More than 200,000 Sikhs cast vote in Khalistan Referendum in Canada

VANCOUVER, CANADA: More than 200,000 Canadian Sikhs voted in the Khalistan Referendum held in the Canadian city of Surrey in the province of British Columbia dedicated to Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was assassinated by Indian agents earlier this year.

After the October 29 voting, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in a virtual address, said that Nijjar’s murder had exposed India as a terror-sponsoring state before the world.

Pannun said: “This is a war between Punjab and India in which the occupying force is using the violence while Sikhs are using the votes. SFJ is not taking down India with the bullets at this time, instead, we are using ballots, the most potent weapon of this century to kill the Indian system which is responsible for the genocide of tens of thousands of Sikhs.

“Over 60,000 strong turn out of voters in Phase II defied Narendra Modi government’s terror tactics to stop the Khalistan Referendum voting by stopping visas, cancelling identity and travel cards and threats of singling out family members of Khalistan supporters in Punjab,” said Pannun.

An estimated 140,000 Canadian Sikhs had taken part in the first phase of the referendum at the same Gurdwara in September this year. However, thousands of people were unable to vote at the time so a second phase was held on October 29.

After voting, two resolutions were passed by the gathering: with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in Parliament that Indian agents are behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Mr Sanjay Verma should be arrested and prosecuted for conspiring and directing Nijjar’s assassination; to ensure that Verma is prosecuted for the assassination of a Canadian citizen, the Sikhs For Justice will invoke “Citizen’s Arrest” clause of the Canadian law for which SFJ has allocated a budget of $100,000; and holding Delhi responsible for the genocide of Sikhs and attack on Sikhism, SFJ released a new map extending the boundaries of Sikh homeland to include India’s capital Delhi as part of Khalistan.

The SFJ also announced that it will organise a referendum voting in Abbotsford, Edmonton, Calgary, and Montreal next year but did not give a specific date for it.

Pannun said: “While the October 29 voting centre in Surrey BC was dedicated to Shaheed Nijjar who sacrificed his life struggling for the liberation of Punjab through the Khalistan Referendum, the upcoming voting centres will be dedicated to Shaheed Ravinder Singh Pannu, Shaheed Bhupinder Singh Kooner, and Shaheed Balbir Singh Khaira, all Canadian Sikhs, to honour their sacrifice during the armed phase of Khalistan movement.”

Nijjar was fatally shot outside the same Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a significant Sikh population, where the second phase of Khalistan Referendum took place on Sunday. Nijjar was an advocate for a Sikh homeland in Punjab and minutes before his killing he delivered his last speech in support of the referendum.

Nijjar was Chief Coordinator of Khalistan Referendum campaign in Canada and a close associate of Pannun.

The Khalistan Referendum voting campaign is being organised under the supervision of the independent Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) which will announce the results when all phases are completed. The voting started on October 31, 2021, in London and has so far been held in several cities across the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Australia and Canada.