CALGARAY, CANADA: Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has said the city council cannot stop the Khalistan referendum vote from going ahead on Sunday (tomorrow), after objections from the Indian government that the group organising it is banned in India and therefore should not be given permission to go ahead with the rally that will attract thousands of pro-Khalistan Sikhs.
In an interview, Gondek said he does not see the Khalistan vote as a problem as those involved are carrying out a legitimate and democratic exercise and it is not up to his office to sanction legal events.
“The public can gather at the Municipal Plaza at any time. They can do whatever they want,” he said.
Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a US-based group, has received permission from the Canadian city administration to hold a non-binding referendum in City Hall Square and the city's mayor does not see it as a problem.
Corporate Property and Buildings Director Ian Fleming said: “Individuals and organisations can use the plaza without permission, application or authorisation if they adhere to expectations and guidelines for appropriate activities and behaviour.”
On Friday, hundreds of local Sikhs took part in a car rally in the city which started from the Gurdawara Dashmash Cultural Centre and drove around the city for three hours. More than 100 vehicles took part in the rally, carrying Khalistan flags and posters.
Pro-Khalistan SFJ leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of waging a hate campaign against Sikhs directly and through proxies, as tensions rose between Indian and Canadian Sikhs ahead of the Khalistan referendum vote in Calgary at the weekend.
The Indian government has expressed nervousness just hours before the vote in the Khalistan referendum, which will bring together thousands of pro-Khalistan Sikhs to vote on the question of separating Punjab from India.
Tensions rose after Sikhs accused Hindutva supporters of vandalising Khalistan referendum posters and a Hindu temple was targeted in a graffiti attack by unknown men in Alberta's capital Edmonton.
This has led to a war of words between SFJ leader and India's most wanted man Pannun and pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and pro-Indian government Canadian MP Chandra Arya.
Pannun, who survived an assassination plot by the Indian state in 2023, has criticised the local pro-Indian Canadian MP for attacking Sikhs.
Meanwhile, India has asked Canada to take action against anti-India elements.
“When a democracy adopts different criteria to measure or implement the rule of law and freedom of expression, it only exposes its double standards. We hope that Canada will take action against anti-India elements who have repeatedly threatened Indian leaders, institutions, airlines and diplomats with violence,” Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during the weekly press briefing.
Responding to Arya's remarks provoking violence against pro-Khalistan Sikhs in Canada, Pannun responded by stating that “MP Arya should return to his homeland as on the orders of his boss, Indian PM Modi, Arya is running a hate campaign against Sikhs and has effectively abandoned his allegiance to Canada.”
He said: “Every action and word of MP Arya resonates with the Hindu supremacist Modi regime, which is responsible for the murder of Shaheed Nijjar and the transnational repression against Sikhs in Canada.”
Demanding Arya's disqualification as a Canadian MP, Pannun said: “Arya is a supporter of Modi's Hindutva ideology, which promotes the use of violence to suppress dissenting political opinion, which is in direct conflict with the fundamental principles of Canadian democracy enshrined in the Bill of Rights. The Khalistan referendum vote on July 28 in Calgary is dedicated to the pro-Khalistan Canadian Sikhs who, following Canadian values, attained martyrdom in Punjab while fighting against Indian injustice.
Last year, Pannun's close associate and leader of the Khalistan referendum in Canada, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was assassinated on Canadian soil by Indian secret service agents. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has directly blamed India for the killing.
The Khalistan referendum voting campaign is being organised under the supervision of the independent Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC), which will announce the results once all phases are completed.
Voting began on October 31, 2021, from London, UK, and has so far been held in several countries and cities in the UK; Geneva, Switzerland; Rome and Milan in Italy; the Australian cities of Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney; the US cities of San Francisco and Sacramento; the Canadian cities of Brampton, Mississauga, Malton (Ontario), Surrey Vancouver (British Columbia) and now Calgary.
