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| A banner in memory of Hardeep Singh, a pro-Khalistan Indian Sikh leader has been hung in British Columbia, Canada | Photo: Reuters |
Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. There was a gatka competition going on at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara Temple. It is a form of martial art. The contestants were jumping on their opponents with swords and sticks in great anger. The crowd of enthusiastic people around.
Surrey is home to many Sikhs. Gurkirat Singh was present at the temple on the day of the gatka competition. He said, 'We are a rebellious community. From a young age, we teach children how to carry weapons and defend themselves.'
In June, separatist Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Surrey. Since then, there has been a growing trend among the city's Sikh community to learn self-defense techniques. According to British Columbia Gurudwara Council spokesperson Manindra Singh (42), the situation has completely changed.
Maninder Singh said, 'Now it's not like you have to fight to survive another day. Because of the way they (India) are doing, you don't know whether you will live or not. So Hardeep's murder was not surprising.
Hardeep Singh was in favor of the formation of an independent state called Khalistan for the Sikhs in the Indian state of Punjab. Many Sikhs have been agitating for four decades. Because of this, India has labeled Hardeep and many others who are staying abroad as terrorists.
Hardeep Singh migrated from Punjab to Canada in 1997. He was the President of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara. Many in the Sikh community believe that India is behind his murder. In the meantime, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed to have credible evidence of New Delhi's involvement in the September killings.
After Trudeau's claim, diplomatic relations between India and Canada became strained. Both countries took steps to expel diplomats. The commercial talks between the two countries stopped. India even temporarily stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens.
Meanwhile, in November last year, the United States alleged that a person linked to India's intelligence forces had planned to kill Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was stationed in New York City. Suspicions have since grown—New Delhi has hired assassins to kill Sikh leaders abroad. But India has always denied it.
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| Sikh protests demanding Khalistan state | Photo: Reuters |
Meanwhile, six months after Hardeep Singh's murder, many Sikh leaders in Surrey recently said that many of them have been threatened on social media. Canadian government officials have warned many about this. Yet many in the Sikh community say that no matter what, they cannot be silenced.
'That earlier strategy'
770 thousand Sikhs live in Canada. No other country outside India has so many members of the community. The families of many of these Sikhs migrated to Canada from India in the 1980s. At that time, the Indian government was cracking down on supporters of the Khalistan movement in Punjab. There were even allegations of extrajudicial killing of many Sikh agitators.
In 1984, the Indian Army carried out a tank raid on the Sikh shrine Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. Their target was the armed separatists stationed in the temple. Many people were killed in that campaign. Pilgrims were among them. Four months later, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards. After that, Sikhs were massacred in various parts of India, including the capital, New Delhi. Thousands of Sikhs were killed.
Today, many people think that the Indian government is attacking the Sikhs again like in the eighties. Served in India. And this time in Canada. Maninder Singh said, "They (Indian government) have become desperate to keep our mouths shut. They can even kill us for this. This same strategy was employed in Punjab.
Manindra feels that the Khalistan movement of the Sikhs gained the most momentum in the eighties and nineties. After that, it slowed down a lot. He said, 'In the last decade, our strength has increased again. We were once vocal in the movement. There are many different ways to be vocal now, especially in the age of social media. We can now reach people faster. The Indian government is going through a tough time with us now.'
‘They can kill us’
Sikh rights activist Avtar Singh Khanda died suddenly in Birmingham, UK, around the same time that Hardeep Singh was killed. Many questions arose among relatives about his death. A few months ago, Avtar Singh said that he was harassed by the Indian police over the phone. Even his family in Punjab was threatened.
Members of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara in Surrey believe that the Indian government was behind Avatar Singh's death. Gurpreet Kaur Rai, president of the British Columbia province of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, said, "Although the UK government did not say that India was behind the death. But we know that India is involved in this.
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| Golden Temple in Amritsar | Photo: Reuters |
At least three Sikhs living in Surrey said their lives were being threatened by Canadian police and security forces. Gurmeet Singh Toor, a member of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara, received such a warning. He said, "I told the Canadian police, that if they do not catch the threats, then we may be victims of murder."
Meanwhile, apart from the death threats, the Sikh community in Canada is facing another threat related to India. Various criminal groups are threatening Sikh traders in Surrey and the nearby town of Abbotsford. The subscription is being demanded from them. It is said that these groups are associated with Indian 'gangster' Lawrence Vishnu. Earlier, the criminal gang led by Vishnu claimed to be involved in the killing of pro-Khalistan in Canada.
Apart from these threats, pro-Khalistan Jasbir Singh believes that many people are jealous of the Sikhs staying in Canada. He said, 'You will understand it yourself. We have had a lot of success. There are 18 Sikh members in the Canadian Parliament. Sikhs have many businesses. The criminal gangs think that the Sikh community in Canada is anti-India. We are not worthy of what we have.
Jasbir Singh can understand the current situation of the Sikhs in Canada, and how his predecessors were once in Punjab. He was born in 1986, two years after the Golden Temple raid. Jasbir remembers a film made on the conflict of the eighties. While watching the film as a very young child, his mother started crying while sitting on the sidelines. That one piece of childhood memory reminds Jasbir, how scared the people of Punjab used to be at that time.
Jasbir Singh said, 'It is one thing to hear the events of that time and another thing to be hated by the Indian government and the anti-independence nationalists of Punjab. We are the victims of that hatred now. Our generation is going through an unprecedented time.