The Narendra Modi-led Indian government has launched an anti-Sikh drive to punish the pro-Khalistan activists by confiscating their properties in India and cancellation of their Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards, which allow visa-free entry.
India’s notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) took the action of seizing the properties of the Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannu as the first step in the drive against the Sikh community. India’s dreaded NIA confiscated Pannun’s house in Chandigarh, the capital of the Sikh majority state of Punjab, and agricultural land belonging to him in Amritsar.
Pannu is the founder of the US-based organization Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which is spearheading the Khalistan Movement – creation of independent homeland for Sikhs by separating Punjab from India. He is also a close ally of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing has sparked a diplomatic row between India and Canada.
Nijjar, who was the head of the SFJ’s Canada chap-ter, he brutally killed by the Indian government agents in June in Surrey city of British Columbia province on June 18.
A diplomatic firestorm erupted recently when the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Parliament that there were credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved in Nijjar’s killing.
Pannun issued a video telling the Canadian Hindus to go back to India, claiming they had adopted a jingoistic approach by siding with New Delhi. “This is about the Sikh homeland Punjab that is occupied by India and the resources of the indigenous people of Punjab that are being plundered by Delhi,” he said.
The Modi government has asked the investigative agencies to identify properties of all pro-Khalistan activists settled in countries like the US, UK, Canada and Australia. It has also announced to revoke their OCI cards. So far, around two dozen such persons have been identified and they included Paramjit Singh Pamma, Wadhwa Singh Babbar, Kulwant Singh Muthda, JS Dhaliwal, Sukhpak Singh, Harriet Singh, Sarabjit Singh Benoor, Kulwant Singh, Harjap Singh, Ranjit Singh Neeta, Gurmeet Singh, Germany; Gurpreet Singh, Jasmin Singh Hakimzada, Gurjant Singh Dhillon, Jasbir Singh Rode, Amardeep Singh Purewal, Jatinder Singh Grewal, Dupinder Jeet, and S Himmat Singh.
On the other hand, Sikhs in India have long faced discrimination and marginalization, often due to their distinct religious identity. This discrimination can manifest in various forms, including limited access to resources, educational and employment opportunities, and political representation. Sikh individuals and communities have been treated as second-class citizens, leading to social and economic disparities. On 15 June 2023, 35-year-old Avtar Singh Khanda, a Khalistan movement leader in UK, was poisoned to death.—KMS
