Khalistan Activists in Canada: Surveillance, interference, and assassinations
Khalistan Activists in Canada: Surveillance, interference, and assassinations
The role of the Indian government has become clear in the assassination of Bhai Paramjit Singh Panjwar in Pakistan, Bhai Hardeep Singh in Surrey B.C, and the attempted assassination of Gurpatwant Singh in the U.S. The hand of India is also apparent in the death of Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda in the U.K. The Panth Sewak Jatha have commented on how these assassinations are a continuation of the Indian state’s extrajudicial killings of Sikhs. Following the role of India coming to light India’s western allies have continually sought to create breathing room for India, and the normalisation of relations is on the horizon.
In these circumstances, in past few days, another assassination attempt was made on a Sikh activist in Canada. Below we have summarised noteworthy commentary made by Bhai Moninder Singh during a press conference held at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Surrey. Bhai Moninder Singh is the founder of the Khalistan Centre, and has spoken extensively on the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh, and the dynamics of ‘extremism’ and ‘citizenship’. It is also important to note that Bhai Moninder Singh is himself a target of India’s assassination programme.
“We want to be very sure when we say this that in our minds there is absolutely no doubt that the Indian government and the Indian state definitely has a hand in what is transpired. They have done it before, and…they will do it again. That is why we're gathered, to of make sure that we get that out. The ongoing issues faced by Sikh activists in the Lower Mainland continue since Bhai Hardeep Singh's assassination. I wanted to give you the opportunity to say here that Simranjeet Singh had approached the police several times in the past couple of months around being followed from protests, from the Gurdwara Sahib, from other activities that he was engaging in within the Sikh community.
He also has provided information to the police around cars parked in front of his home, surveilling his home. So that information exchange has been happening, and that is actually also the case with several other Sikh activists in the Lower Mainland that have also come forward with similar information that they provided to police; that there's cars that are following them, stopping in front of their homes, taking pictures, recording their homes, so they feel like they're being surveilled and all indication is that this is actors or agents of the Indian government that have come forward with Bhai Hardeep Singh's assassination, and that are still trying to strike fear into the Sikh community, and especially [among] those activists that are pursuing Sikh sovereignty through Khalistan.
We would like to point out that we've had several demands with the Canadian government that we would like to renew today as well. Since Bhai Hardeep Singh’s murder and assassination one of the primary demands was for a public inquiry into India's foreign interference within Canada, not only within the electoral system, which they have been now included in—in the past two Canadian federal elections, but also beyond that, as to their undermining of Sikh institutions and Sikh organizations; any impact they've had on academia or cultural settings as well any influence they've had over media, be it within the Punjabi or the Indian community, or within the mainstream media and the influence that they run.
[Indian] political interference within elections is a given, but beyond that, using middlemen to funnel money into those election systems to promote candidates that may be favourable to India—and that goes as far as the recent news coming out around the Conservative Party of Canada and Arpan Khanna, an MP that is from Ontario, that was potentially involved in this as well.
We are very concerned around the ongoing interference that's been happening within the Canadian system, but also within the Sikh organization and Sikh spaces as well. I would like to point one other thing out before I pause and move over to Punjabi, we have serious concerns around character assassinations and linking any violence that is politically motivated by India against Sikh activists in Canada and linking it to ongoing gang violence that may be occurring in the Lower Mainland. India has called allegations from Canada absurd when Prime Minister Trudeau made his statement that India is behind Bhai Hardeep Singh's murder and assassination.
They had to wear that on their face when the U.S. indictment came out in November when it was very clearly proven that Nikhil Gupta, along with his handlers in Delhi, were the ones that were actually orchestrating a hit list across the United States and Canada on which were Bhai Hardeep Singh, were Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, and were also several other Sikh activists - that we still don't know who they are - and we're pursuing that as well. with the Canadian authorities.
We want to make sure that this is not seen as some low level criminal activity, something that's affiliated with gang violence, that this is political, this is against the Sikh community, it's targeted, and everything is pointing back to India and the way they've been operating, that we know, for the last six to eight months within Canada, but what the Sikh community knows for the last 40 years.”
