India Warns Canada over November 6 Khalistan Referendum

New Delhi: The government of India has served a demarche to the government of Canada this week asking it to stop the so-called Khalistan referendum coordinated by the banished organization in Ontario on November 6 as it challenges the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. The demarche was served to a senior official of the Canadian High Commission by a senior Ministry of External Affairs official and India’s strong concern will be likewise conveyed by the Indian Embassy in Ottawa to Global Affairs, Canada next week.

While the government of Canada on September 16 had gone on record to express that it respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India and does not recognize the so-called referendum, New Delhi flagged its strong concern that the exercise will be used to divide the Indian diaspora by allowing students to vote by the prohibited Sikh for Justice (SFJ) organization. The referendum is being held in a private conference center in a suburb of Ontario. This year on the 18th of September the first referendum was held in Brampton, Ontario.

Regardless of India taking up the issue of SFJ run by Sikh extremist G. S. Pannu with the government of Canada and national security agencies, the Canadian government has prepared a standard line that individuals in his country have a right to assemble and express their views so long as they do so peacefully and without breaking the law. However, no step has been taken by the Canadian government to rein in the anti-India forces in Canada due to vote bank politics with Pakistani diplomats adding fuel to fire. It is another matter that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly condemned the referendum organized by Russia in occupied eastern parts of Ukraine,

The Indian security agencies have made it known to their Canadian counterparts that they are behaving recklessly by not stopping Sikh extremists like Pannu from radicalizing the Sikh youth and community at large in the name of Khalistan. The fact is that Indian senior officials bluntly told their Canadian counterparts that the radicalized may end up forming Khalistan in Canada if the Trudeau government did not stop the extremists from brainwashing the youth and taking over Gurudwaras.

While the extremists have vandalized Indian temples like Swaminarayan Mandir in Brampton, Ontario, the Canadian police are still investigating the incident with strong action against the culprit not forthcoming. The reality is that the referendum is used by the radicals to get funding from US, UK, and Germany in the name of non-existent atrocities against the Sikh community in India.