Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mrs. Melanie Joly confirmed the involvement of Indian Intelligence Agency RAW behind the killing of three pro-Punjabis in Canada including Hardeep Singh Nijjar. She was attending the gathering on second day of G7 Meeting in Italy.
Last year, Indian agencies proxied in Canada leading to a series of incidents killing a few pro-Khalistan memebers. Canada accused India for the violation of their territorial integrity. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned India’s act of terrorism leading to a similar response from Delhi government.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the 45-years-old Sikh separatist leader, was running his non-violent democratic movement for Sikh community from Canada. His approach to the United Nations citing Human Rights violations from Indian government in Punjab sparked outrages in India. He was called Terrorist by Indian RSS leaders on several occasions. The 2023 Farmer Protests further increased Khalistan Movement’s popularity within Canada in UK where a large community of Sikhs have taken asylum. Reported by BBC
Canadian Prime Minister told the parliament that he had raised the issue of Mr Nijjar’s killing with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent G20 summit in Delhi. he further added “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
While India reacted to the Canadian Prime Minister by calling his words “motivated”. They accused Canada of providing shelter to those supporting Sikh’s struggle for independence. While a wave of protests were seen in Canada in support of Khalistan.
What is Khalistan Movement?
Khalistan is a proposed name for the separate independent country for Sikhs which is now Punjab (a state in India). The history goes one and a century back when Britain colonized Mughal-led Hindustan and small territories protected by that Islamic Kingdom. One of these territory was the Sikh Empire that consisted today’s Indian Punjab, Pakistani Punjab, Kashmir, Haryana, Delhi, and nearby cities. Britain ruled this land for a century and was split into Pakistan and India. Since then, Indian Punjabis are struggling to either earn a recognition in India or a separate land for their nation.
A countrywide wave of violence occurred back in 1984 resulting 17000 deaths of Punjabis. Since then, the numbers have increased, setting a new high record. India has involved their AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Power Act), RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), and Military forces to suppress the voices raised in Punjab. Hundreds of thousands Sikhs migrated to UK, Canada, and Australia forming one of the largest overseas population in the world.
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