New Delhi: India-designated terrorist and Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has said that Hindus in Canada must move back to India as they were working against Canadian values whereas only Khalistan Sikhs were loyal to the country.
The US-based Pannun railed in a video that Hindu Canadian Member of Parliament from the Liberal Party, Chandra Arya, had no place in Canada after the politician highlighted the case of another temple vandalised in the country.
“The likes of Arya and his supporters have no place in Canada. Because you are working against our Canadian values. You are working against the Charter of Rights and you are promoting the interests of India,” Pannun said in a video shared by Arya on ‘X’ Wednesday.
Pannun added: “You all must abandon your citizenship and move back to your motherland – India. While you and your supporters Chandra Arya are promoting violence against pro-Khalistan Sikhs, we, the Khalistan Sikhs, have proved over the decades that we are loyal to Canada and its values.”
The Khalistan separatist is the founder of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), which is designated a terrorist organisation by India, and has a history of putting out videos threatening the Hindu community in Canada and calling for their return to India.
In response to the video, Arya labelled Khalistani extremists as “polluting” Canada and “abusing” its guaranteed freedoms.
“In response to my condemnation of the vandalism of the Hindu temple BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Edmonton and other acts of hate and violence by Khalistan supporters in Canada, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs For Justice has released a video demanding me and my Hindu-Canadian friends to go back to India,” Arya said on ‘X’.
The MP added: “With our long history of Hindu culture and heritage, we have enriched the multicultural fabric of Canada. Our land is being polluted by Khalistani extremists abusing our freedoms guaranteed by our Canadian Charter of Rights.”
In response to my condemnation of the vandalism of the Hindu temple BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Edmonton and other acts of hate and violence by Khalistan supporters in Canada, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs for Justice has released a video demanding me and my Hindu-Canadian… pic.twitter.com/vMhnN45rc1
— Chandra Arya (@AryaCanada) July 24, 2024
On Tuesday, a BAPS Swaminaryan Mandir was vandalised in the Canadian city of Edmonton. Offensive graffiti on its wall called Narendra Modi and Arya “Hindu terrorists” and “anti-Canada”.
Arya raised this issue on social media, posting that “Hindu-Canadians are legitimately concerned” on how Khalistani extremists were able to “get away with ease with their public rhetoric of hate and violence”.
The Hindu temple BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Edmonton is vandalized again. During the last few years, Hindu temples in Greater Toronto Area, British Columbia and other places in Canada are being vandalized with hateful graffiti.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs for Justice last… pic.twitter.com/G0a8ozrrHX
— Chandra Arya (@AryaCanada) July 23, 2024
Gloats glorifying the assassination of Indira Gandhi have been seen across pro-Khalistan rallies in the country in the past while Canadian political leaders, including Justin Trudeau and Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre, have attended rallies which reverberated with the chant of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’.
Arya is a member of Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
In recent years, Hindu temples in the Greater Toronto Area, British Columbia and other regions have been increasingly vandalised with hateful graffiti, according to Arya.
Pannun invokes Parmar
His face to the camera, Pannun was backgrounded by a screen, which had photos and names written of “martyrs” of the Khalistani cause, including that of Talwinder Singh Parmar – the alleged mastermind behind the bombing of Air India Flight 182.
Parmar, the founder of the terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and his associates are considered to be the key people behind the killing of 329 passengers and crew aboard the Air India flight on 23 June 1985 – the deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.
The attack killed mostly Canadian citizens. Another bomb placed by Khalistani extremists exploded in Narita airport, Japan, killing two baggage handlers.
Another “martyr”, according to Pannun, is Hardeep Singh Nijjar – also an India-designated terrorist – who was killed on 18 June 2023 outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Ottawa has alleged that Indian government agents had a link to this assassination.
New Delhi called the allegations “absurd and motivated.” Ties between the two countries, however, remain frosty months later, with the Canadian government yet to release any evidence of a link between Indian agents and the killers. Ottawa, earlier this year arrested and charged four Indians with the murder of Nijjar.
Meanwhile, the US is probing a foiled plot to allegedly murder Pannun on American soil and have raised the issue with the Indian government. New Delhi has set up a high-level committee to investigate the allegations about the involvement of Indian officials.
In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled murder-for-hire plot to kill Pannun in New York. Gupta, who was arrested in the Czech Republic last year, was extradited to the US on 14 June.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: ‘Story not yet completely written,’ says US NSA Jake Sullivan on Pannun case
No one can have the power. INDIA WILL SUPERSEED CANADA.