UK Sikhs raise £375,000 for London Sikh war memorial

JALANDHAR: A £375,000 were pledged by 15 donors, pooling in £25,000 each, for National Sikh War Memorial to be located in central

London

, at a gathering of cross party MPs, Lords, mayor of London,community representatives and social activists in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday.

On the occasion, Sajid Javid, communities secretary and a British Pakistani Conservative MP, said,“Once an appropriate site has been identified and a memorial agreed on, the Government has agreed to provide funding towards the project.”

“The part played by Sikh servicemen really stands out – a contribution that’s all the more remarkable when you consider that these brave men travelled thousands of miles to fight for a country that wasn’t their own,” Javid said.

The parliamentary launch of the campaign saw MPs representing various parties and more than 100 representatives of Sikh organizations from across Britain.

London Mayor

Sadiq Khan

said, “We are indebted to all those servicemen who volunteered to serve and fought to defend the freedoms we enjoy today. That’s why a Sikh war memorial in our nation’s capital will honour their sacrifice and ensure that this part of our shared history is never forgotten.”

“Memorials already exist in London for soldiers from the Commonwealth, British India, Poland, African-Caribbean nations, and for the Gurkhas but none of a turbaned Sikh Soldier,” Dhesi said. “This will have huge additional benefits for community cohesion and integration within our country,” he added. “A monument in our capital city, the first in any country apart from India, would be a magnificent tribute to those brave Sikh servicemen to whom we all owe a great debt of gratitude,” said

Jeremy Corbyn

, leader of the

Labour Party

.

Others attending the meeting included Liberal Democrat leader MP

Vince

Cable, MP Liz Saville Roberts AS MP fromPlaid Cymru, DUP MP

Nigel Dodds

and shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

Messages of support from Scottish

National Party

MP Ian Blackford MP, Labour Party deputy leader

Tom Watson

and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas were read out before the gathering.

In December 2017, Dhesihad tabled a parliamentary motion for setting up the memorial and the motion had signatures of 150 MPs from different parties, including many political heavyweights.


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