On Monday, July 3, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India will take up the issue of Khalistanis threatening Indian diplomats in posters circulated in Canada with the Trudeau government, and also talk to other partner countries where such issues keep emerging.
Speaking to the media, he added that India has urged its partner countries like Canada, the United States, the UK, and Australia not to give space to the Khalistanis. “This will affect our relations. We will raise this poster issue with the government of these countries,” he said. The statement came after Khalistani posters carrying threats to Indian diplomats were circulated in Canada.
#WATCH | On names of Indian diplomats in Khalistani posters in Canada, EAM Dr S Jaishankar, says "We have requested our partner countries like Canada, the United States, the UK and Australia not to give space to the Khalistanis. This will affect our relations. We will raise this… pic.twitter.com/U4IQBzZ35X
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2023
The Indian High Commission reportedly sent a demarche to the Justin Trudeau administration on Monday due to the long weekend holiday in Canada and requested the Federal Government to take action against Khalistan extremists for targeting and threatening Indian diplomats.
The posters that reportedly emerged across Canada warned that a Khalistan freedom rally, held in the name of slain dreaded Khalistani terrorist Harjit Singh Nijjar will be organised 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: Faces of Shaheed Nijjar’s killers in Toronto.
The poster 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.
Meanwhile, a report by Hindustan Times said that the banned Khalistani terrorist group SJF has taken to social media to announce “kill India” rallies in eight countries on the same day.
Notably, the Khalistanis have blamed India to be behind the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was shot dead in Surrey, Canada last month. SFJ’s legal counsel Gurpatwant Pannun described it as an “assassination.”
Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
On June 18 (local time), Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in Surrey, Canada. He was a wanted terrorist by the Indian Government. Nijjar was the head of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib. 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.
Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) was behind the conspiracy to kill the Hindu priest. Nijaar was the chief of the Khalistani terrorist organization KTF. Apart from his activities in KTF, Nijjar was also linked to the Khalistani terrorist organization Sikhs For Justice. He reportedly went to Australia for a ‘Referendum’ voting recently. NIA also booked him in a conspiracy to commit terrorist activities against India.
In its investigation against Nijjar, NIA found that he had made incriminating remarks, published objectionable content and shared media, including photos and videos on social media, with an aim to create tension in India.
In 2018, a list of wanted criminals was handed over by then-Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, to Canada PM Justin Trudeau. Nijjar’s name was included in the list.
Hate crimes against Indians in Canada
Recently, hate crime against Indians has increased in Canada. On June 4 in a 5-km Sikh march in the Canadian city of Brampton, the pro-Khalistani elements featured a tableau glorifying the assassination of late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The tableau was a part of the annual Sikh Martyrdom Parade which saw the participation of a large number of people in the city where the largest number of Sikhs live in Canada.
In March 2023, a statue of MK Gandhi in Canada was vandalised and defaced with graffiti that expresses support for Khalistan and opposition to India.
On September 14, last year, in Toronto, several Khalistani terrorists spray-painted anti-Indian messages on the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple. The Hindu temple’s walls were painted with the slogans “Khalistan Zindabad, Hindustan Murdabad.” The Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa had condemned the attack and demanded action to be taken, however, no strong action has been taken against the culprits till now.
Although the Trudeau government maintained that it does not recognise the SFJ-backed so-called Khalistan Referendum, Canada’s National Democratic Party (NDP) has openly declared its support for the Khalistan Referendum in Canada, citing it as a basic human right granted to the Canadian Sikhs by local and international laws.
