Pro-Khalistan convoy rattles Surrey residents

Even as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wished the Hindu community in Canada on Navratri, a convoy of vehicles driven by pro-Khalistan elements, featuring posters of separatist leaders and blaring divisive slogans, passed by the largest temple in the town of Surrey in British Columbia on Sunday evening.

Satish Kumar, president of the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey, described the occurrence as “intimidatory”, particularly on a day when devotees thronged to the temple.

The procession also featured Khalistani flags and promoted the ‘Kill India’ car rally on October 21, which will end at India’s Consulate in Vancouver. It will start from the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, which was led by Khalistani figure Hardeep Nijjar, till his murder on June 18.

It also promoted the next phase of the so-called Khalistan referendum, slated for October 29, also in Surrey. It featured posters of Nijjar and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the separatist leader who was killed in the operation to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.

The Surrey temple has come in the crosshairs of the Khalistani elements twice in recent times, with posters targeting India’s seniormost diplomats pasters to its gate and walls. One person, as yet unidentified, was arrested by the Surrey detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP in August.

Trudeau, meanwhile, wished the community as Navratri commenced but Indo-Canadians were paying special attention to another statement issued by the PM after the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7. As disturbing visuals of celebratory events in Canada, including in the Greater Toronto Area towns of Mississauga went viral, Trudeau tweeted, “The glorification of violence is never acceptable in Canada – by any group or in any situation. I strongly condemn the demonstrations that have taken place, and are taking place, across the country in support of Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Let’s stand united against acts of terror.”

However, he has yet to condemn the display of the assassination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on a tableau that was part of a shaheedi diwas or martyrdom day event in Brampton, a town in the GTA on June 4, marking the 39th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, when Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple. She was assassinated by two members of her security detail on October 31 that year.

Similarly, there has bene little criticism of the hoardings and posters of Talwinder Singh Parmar, at some extremist gurdwaras in Canada. Parmar is considered the mastermind of the terrorist bombing of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka. On June 23, 1985, it claimed 329 lives and it remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canada’s history. In fact, pro-Khalistan elements took out a procession in honour of Parmar to the Air India memorial in Toronto in June this year.

Dr Azad Kaushik, president of the National Alliance of Indo-Canadians or NAIC, said, “Such double speak is reprehensible.”

“Silence of our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is baffling at best, as he never condemned the deplorable incident,” referring to the threat by the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice or SFJ to Hindu Canadians of Indian origin to leave the country. SFJ had argued Hindus had celebrated Nijjar’s death. That killing, of course, has cratered relations between Canada and India after Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link of Indian agents to it.

Nijjar was SFJ’s principal in British Columbia and the group has said it feels “emboldened” by Trudeau’s statement and considers remarks made by political leaders in the House on September 18 as validation of the Khalistan referendum.

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