001 Census, Office for National Statistics
2. Neiyyar, Dil (2010-02-25). "Sikh campaigners threaten legal fight over 2011 census". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
3. "Sikhs celebrate harvest festival". BBC News. 2003-05-10. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
4. "Religion by measures: England". NOMIS. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
5. "Punjabi Sikh matrimony culture in UK, India". AnandKaraj. 26 July 2012.
6. "BSR British Sikh Report An Insight into the British Sikh Community" (PDF). 2013. BSR British Sikh Report. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
7. ^ Talwar, Divya. "British Sikh Report finds majority 'proud of Britain'". BBC News. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
8. Taneja, Poonam (8 February 2010). "Sikh judge Sir Mota Singh criticises banning of Kirpan". Retrieved 5 September 2013.
9. "Police protect girls forced to convert to Islam". Daily Mail. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
10. "'Hindu girls targeted by extremists'". http://metro.co.uk. 22 Feb 2007. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
11. Woolcock, Nicola (03 March 2013). "Muslims accused of blackmail to make student girls convert". The Times. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Woolcock, Nicola (03 March 2013). "Muslims accused of blackmail to make student girls convert". The Times; republished in Sikh Helpline. Retrieved 01 October 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
13. Cowan, Mark (Jun 6 2007). "Police guard girl 'forced to become Muslim'". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 19 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Sian, Katy P. (6 July 2011). "'Forced' conversions in the British Sikh diaspora". South Asian Popular Culture.
15. Katy P. Sian (4 April 2013). Unsettling Sikh and Muslim Conflict: Mistaken Identities, Forced Conversions, and Postcolonial Formations. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 55–71. ISBN 978-0-7391-7874-4. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
16. "'Code of silence on sexual grooming?'". http://bbc.co.uk. 2 Sep 2013. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
17. ^ Lane, H.S. (September 2012). "A Study of the English Defence League" (PDF). Faith Matters: 29. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
18. ^ Elgot, Jessica (2012-09-24). "EDL Target Religious Groups Including Jews And Sikhs For Recruitment, Exploit Anti-Islam Tensions, Says Report". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
19. "Nihal". 02/09/2013. BBC Asian Network. Retrieved 5 September 2013. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)

External links

• City Sikhs Network - Network of Sikh Professionals in the UK
• Network of Sikh Organisations UK
• Sikhism in United Kingdom
• Reassessing what we collect website – Sikh London History of Sikh London with objects and images

• Sikhism in the United Kingdom
• Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom
• Sikhism by country