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Ontario: The Indian flag was desecrated, and ‘Kill’ Chants were raised at an unofficial ‘Khalistan Referendum’ in Ottawa on Sunday. The event was organised by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a group which is banned in India. The participants disrespected the Indian national flag and raised violent anti-India slogans.
Videos of the event, which have gone viral, show supporters chanting slogans like “kill” to target Indian leaders as police liaison officers looked on. The supporters, who were carrying yellow Khalistani flags, assembled near McNabb Community Centre, where voting also took place.
As per SFJ, over 53,000 Sikhs from Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec participated in the event. They formed long queues stretching close to two kilometres. The group further claimed that people from all age group continued to remain in line the entire day.
The footage captured by a news agency showed a huge crowd gathered outside the centre. While the police was present at the event, they did not interfere even as violent slogans were raised. SFJ’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is designated a terrorist by India, also addressed participants.
Claiming the growing pro-Khalistan mobilisation in Canada, the group questioned Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit that was recently held in South Africa. The latest development came amid steps taken by both India and Canada to ease bilateral tensions and resume cooperation, which includes security and counter-terror intelligence.
India’s High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh Patnaik, while reacting sharply, said that even as peaceful protests are part of any democratic process, the violence and the display of photographs showing the assassination of former Indian leaders can never be considered as harmless expressions.
Speaking to CBC, he said, “You know what a referendum is and what it is not. This is a farcical referendum. If someone wants to ask for something peacefully, that is acceptable. But displaying pictures of suicide bombers and assassins is not.”
