Sikhs in Surrey are fuming at yet another salvo against their community branding them as being infested with radicals and terrorists.
“Sikh radicals are more active in Surrey (in Canada) than in India. They are a closed group. They can also target India,’’ former Canadian justice John C. Major, who last year submitted his inquiry into the 1985 bombing of the Air India flight, reportedly told a media conference in Chandigarh, Punjab.
Surrey is home to the largest concentration of the Sikh Punjabi community in Canada.
“This is getting ridiculous…every time some Canadian politician or official goes to India…it seems they must link the local community to terrorism,” fumed Jagtar Singh, a Surrey businessman.
“We just had the Vaiskahi celebration and over 200,000 people attended this great event and despite that, some in the media insisted on linking it to terrorism,” he said.
“Are we going to brand the Bloc Quebecois, which wants a separate Quebec as terrorists,” he asked.
“Are we going to ask the Catholic Church to remove images of their cruel Popes and talk about IRA bombings when they hold St. Patrick day parades?”
Sewak Singh of nearby Abbotsford said if anyone knows of terrorists within the community, they should let the RCMP know and get the force to arrest them.
“Otherwise they should shut up because they don’t know what they are talking about…You would think that Sikhs in Surrey just sit around talking about bombs by the way people like Major and some from our own community speak,” he said.
“This is garbage…we as Sikhs have been taught to stand up for human rights…when we raise issues about human rights abuses by India, we are branded as terrorists and separatists,” said student Balkit Singh.
“Like in any community, there will be some who are radical and if anything, the community is playing the biggest role in stemming radical views,” he said.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) has expressed its concern over claims that Canada harbours a Sikh extremist movement, will prompt another round of racist attacks on Canada’s more than 400,000 Sikhs.
WSO President Prem Singh Vinning said there is no evidence of a Sikh extremist movement in Canada, but the persistent rhetoric is causing a backlash for Canadian Sikhs.
He added that today Canadian Sikhs are even more integrated into mainstream society than they were when the Air India bombing took place in 1985. They have overwhelmingly rejected any form of violence and, as the Major Commission Report noted, Sikhs at that time reported rumours of the bombing to the RCMP, who ignored them.
The unfair comments that some persist in making about Canadian Sikhs are causing a lot of concern, he said.
Blamed on Vancouver-based pro-Khalistani separatists, the Air India bombing June 23, 1985, off the Irish coast killed all 329 people on board.
Bal Gupta, president of the Air India Victim Families’ Association who lost his wife in the bombing, told IANS, “Yes, threat still exists from these people. Those who bombed the Air India flight are still roaming free in Canadian society. These crooks can do anything.’’
Former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh, who is facing three lawsuits in Canada and India for saying that Sikh radicals are still active in Canada, said he felt vindicated by Justice John Major’s remarks.
“If there is one person that ought to know about Sikh radicals in Canada, it is John Major who headed the inquiry. It is somewhat disconcerting and calls for concern for the Canadian government and the Canadian public that he has come to the same conclusion (about radicals) that I have maintained all these years.’’
Dosanjh, who was beaten up by pro-Khalistan radicals here in the 1980s, said, “The very fact that I am being sued by an organization whose genesis was in violence and by individuals from Canada shows that pro-Khalistan elements are more active in Canada than India.’’
“We see an upsurge in hateful comments about Sikhs every time Mr. Dosanjh claims there is extremism here,” The WSO said last year, expressing concerns that a new film highlighting the former  B.C. MP’s claims that Canada harbours a Sikh extremist movement will prompt another round of racist attacks.
Travelling Light: A Journey with Ujjal Dosanjh was shot over the last four years by Meera Dewan, who has done more than 30 documentaries for the Indian government.
Jatinder Singh Grewal, a Youth Coordinator for “Sikhs For Justice” recently wrote in a column that Dosanjh lost his South Vancouver seat in the recent parliamentary election because he betrayed those who worked to elect him in the past.
“Rather than working for Canadians at home Dosanjh romped across India on taxpayers’ dime, making over-the-top statements branding Sikh youth in Canada as extremists. He insulted Canadians by tarnishing our image abroad,” wrote Grewal.
One of the cases against Dosanjh  in India states: “Such elements often work for or on behest of Indian agencies and aim to discredit Sikh community’s legitimate and genuine grievances regarding gross human rights violations against Sikhs in India and continued practice of impunity by the Indian Government.”