India enraged as Canada snubs ‘Khalistan Referendum’ objections
LONDON: Expressing serious “concern” over “anti-Indian state activities”, the Narendra Modi government has protested to Canada for allowing the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) to hold the Khalistan referendum on September 18 in Brampton, Canada. Is. which attracted tens of thousands of local Sikhs.
Previous Week Geo.tv had exclusively reported that India-Canada relations were on edge after the latter made it clear to the former that Canadian Sikhs would not be deterred from any peaceful and legitimate political activities.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs called the SFJ-led Khalistan referendum a “ridiculous exercise” and added that it raised concerns about Canada’s use of its territory by politically motivated “extremist elements”. What have you been aware of?
India took strong exception to Canada allowing “politically motivated exercises by extremist elements” on its soil, India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arndam Bagchi said.
“We will call it a farcical exercise. A farcical exercise was conducted by extremists and fundamentalist elements supporting the so-called Khalistan referendum in Canada,” Bagchi said.
He said the matter has been taken up with the Canadian authorities through diplomatic channels and the Canadian government has reiterated that it respects India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will not recognize the so-called referendum.
However, we find it highly questionable that politically motivated exercises by extremist elements are allowed in a friendly country. You are all aware of the history of violence in this regard,” he added.
Bagchi said that the Government of India will continue to pressurize the Government of Canada on this issue.
India has condemned the Khalistan referendum held on September 19 in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The ballot exercise was organized by pro-Khalistan group SFJ.
The Indian government had hoped that many people would not turn up to vote, but video evidence from the Gore Community Center showed queues of men and women to vote.
In response to Indian diplomatic contacts to block the Khalistan referendum, the Canadian government stated that “in Canada, individuals have the right to assemble and express their views as long as they do so peacefully and lawfully”.
The Hindustan Times reported that the Narendra Modi government “is keeping a close eye on Sikh fundamentalism, attacks, and vandalism of Hindu symbols in the UK and Canada and is mulling various options to send a bitter message to the two members of the commonwealth community.” Reviewing.”
It also looks at how British security agencies are turning a blind eye to fund-raising activities by pro-Khalistan Sikhs “to promote the separatist movement,” the newspaper added. “The Modi government has decided not to take any lies and will respond. In line with these anti-India developments in both countries.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under attack from the Indian media for condemning Russia’s planned “referendum” in Ukrainian territories but allowing the so-called Khalistan referendum.
When the voting took place on September 18, it completely disproved the commonly held notion that the Khalistan sentiment had been confined to a single line.
In scenes never seen before, more than 100,000 people lined up to vote in favor of the Khalistan referendum and managed to do so, while nearly 50,000 were unable to cast their votes due to the closure of the balloting.
At the time of the closure, queues stretched to the nearest highway and several thousand people turned back.
The SFJ’s Council General, Grouptunat Singh Pinan, has previously said that the SFJ and other pro-Khalistan organizations are far from violence. “We are for the belt, not the bullet. India hates our approach to peace,” Pinan commented.
SFJ said in a statement that to accommodate those who were unable to cast their votes, they are preparing to hold another referendum for which a date will be announced soon.