FORTY years ago this month, Indian government troops stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism’s holiest shrine. In recognition of the anniversary, thousands of British Sikhs from across Britain marched last weekend in central London.

The Amritsar assault caused the death of around 300-500 Sikhs, an atrocity that was followed, a few months later, by the massacre of as many as 17,000 innocent Sikhs by organised mobs and the displacement of tens of thousands more. The aim was to stop those who campaign for an independent homeland, called Khalistan.

Leaked papers showed that the US government believed the Indian government was complicit in the genocide, yet Western governments took no action, and in four decades only one person has been convicted for their role in the slaughter, 34 years after the crime.