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Failed Surrey mayoral candidate makes bold allegations
Vikram Bajwa, president of the Indian Overseas Congress, a body representing the interest of the ruling Congress Party of India, has leveled explosive allegations against two B.C. politicians accusing them of aiding a Sikh separatist campaign.
Bajwa, a failed 2011 Surrey mayoral candidate, addressed media persons in Chandigarh, Punjab, where he named the Canadian MPs, claiming they had been frequently visiting Pakistan to collect funds which were diverted to keep the Khalistan campaign alive.
Pakistan, he claimed, has been stoking the Khalistan fire among NRI Punjabis in the US and Canada and also patronising election of many Punjabi NRIs there. Bajwa did not specify in his allegations who in Pakistan was providing support or how they were doing so.
Neither MP responded to the allegations.
The idea of creating Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab region, has its roots in the early 20th century, but gained momentum in the 1970s and 1980s after the holy Golden Temple attack was orchestrated by the Congress Party and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Growing discontent with an uncaring and corrupt federal government fanned the flames of Sikh nationalism and fundamentalism in Punjab.
While the movement petered out in India, the Khalistan movement has received sympathy from Sikhs overseas, especially in Canada.
Over 3,000 members of the Sikh community were killed in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in November,1984 in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards at her residence in New Delhi.
She was killed in retribution for ordering the Indian Army to invade and attack numerous Sikh temples in Punjab which in turn led to the deaths of thousands of innocent worshippers.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued an apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots during his recent Canada visit had has urged the Sikh community to put the events of 1984 behind them and move on.
The Canadian government has responded that there isn’t sufficient evidence to determine that the killings amounted to genocide.
Indian media reported that Bajwa claimed “these” Canadian MPs would go to Pakistan more often than they come to Punjab. He demanded that the Central and the state governments take necessary action in this regard.
Bajwa also took aim at a number of gurdwaras in the US and Canada that have kept Khalistan seals in their temples.
"Even the Dashmesh Darbar gurdwara in Surrey (British Columbia in Canada) also has a pro-Khalistan seal," Bajwa said, according to Indian media.
Bajwa said he would be meeting Akal Takht head priest Joginder Singh (temporal head) to make an appeal to him to issue a “hukamnaama” (edict) banning use of Khalistan seals in Sikh shrines.
Bajwa made a bold claim that Pakistani agents had also infiltrated the NRI media in Canada, thus disseminating distorted information about the Sikhs in Punjab.
"The second-generation NRIs are being misguided by these gurdwaras. It is wrongly influencing young minds.”
“We have now adopted a non-political way out by approaching the Akal Takth jathedar. We have appealed him to issue an immediate 'hukumnama' to remove these insignias," he added.
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