HUNDREDS OF SIKH PROTESTERS MARCHED ON THE GOLDEN TEMPLE IN AMRITSAR, INDIA, FRIDAY, DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR THE KILLERS OF A SIKH SEPARATIST IN CANADA, according to reports from NEW DELHI.
There may be a connection between New Delhi and the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June in British Columbia, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said parliament earlier this month.
India has dismissed the charges as “absurd” and denied involvement in the murders. The claims have heightened tensions between the two countries, leading to the expulsion of diplomats from both countries and the suspension of Canadian visas by the Indian government in New Delhi.
Protesters outside the holiest of Sikh shrines waved posters of Nijjar and chanted slogans demanding that New Delhi discontinue illegal operations against separatists seeking independence for Punjab.
Nijjar, a plumber by trade, immigrated to Canada from the north Indian state of Punjab twenty-five years ago and eventually became a citizen of that country. He has advocated for the establishment of a sovereign Sikh nation. In July of 2020, he was labelled a “terrorist” by India.
Paramjit Singh Mand, a leader of Dal Khalsa, the organisation fighting for a separate Sikh state and organising the protest, said, “It is time and opportunity for New Delhi to talk with Sikh leadership.”
Punjab, a state with a population of 30 million, is home to the bulk of India’s 7 million Sikhs and is also the site of the birth of Sikhism 500 years ago.
According to Kanwar Pal, the group’s political affairs secretary, about 400 activists took part in the protest and later offered prayers in the temple for the release of political prisoners and the well-being of exiled separatists.
He thanked the Canadian government for revealing “the Indian design,” or the ways in which India operates abroad and interferes in Canadian issues.
Protesters burned an Indian flag and waved yellow banners with the name “Khalistan” on them outside Indian diplomatic posts in Canada on Monday, indicating their support for establishing Punjab as an independent state.
There was also a three-day demonstration in some regions of Punjab where farmer unions blocked trains and roads to press their demands for a higher procurement price for crops and compensation for farmers whose harvests were ruined by recent floods and rains.
