India has complained to Ottawa about Canadian Sikh extremists celebrating assassins of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, a consular official said.
VANCOUVER: India has complained to Ottawa about Canadian Sikh extremists celebrating assassins of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, a consular official said.
“We object to this open, blatant, glorification of violence and secessionism,” Ashok Kumar, consul general of India to this western Canadian metropolis, told AFP on Thursday. India’s diplomatic complaints came for the second year in a row, after Sikh separatist images, banners and booths were part of festivities here this month for the Sikh New Year, Vaisakhi, by immigrants with roots in India’s Punjab region.
The celebrations were largely peaceful and drew crowds topping 100,000.
But they included controversial groups including the International Sikh Youth Federation, the Khalistan Commando Force, the Khalistan Liberation Force, Bhindranwale’s Tiger Force and the Babbar Khalsa. Most of the groups advocate a separate Sikh homeland, to be called Khalistan.
Kumar told AFP the Indian government complained to Canadian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Helena Guergis earlier this month while the minister was in New Delhi. Kumar said separatist Sikh violence is no longer a problem in India, where the current prime minister is now a Sikh.
“Canada and India are partners in fighting global terrorism,” he added. “We’ve asked Canadian authorities that this display should be stopped.
He said India has no position on how Canada should stop activities by Sikh separatists. “That is for the Canadian authorities to see. But as we see it, it impinges on our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Sikh separatism in Canada was also a controversy last year, when several Canadian politicians participated in Vaisakhi events that included Sikh extremists.
At this year’s events, politicians were scarce. A Canadian government official said that none of its MPs attended main events, but were encouraged to “meet with the tens of thousands of Canadians of Sikh faith, and of other faiths/origins, who celebrate Vaisakhi in a peaceful manner.”
British Columbia remains one of the world’s last hotbeds of Sikh separatism decades after India was wracked by violence during a 1980’s bloody crackdown on Sikh separatists, during which Ghandi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
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