SFJ Defends Canadian Sikh Separatists And “Khalistan” Floats
Posted: 02 May 2017
Photo © [S Khalsa]
SFJ in press release stated that Canadian Sikhs have a constitutionally protected right to express any political opinion no matter how discomforting it may be for Indian Government, including propagating for Sikh homeland “Khalistan” and campaign for Referendum 2020 to liberate Indian occupied Punjab.
On April 22 during Khalsa Day parade in Surrey, BC, more than 200,000 Sikh participants followed the “Khalistan” float with the images of martyred Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other notable Sikh separatists who laid down their lives resisting Indian government during 1990s.
Calling India’s complaint against SFJ to Global Affairs Canada as frivolous, attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to SFJ stated that, “Separatism is not Terrorism and SFJ always works within the law”.
“Capt. Amarinder is a human rights violator as per international laws and we are waiting for him to be in Canada, America or European Union Countries so that we can hold Punjab Chief Minister accountable and prosecute him for crimes against humanity”, added attorney Pannun.
During April 2016 SFJ successfully blocked Capt. Amarinder from addressing public rallies in Canada by initiating a “private prosecution” seeking arrest warrant of the Chief Minister of Punjab for his culpability in the torture of Sikhs in Punjab during his 2002 tenure as Chief Minister.
Several Canadian Sikhs were abducted, tortured and extra-judicially killed by Indian security forces in Punjab during the counter insurgency operations in late 1990’s. SFJ alleged that Capt. Amarinder during 2002, being head of the Government of Punjab, started the practice of reinstating, promoting and protecting the police officials named repeatedly by victims and human rights groups as perpetrators of torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial executions in 1990’s.