The Indian Panorama

Tag: KHALISTANI MOVEMENT

  • CANADIAN PM’S PRESENCE AT EVENT WITH KHALISTANI FLAGS UPSETS INDIA

    CANADIAN PM’S PRESENCE AT EVENT WITH KHALISTANI FLAGS UPSETS INDIA

    NEW DELHI/ TORONTO (TIP): While vitriolic attacks on Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh at the annual nagar kirtan in Vancouver riled the Indian government, there is consternation over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s presence at a Toronto event that featured Khalistani flags and posters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

    The Toronto nagar kirtan on Sunday also celebrated the carrying of a motion in the Ontario assembly last month that described the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as “genocide”.

    A senior Indian official described Trudeau’s presence at the Khalsa Day event as “surely a matter of concern”.

    Trudeau was the first Canadian prime minister to attend the event since Paul Martin in 2005. Trudeau’s predecessor Stephen Harper had stayed away in previous years.

    Bhindranwale, an extremist leader who was at the forefront of the Khalistan movement in the 1980s, was killed when the Indian Army carried out Operation Blue Star in June 1984 to remove extremists who were holed up in the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

    Though defence minister Arun Jaitley had expressed India’s concerns about the Ontario assembly motion to his Canadian counterpart Harjit Sajjan last month, the organisers of the nagar kirtan in Toronto honoured Harinder Malhi, Liberal member of the provincial parliament or MPP (equivalent to an MLA), who moved the motion, during the event.

    The organisers, Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council, also felicitated New Democratic Party MPP Jagmeet Singh, who had moved a similar motion in 2016 that was defeated.

    These developments have boosted the morale of pro-Khalistan groups in Canada. For instance, Sukhminder Singh Hansra, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (A) Canada, said in response to an emailed query: “I am glad that the organisers who represent a larger segment of the Sikh community have reminded the world of the peaceful struggle for Khalistan.”

    Hansra further said: “In Toronto, all floats are prepared by the organisers, at least two floats were dedicated to the events of 1984, including flags and banners of Khalistan. I along with many others walked with these floats with Khalistani flags.”

    He described the honouring of the two lawmakers as “the highlight of the nagar kirtan” in Toronto.

    The Toronto celebration came in the wake of the event in Vancouver on April 22 where the Amarinder Singh was attacked in a speech.

    While the Indian government has notified Ottawa of its concern, Canada has consistently maintained that such a protest, as long as it remains peaceful, is part of freedom of expression.

    Source: HT

  • Pro-Khalistan groups to be reined in: UK

    Pro-Khalistan groups to be reined in: UK

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Britain on May 4 assured India that it would make efforts to rein in pro-Khalistan elements operating on its soil and also agreed to share information relating to them with Indian agencies.

    Sharing details of the deliberations at the first “Home Affairs Dialogue” meeting here, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and UK’s Second Permanent Secretary, Home Office, Patsy Wilkinson, Adviser in the Ministry of Home Affairs Ashok Prasad said: “We discussed the issue of Khalistani militants based in the UK and they have promised to look into it.”

    Though Prasad refused to divulge details, which the Indian side shared with its UK counterparts, sources in the ministry indicated based on “our intelligence input”, the British officials were informed about how “some Sikh groups living in that country are trying to revive the Khalistan movement by providing terror training to the youth and funding hate propaganda against India”. Meanwhile, the major portion of the day-long deliberations revolved around the twin issue of “extradition and deportation” of respective citizens residing in each other’s territories. “On the issue of deportation, both sides agreed to work on identification framework, which both sides will sign in July as a memorandum of understanding (MoU), including on cybercrime and counter-terrorism,” a senior MHA official said.

    Mehrishi and Wilkinson agreed to expedite the processes of extraditing fugitives of the two countries, residing in each other’s territories, but Prasad said no specific name was discussed during the meeting.

    Sources, however, confirmed India “alluded” to a dozen Indian fugitives, including businessman Vijay Mallya, wanted in a Rs 9,000-crore bank default case involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

    Source: The Tribune