Stabbed Sikh is blamed for attacks

John Breslin

Hardip Singh suffered serious wounds to his hands and arms after being attacked by two men outside a house in the midlands. He has no doubt they thought he was a Muslim.

The 23-year-old, originally from the Punjab in India, but studying business in Dublin for the past four years, described last night how the two men called him “bin Laden” and “a terrorist”, and blamed him for the London bombings and directed racial abuse at him. The incident happened earlier this week in Athlone, Co Westmeath, where Mr Singh was staying with friends.

After the abuse “one of them then produced a knife from his right hand side pocket and attacked,” said Mr Singh.

“He was trying to kill me. I tried to stop him, put my hands in front. The wounds were defensive. He cut my hand and I needed 10 stitches,” he said.

When the pair ran away (they were aged 20 to 24), Mr Singh called an ambulance and was taken to hospital. He was released that day and is now back in Dublin.

However, he said he could not leave his house for two or three days after the incident. He has suffered racial abuse before.

The Irish Sikh Council is seeking a meeting with the gardaí following the attack on the youth in Athlone.

The council has no doubt the attack was a backlash to the bomb attacks in London last week, as Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims despite their distinctive beards and turbans. This is the first attack on a Sikh since the London bombings but it mirrors similar incidents that followed the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

In the US, two Sikhs were shot dead by a gunman who believed they were Muslim. No one has ever been charged with any of the attacks here despite them being reported to gardaí, the Irish Sikh Council’s Kirpa Singh said. That is one of the reasons they are seeking a meeting.

“This incident and many such similar ones in the past have become a common occurrence in the lives of practising Sikhs living in the European Union and USA as Sikhs keep fully-grown beards and wear turbans,” added the council’s Harpreet Singh.

“The Metropolitan Police in London have also admitted that the Sikh community is particularly vulnerable to backlash crimes in the aftermath of the London bombings because of their visibility and that this is a police concern.”

One Dublin-based Sikh, Sarabjit Singh, relocated to Britain following repeated harassment, including an attack by three teenagers on Dublin’s South Circular Road.