Radical elements silencing moderate Canada Sikhs | India News

A 40-second clip of one vocal protester, identified as Himmat Singh, was later posted on social media and played on loop on various platforms.
“Privileged to join the local Sangat, including from Afghanistan, at Guru Nanak Darbar of Long Island in celebrating Gurpurab – listened to kirtan, spoke about Guru Nanak’s everlasting message of togetherness, unity, and equality, partook langar, and sought blessings for all,” Sandhu tweeted after the visit.
In the clip, Himmat Singh is heard accusing the Indian government of orchestrating the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated by India as a terrorist, who was president of the Surrey gurdwara in Canada and the coordinator for the Canadian chapter of the Khalistan Referendum, a charge endorsed by the Justin Trudeau government in Canada, leading to a rift between New Delhi and Ottawa.
“I only wanted answers from ambassador Sandhu as to why India is using violence to stop the global Khalistan Referendum voting,” the organization, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), quoted Himmat Singh as saying.
In a communication to TOI in New Delhi, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, SFJ general counsel, said that Himmat Singh led the group of Khalistanis at the Hicksville gurdwara in New York while also accusing ambassador Sandhu in connection with what he claimed was India’s role in the killing of Nijjar.
Earlier, in a separate tweet following a visit to the Sri Guru Ravidass temple in New York, Sandhu quoted Guru Nanak’s “timeless message of equality and universal oneness in the well known Shabad of Guru Ravidass – ‘You are me, and I am You – there is no difference between us!'”
Such outreach evidently makes little impression on radical Khalistani elements agitating for a separate state on the basis of “referendums” held in various gurdwaras, where, according to Indian officials, moderate Sikhs are being silenced with strong-arm methods. Several mainstream and moderate Sikhs in Canada have been attacked, and sometimes killed, in incidents attributed to militants agitating for Khalistan.
Pannun, who alleges he was the target of an Indian assassination plot foiled by US intelligence, a claim implicitly endorsed by US intelligence sources in leaks to the media, said in a press release that the “American phase” of the “Khalistan referendum voting is going to start from January 28, 2024 in San Francisco, California”.
Such referendums have been held in Canada, UK, and Australia, with unsubstantiated claims of participation by more than 1,00,000 Sikhs. Indian officials say only a few hundred militant Sikhs, some of whom endorse violent means to achieve their goal, participated in the exercise. Militant Sikhs have also attacked Indian diplomatic missions in San Francisco and elsewhere, and displayed posters identifying Indian diplomats, which threatens the lives of diplomats and their families.
The issue has led to some disquiet on the diplomatic front, with New Delhi suggesting the permissive, kid-glove approach of Western nations is amplifying what is an outlier issue.There is a precedent for such fears. In 1984, an Indian diplomat named Ravindra Mhatre, posted at the Indian consulate general in Birmingham, was kidnapped and later killed by British Kashmiri militants who were associated with the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.
(With input from Rajshekhar Jha)