Pro-Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun raises open challenge to India's territorial integrity
SAN FRANCISCO/LONDON: More than 127,000 American Sikhs voted in favor of the Khalistan referendum for the first time on US soil, just weeks after the US government announced that it had prevented the Indian state from assassinating the prominent leader on US soil pro-Khalistan and leader of India. The most wanted man, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
With a huge turnout, Sikhs of all ages formed orderly queues from early in the morning to cast their vote in favor of the creation of Khalistan. The independent Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) announced that 127,000 Sikhs were able to cast their votes, while around 30,000 remained in queue and could not vote due to lack of time.
PRC member Paul Jacobs announced that the next phase of the Khalistan referendum will be held in Sacramento, California, on March 31 to accommodate those who were unable to cast their votes.
The US government had allowed the pro-Khalistan secessionist group Sikh For Justice (SFJ) to hold a referendum on Khalistan freedom under the First Amendment Act on its territory, despite the objections of the India.
Diplomatic relations between India and the United States have reached a low point after the US State Department openly accused India of trying to kill its citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, founder and leader of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) and Khalistan Referendum, which reached the polling center amidst intense security, on American soil in an open violation of the sovereignty of the United States of America. The vote took place as India asked the United States to arrest Khalistani Sikhs who had attacked the Indian consulate in San Francisco a few weeks ago.
After voting closed, Pannun addressed thousands of Sikhs and announced that the campaign against India would accelerate after the governments of Canada and the United States confirmed that India was planning to kill Sikhs who were demanding their right to self-determination for a separate Sikh homeland. .
Pannun said that the spirit of Sikh martyrs was alive and will continue to inspire millions of Sikhs to fight against India and that Sikhs who were receiving threats from India were not afraid.
The Sikh leader said: “We will break India's back. Kill India politically, end Modi's politics and destroy India economically is our motto. We will campaign for the closure of the Bombay Stock Exchange. Millions of Sikhs now live outside India because they have fled the Indian genocide of the Sikhs. India killed more than 100,000 Sikh men and women in a genocidal operation just a few years ago. Their genocidal policies continue. “We oppose the Indian genocide through democratic means.”
He said that millions of Sikhs want freedom from India and there is no choice but to fight against Indian state terrorism. He said India can try to kill as many Sikhs as it wants, but the demand for Khalistan cannot be suppressed.
Sikhs for Justice co-founder Dr Bakhshish Singh Sandhu said the turnout was brilliant. “We feel good about the fact that thousands and multitudes of people have come here to vote for a referendum in Khalistan to liberate Punjab from Indian occupation. “We are gathering as many votes as possible and then we will move on to have a binding referendum organized by the United Nations as soon as 2025.”
Waving bright yellow and blue flags, thousands of Sikhs arrived in San Francisco on Sunday in cars, buses and trains to vote for a new country of their own.
About 250,000 Sikhs live in California, mainly in the Central Valley or the Bay Area. The Jan. 28 vote in San Francisco followed votes in several U.K. cities, including London, Geneva, Rome, several cities in Canada and Australia, where Sikhs live in large numbers. The American phase of the Khalistan referendum was held at Civic Center Plaza, owned and operated by the city of San Francisco.
A panel of non-aligned experts who oversaw the referendum on the question “Should Indian-ruled Punjab be an independent country?” had announced “electoral eligibility” for people living in Indian-ruled Punjab during a joint press conference in San Francisco.
