India demarches Canada over 6 November Khalistan referendum

The Narendra Modi government has served a demarche to the Justin Trudeau government this week asking it to stop the so-called Khalistan referendum organised by a proscribed organisation in Ontario on 6 November as it challenges the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. 

The demarche was served to a senior official of the Canadian High Commission by a senior Ministry of External Affairs official and India's strong concern will be also conveyed by the Indian Embassy in Ottawa to Global Affairs, Canada next week.

While the Canadian government on September 16 had gone on record to state that it respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India and does not recognize the so-called referendum, New Delhi flagged its strong concern that the exercise will be used to divide the Indian diaspora by allowing students to vote by the proscribed Sikh for Justice (SFJ) organization. The so-called referendum is being held in a private convention centre in a suburb of Ontario. The first referendum was held in Brampton, Ontario on September 18, 2022.

Despite India taking up the issue of SFJ run by Sikh extremist GS Pannu with the Canadian government and national security agencies, the Trudeau government has coughed up a standard line that individuals in his country have a right to assemble and express their views so long as they do so peacefully and without breaking the law. However, no step has been taken by the Trudeau government to rein in the anti-India forces in Canada due to vote bank politics with Pakistani diplomats adding fuel to fire. It is another matter that the Canadian Prime Minister strongly tweeted against the so-called referendum organised by Russia in occupied eastern parts of Ukraine.

The Indian security agencies have made it known to their Canadian counterparts that they are playing with fire by not stopping the Sikh extremists like Pannu from radicalising the Sikh youth and community at large in the name of Khalistan. Fact is that Indian senior officials bluntly told their Canadian counterparts that the radicalised may end up forming Khalistan in Canada if the Trudeau government did not stop the extremists from brainwashing the youth and taking over Gurudwaras.

While the extremists have vandalised Indian temples like Swaminarayan Mandir in Brampton, Ontario, the Canadian police are still investigating the incident with strong action against the culprit not forthcoming. Fact is that the so-called referendums are used by the radicals to get funding from US, UK and Germany in the name of non-existent atrocities against the Sikh community in India.