Responding to the Indian government’s complaint to the Canadian government regarding “perceived threats” to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh during the April 22 Khalsa Parade in Canada, the human rights group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has termed it as a nefarious attempt to curb the freedom of expression of Sikhs living in Canada.
The rights panel said no threats to life were issued to Amarinder during the parade and all those who participated in it were law-abiding citizens of Canada.
In a statement issued, the SFJ has stated that Canadian Sikhs had a constitutionally protected right to express any political opinion, no matter how discomforting it might be for the Indian Government, including propagating for Sikh homeland Khalistan.
On April 22 during the Khalsa Day parade in Surrey, British Columbia, thousands of Sikhs followed the Khalistan float with the images of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers who were killed in Punjab during militancy.
Calling the Indian Government’s complaint against SFJ to Global Affairs Ministry of Canada as frivolous, Attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser to SFJ, claimed, “Separatism is not terrorism and SFJ always works within the framework of law.”
“Captain Amarinder is a human rights violator as per the international laws and we are waiting for him to be in Canada, America or European Union Countries so that we can hold the Punjab CM accountable for all the atrocities committed on the Sikhs and prosecute him for crimes against humanity,” Pannun said.
In April 2016, SFJ blocked Amarinder from addressing public rallies in Canada by initiating a “private prosecution” seeking his arrest warrants for his “culpability in the torture of Sikhs in Punjab during his tenure as CM of Punjab between 2002 and 2007”. Now, again, the SFJ has filed a defamation suit against Amarinder in a Canadian court.
