A top American lawmaker has asked New York Mayor and the city police to develop a comprehensive action plan to address a recent surge in violent attacks on members of the Sikh community.
"The disturbing pattern of escalating violence and hate against New York's Sikh community is unacceptable and immediate steps are needed to both protect the community and prevent such attacks from happening in the first place," said Congressman Joe Crowley.
"New York City should send a strong message that this kind of bigotry and violence will not be tolerated," Crowley said yesterday in a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner William J Bratton.
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As part of an action plan, Crowley suggested the City consider boosting security presence at Sikh places of worship, designating a liaison to the Sikh community, and expanding the service of observant Sikhs beyond the Metropolitan Transit Authority to include service in the NYPD, as a way of demonstrating support for the Sikh community.
Crowley's call comes in the wake of two separate attacks on Sikhs in New York City over the last two weeks alone.
Jaspreet Singh Batra, a Sikh physician, was assaulted and injured in front of his elderly mother on Roosevelt Island and Sandeep Singh, a Sikh business owner, was run over and seriously wounded by a driver in a pick-up truck in Queens.
In both the cases, the targets were subjected to bigoted slurs.
"These attacks sadly coincided with the second anniversary of the attack on the Sikh Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, which killed six worshippers and seriously injured several others, and come on the heels of last year's brutal attack on Columbia University professor Prabhjot Singh that resulted in his hospitalisation," a media statement said.
Further, members of the Sikh community have shared with officials other instances of hate directed against them, which all too often were not reported to the authorities.
"...[T]hese attacks have created a situation in which the families that comprise New York's Sikh community feel under siege -- concerned even to carry out everyday activities like patronising a restaurant, walking home from work or going shopping, said Crowley in the letter.
"Our city now faces a unique situation, in which a key community reports that they are living as targets for violent bigotry."
Sikh-Americans are often target of hate crimes because of their distinct identity and common misperceptions with respect to their attire and appearance, said the Congressman.
"Attackers sometimes appear to erroneously believe that Sikh-Americans are affiliated with extremists and were somehow responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.
"In other circumstances they are attacked because of their Sikh identity," the statement said.
