Global Courant
Hundreds are protesting in several cities following allegations that Indian agents were involved in the killing of the Sikh separatist leader.
Canadian Sikhs have staged protests outside India’s diplomatic missions, a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there may be a link between New Delhi and the killing of a Sikh separatist advocate in British Columbia.
Trudeau stood in Parliament a week ago to say domestic intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations linking New Delhi’s officers to the shooting of Canadian national Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, in June.
About a hundred protesters burned an Indian flag and hit a cardboard cutout of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a shoe in Toronto on Monday. About 200 protesters also gathered outside the Vancouver consulate.
“We are not safe at home in Punjab. We are not safe in Canada,” said Joe Hotha, a member of Toronto’s Sikh community.
“The Indians, they are terrorists. They killed our brother in Vancouver, so that’s why we’re protesting here,” said another Sikh protester, Harpar Gosal, outside the Indian consulate in Toronto.
In Ottawa, fewer than 100 people gathered outside the Indian high commissioner’s office waving yellow flags spelling out the world “Khalistan,” a reference to their support for creating an independent state for Sikhs in India’s Punjab region, a cause for which Nijjar campaigned. .
“We are very grateful to Justin Trudeau. … We want no stone left unturned to get to the bottom of this cowardly act,” said protester Reshma Singh Bolinas in Ottawa. Canada must put pressure on India to “stop the killing of innocent people in the future,” she said.
Protesters protest outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver, Canada (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)
Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs, the largest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab, and many demonstrations there in recent years have irked India.
Labeling Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd”, India warned travelers last week that there was increasing “anti-India activity” in Canada and urged “extreme caution”.
The allegations have put Canada’s Sikh community in the spotlight. Sikhs make up 2 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people but are a majority in Punjab, a state of 30 million where their religion was born 500 years ago.
“The Indian government used dirty tactics and endangered Canada’s sovereignty,” said Kuljeet Sing, a protester in Toronto and member of the group Sikhs for Justice.
Canada’s accusations have prompted retaliation, with each country expelling diplomats and New Delhi suspending visas for Canadians.
Some protesters in both Toronto and Ottawa called for the deportation of India’s high commissioner, its ambassador, to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, who earlier said authorities were aware of the protests and were providing security.
Nijjar, who worked as a plumber, left the northern Indian state of Punjab a quarter of a century ago and became a Canadian citizen. India labeled him a ‘terrorist’ in 2020.
The Canadian government says it has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Sikh separatist leader, CBC News reported last week, citing unidentified sources.
The United States was working closely with Canada on intelligence pointing to the possible involvement of Indian agents in the killing of the Canadian citizen in June, a senior Canadian government source told Reuters.
