Strong pro-Khalistan slogans were raised as Canadian Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau stepped forward to address the Sikh Community Khalsa day event in Toronto.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed the government’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the Sikh community at any cost.
Thousands of people thronged downtown Toronto for the annual Khalsa Day festivities, a significant event commemorating the founding of the Sikh community in 1699 and the Sikh New Year. The event was organized by the Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwaras Council (OSGC).
“One of Canada’s greatest strengths is its diversity. We are strong not in spite of our differences, but because of our differences; but even as we look at these differences, we have to remember, and get reminded on days such as this, and every day, that Sikh values are Canadian values…” Trudeau reaffirmed during the Khalsa Day Celebrations.
Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Ottawa publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver in June.
Nijjar advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India.
Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation but New Delhi has rejected the allegations and taken countermeasures, such as shutting down visa services for Canadians.
Related: Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in New York that his country would be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada.
“We have actually been badgering the Canadians. We’ve given them loads of information about organized crime leadership which operates out of Canada,” Jaishankar said, referring to Sikh separatists.
Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, or about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal group calling for creating a separate state of Khalistan.
Also read: How India’s plots to kill Sikh leaders in US and Canada unfolded
Hundreds of Sikh protesters rallied outside Indian diplomatic missions in Canada last month, burning flags and trampling on pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are not safe back home in Punjab, we are not safe in Canada,” said Joe Hotha, a member of the Sikh community in Toronto.
The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the 1980s.
