'Khalistan Referendum' at Canada school cancelled amid concerns over AK-47 gun poster

Organisers of the so-called ‘Khalistan Referendum’ received a jolt on Sunday as Canadian authorities withdrew permission to hold voting at a public school. The referendum was scheduled for September 10 at the Tamanawis Secondary School in the town of Surrey in British Columbia. However, a spokesperson for the Surrey District School Board said, in a release, that it had “cancelled a community rental of one of our schools due to a violation of our rental agreement".

The ostensible reason for withdrawing permission was that promotional materials for the event featured images of the school, alongside images of a weapon. The poster for the referendum actually featured both an AK-47 machine gun as well as a kirpan.

“Despite repeated attempts to address the issue, the event organizers failed to remove these concerning images, and materials continued to be posted throughout Surrey and on social media,” the release noted.

It said the decision had been communicated to the event organisers. “As a school district, our primary mission is to provide quality education and support to our students and ensure a safe environment for our school communities. Our agreements, policies and guidelines, including those for rentals, support our district in creating a safe environment for our community. Anyone renting our facilities must adhere to this,” the statement added.

Maninder Gill, president of the Surrey-based Friends of Canada and India Foundation, “welcomed the decision” on behalf of his organisation.

Earlier in the past week, concerned Indo-Canadians, upset over the referendum and a government school being used for the purpose, complained to the school board that there were posters of Talwinder Singh Parmar pasted all around the school premises. Parmar is considered the mastermind of the terrorist bombing of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, which claimed 329 lives on June 23, 1985.

The letter from Concerned Residents of Surrey also pointed out the image of the AK-47. “The School Board, City of Surrey and Provincial Government of BC is answerable to the parents for this day light promotion of gun violence,” it said.

The issues raised in the letter were out to Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke during an interview with the outlet Surrey Talk Radio on Saturday. Host Ivan Scott said she “clarified that the city does not and has never endorsed the Khalistani Movement or referendum activities planned for Tamanawis Secondary School or any other Surrey-controlled premises. Surrey City Council has no legal say in how Surrey School District uses school premises. She also strongly condemned the posters depicting an AK-47 automatic weapon as absolutely unacceptable".

In a formal communication to Global Affairs Canada, the country's foreign ministry, India had already reiterated its displeasure over Canadian territory being used for the separatist referendum.

While another date for the referendum has not been announced, Sikhs for Justice or SFJ general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun called for a pro-Khalistan elements to “lock down” India’s Consulate in Vancouver on September 8.

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