On Thursday, the Khalistani supporters gathered outside the Honorary Indian Consulate in Australia’s Brisbane and chanted anti-India slogans at the entrance for some time. Australian media also reported that the consulate was forced to shut down for a short period after Khalistani supporters impeded entry into the consulate by yelling anti-Hindu slogans outside it. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has denied it and said that the consulate continued to function normally. This comes days after the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese pledged to stop the spread of anti-Indian animosity in the nation.
According to the reports, the Khalistani activists raised anti-India slogans at the Consulate and called the Hindus as ‘supremacists’. The Consulate is located on Swann Road in the Taringa suburb of Brisbane.
“Indian Consulate was forced to close today due to safety concerns after Sikhs for Justice targeted them with their propaganda. They have been shouting Khalistan Zindabad slogans,” Sarah L. Gates, Director of Hindu Human Rights was quoted as saying.
In the videos of the incident, the Khalistanis are seen carrying placards saying that “Hindu mobs killed 570 Sikhs, injured 13,000” in 1966.
Consulate of India, Brisbane Australia was targeted by Khalistanis.
— Woke Janta (@WokeJanta) March 15, 2023
The consulate was forced to shut down after unauthorized gathering of Khalistani supporters blocked the entry. pic.twitter.com/eMiy1MXeLI
According to the Queensland Police, it was an unauthorised gathering by the Khalistanis, but still, they were allowed to enter the consulate premises and block the entrance. As a result, people who had appointments with the consulate had to reschedule their appointments, according to Australia Today.
Responding to queries regarding the incident, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the issue was raised with Australian authorities, and they should take action. “PM already spoke about such issues when Australian PM was in India,” he added.
Arindam Bagchi clarified that it is an honorary consulate of India located in Brisbane, and it is not a Consulate General of India. He further refuted media reports that it was closed down due to the Khalistanis. He said that a small number of protestors had gathered outside it and chanted slogans for some time, but the consulate continued to function normally. He said that there were some disruptions for a while, but the consulate was not shut down as claimed in media reports.
Arindam Bagchi refused to comment on video footage of the incident, saying it is not possible to comment on unverified videos. He added that teams of India and Australia are in touch, and the matter was raised immediately with the Australian authorities.
It is notable that an honorary consulate is a type of consulate that is headed by an honorary consul, who is not a professional diplomat and does not receive a salary. Honorary consuls are typically citizens or residents of the host country where they live. They are designated by a foreign government to look after the affairs of its citizens.
While honorary consuls do not receive a salary for their services, but they may receive certain privileges and benefits associated with their position, such as diplomatic immunity, tax exemptions, and access to official functions and events. The main role of an honorary consulate is to promote trade, cultural exchange, and other types of cooperation between the host country and the country they represent. They may also provide consular services, such as issuing visas, assisting citizens of their home country who are travelling or living in the host country, and handling legal and administrative matters.
Honorary consulates are typically established in cities or regions where there is a significant population of nationals from the country they represent, but where there is not enough demand or resources to justify a full-fledged embassy or consulate. They may also be established in remote or less developed areas where a full-fledged consulate would be impractical or too expensive.
The development in Brisbane occurs only days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed India’s worries about the attack on several Hindu temples by demonstrators calling for Khalistan during his meeting with Albanese in Delhi.
On March 11, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also condemned the anti-India and anti-Hindu activities happening in Australia and said that the country won’t tolerate any extreme actions and attacks on any religious buildings. “I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people’s faith. That we don’t tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we’ve seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia,” he had said.
“And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We’re a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity,” the statement further quoted him saying.
Earlier last month, after the visit of India’s foreign affairs minister S. Jaishankar, Khalistani flags were discovered affixed to the Indian embassy in Brisbane. EAM Jaishankar then talked about the matter with his Australian colleague Penny Wong during their meeting.
“Noted the forward movement on our bilateral agenda. Emphasized the need for vigilance against radical activities targeting the Indian community,” Jaishankar tweeted. Yet, on the same day, some Khalistani followers attacked two Hindu temples while they were celebrating Mahashivratri,
Further, in the last two months, Australia has seen four separate anti-Hindu attacks on Temples initiated by pro-Khalistani elements living in the country. On March 4, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Brisbane’s Burbank suburb was vandalized with anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti defacing its walls. According to local media reports, the vandalism was carried out by pro-Khalistani supporters. The miscreants wrote anti-Hindu, anti-India, and pro-Khalistani slogans on the walls near the temple during the vandalization.
On February 16, 2023, in Melbourne, a Kali Mata temple received a warning against holding a Bhajan program. A woman priest of a Kali Mata temple in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in Australia received threats from Khalistani terrorists for organizing a Bhajan program of Indian singer Kanhiya Mittal.
On January 23 a similar attack by Khalistani elements took place at the Hare Krishna Temple located at Albert Park in Melbourne city of Australia. The temple served as the centre of the Bhakti Yoga movement in Melbourne and is run by the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). As per reports, temple walls were defaced with anti-India slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ and ‘Hindustan Murdabad.’ The miscreants had also hailed slain Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as a martyr.
On January 17, Khalistani supporters vandalised the historic Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs in Melbourne. During the vandalisation, the miscreants wrote anti-Hindu and anti-India slogans on the walls near the temple. ‘Target Modi’, ‘Modi Hitler’, and ‘Hindustan Murdabad’, read the slogans that were painted on the walls of the temples during vandalization.
On January 12 (local time), the Hindu community living in Melbourne woke up to a shock as the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir, located in the northern suburb of Mill Park, Melbourne, was vandalised by Khalistani attackers. The walls of the temple were defaced by spray painting anti-India and anti-Narendra Modi slogans.
