NEW DELHI: The ever-growing popularity of the Khalistan movement the world over has frustrated the Narendra Modi-led Indian government.
The Modi regime is making every effort to contain this popular movement and using different tactics for this purpose.
Sikhs living across the world are continuing a movement for the creation of Khalistan by separating Punjab from India and declaring it a separate country for them. The members of this movement, spearheaded by the US based organization Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), have held the Khalistan Referendum in various cities of several countries including UK, Canada, Australia, Italy and Switzerland in different phases starting from since 31st October 2021.
Tens of thousands of Sikhs living in these countries have exercised their franchise so far in the support of the separate homeland for them. The result of the referendum will be declared by Punjab Referendum Commission after the final phase of voting and the findings of the exercise would be shared with the UN, international bodies and a wider consensus would be created about the creation of Khalistan.
The Khalistan Referendum has sent a strong message to the Indian establishment to end discrimination against the Sikhs and to give them their birth right of freedom.
Irritated by the move, Indian government had even tried hard to preclude the referendum. It had approached these countries to halt this referendum but they allowed the same, declaring it a democratic exercise. It even blamed that Pakistan was behind the referendum for Khalistan.
In the latest attempt, the Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, the other day said the Indian government has requested its partner countries like Canada, the US, the UK and Australia not to give space to the members of Khalistan movement. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Delhi on July 03, he said it has been conveyed that giving space to the Khalistanis may affect our relations.
The Indian External Affairs Minister’s remarks came after the posters emerged in Canada ahead of the pro-Khalistan protests which will be organised on Saturday (8th of this month). The posters named India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma, Consul General Vancouver Manish, and Consul General Toronto Apoorva Srivastava have been involved in the recent killing of Khalistan movement leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Surrey, Vancouver on June 18, this year. The Sikhs believe that Nijjar’s killing was a handiwork of the Indian intelligence agencies executed through the Indian High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma, Consul General Vancouver Manish, and Consul General Toronto Apoorva Srivastava.
Meanwhile, India has asked the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to take strong measures to prevent the protestors from gathering close to missions and consulates.
It has also served a demarche on Canada on the planned protests by pro-Khalistan organizations outside the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, and consulates in Toronto and Vancouver on Saturday.
In this regard, the Canadian High Commissioner to India, Cameron MacKay, was summoned on Monday to convey the Indian concerns, while the note verbal was sent to Global Affairs Canada, which manages Canada’s diplomatic relations, early morning on Tuesday.
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