On Tuesday, July 4, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly took cognizance of the Khalistanis threatening Indian diplomats in posters circulated in Canada and said that it is unacceptable. She said that the country takes its obligations under the Vienna Conventions regarding safety of diplomats very seriously.
“Canada remains in close contact with Indian officials in light of some of the promotional material circulating online regarding a protest planned for July 8, which are unacceptable. We know that the actions of a few do not speak for the entire community or Canada,” Joly added in a statement on July 4.
My comment regarding some of the promotional material circulating for a planned protest on July 8. pic.twitter.com/yYoWDCvAdi
— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) July 4, 2023
As per the recent update, Canadian High Commissioner to India was also summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Canadian High Commissioner to India was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) over Khalistani posters in Canada which showed the names of Indian diplomats.
— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2023
This comes a day after the External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar said that India would take the issue with the Trudeau government, and also talk to other partner countries where such issues keep emerging. “This will affect our relations. We will raise this poster issue with the government of these countries,” he said.
The posters that reportedly emerged across Canada warned that a Khalistan freedom rally, held in the name of slain Khalistani terrorist Harjit Singh Nijjar will be organized on July 8. The poster read that the rally would be carried out from the Great Punjab Business Centre in Maltan to the Indian Embassy in Toronto. The threat poster also carried pictures of India’s high commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma and the consulate general in Toronto Apoorva Srivastava, with the caption that read, “Faces of Shaheed Nijjar’s killers in Toronto.”
The poster further audaciously mentioned the phone numbers of the organizers of the protest rally along with photos of their Indian diplomat targets.
While the poster for a protest rally in Toronto on July 8 named Indian High Commissioner Saurav Kumar Sharma and Counsellor Apurva Srivastava with photos and posters of a simultaneous rally in Vancouver named the High Commissioner and Counsel General of Vancouver Manish.
The poster read that the Vancouver protest rally will start from Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara, which had been taken over by Najjar and his cronies, and culminate at the Indian Consulate in Vancouver.
As reported earlier, the Khalistanis blame India to be behind the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was shot dead in Surrey, Canada on June 18. He was shot dead by two unidentified assailants within the Gurdwara premises. 46-year-old Nijjar hailed from the village Bhar Singhpura of Jalandhar.
His name was added to the list of designated terrorists recently by the Indian Government. In 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) declared a Rs 10 lakh reward on Nijjar after his name appeared in a conspiracy to kill a Hindu priest in Jalandhar, Punjab.
