A year after Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated by alleged Indian assailants in Canada, firebrand Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has vowed to avenge the murder by 'bombarding' India's Independence Day on August 15 with a pro-Khalistan campaign.
Pannun, an attorney based in New York, USA, and the founder of the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) group, said this while addressing a charged crowd of Sikhs in the Canadian city of Calgary, where a referendum on Khalistan was being held.
The SFJ founder said that they plan to launch a global referendum campaign which will "liberate Punjab from Indian occupation". Sikhs envision a state for themselves in central Punjab, which was split between Pakistan and India during the Partition in 1947.
Nijjar, who has been dubbed a 'terrorist' by New Delhi, claimed their campaign had equipped every Sikh household with a "powerful bomb" that would only explode during the Khalistan Referendum and that its shockwaves would reverberate from the Red Fort to Ranchi in India.
Addressing the thousands of Canadian Sikhs waiting to cast their vote in the referendum, Pannun said, "SFJ's weapon of choice is the ballot, while India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using violence to stop the Khalistan Referendum. "
"At the moment, pro-Khalistan Sikhs are not going to kill anyone in retaliation, but SFJ is going to kill the Indian system, which is responsible for the genocide of Sikhs and the econocide of Punjab."
Pannun referred to the actions of Indian freedom movement hero Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who fought against the British.
"Khalistan Referendum campaign has shaken the foundations of India," he said to cheers from the charged crowd. Referring to the legal case of Nijjar's murder, Pannun said they are expecting the Canadian government to prosecute Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, for their alleged involvement in the case.
The Sikh Sangat will continue to hold Verma accountable under the Khalsa justice, he asserted.
The nine Canadian national Sikhs allegedly assassinated by India for their political beliefs include Shaheed Lakhbir Singh Rode, Shaheed Bhupinder Singh Kooner, Shaheed Harjinder Singh Para, Shaheed Talwinder Singh Parmar, Shaheed Surinder Singh Shinder Commando, Shaheed Balbir Singh Khaira, Shaheed Jathedar Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Shaheed Mohinder Singh Kooner and Shaheed Surinder Singh Ravi.
Calgary Khalistan Referendum
A massive turnout of some 55,000 Canadian Sikhs was witnessed in Calgary as they voted in the Khalistan Referendum at the Municipal Plaza voting centre - dedicated to nine pro-Khalistani Canadian Sikhs who were assassinated by the Indian army in an armed conflict.
The first vote was cast by the family of Shaheed Dilawar Singh Babbar Jai, the suicide bomber who assassinated the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in August 1995.
Nijjar's family travelled especially from Surrey, British Columbia, to show support for the Calgary referendum.
The Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) had announced that the next phase of the Khalistan Referendum would take place in New Zealand in a few months.
Thousands of Sikhs carrying the Khalistan flag queued outside city hall from 4am until 6pm in Calgary to participate in the Khalistan Referendum. The road leading to and from City Hall was lined with large Khalistan flags and posters of Sikhs who had been martyred for the Sikh cause.
Throughout the day, Calgary's town hall echoed with slogans of "Khalistan Zindabad", "Punjab banal ga Khalistan", "Delhi banal ga Khalistan", "Rajasthan banal ga Khalistan", "Modi, stop terrorism against Sikhs", "India is a terrorist state".
The Sikhs vowed to adhere to the principle set by their Gurus and will always look up to the examples set by Sikh freedom fighters, including Nijjar.
Veteran Khalistani leaders and President of the Khalistan Council, Dr Bakhshish Singh Sandhu, said the turnout had amazed everyone. "The queue at one point stretched to nearly four kilometres. This is the measurement of Sikhs' desire for freedom from India."
In the Khalistan Referendum, Sikhs are voting on the question of "Should Indian-governed Punjab be an independent country?". Voting in the referendum is being held under the guidance and supervision of a panel of non-aligned direct democracy experts from the Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC). They monitored the voting process, from registration to supervision of ballot boxes and, while the commission's approved third-party staff sealed off the ballots at the end of voting.
The Khalistan Referendum voting process commenced on October 31, 2021, from London, UK, and has so far been held in several countries and cities across the world including in the UK, Geneva, Switzerland; Rome and Milan (Italy); the Australian cities of Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney; the American cities of San Francisco and Sacramento; and the Canadian cities of Brampton, Mississauga, Malton (Ontario), Surrey Vancouver (British Columbia), and now Calgary.