Khalistan in diaspora
Many of these Sikhs migrated to Europe, the United States, and Canada, where they established influential and politically active communities. The Sikh diaspora has pushed forward the idea of Khalistan and lobbied for international pressure on India to hold the perpetrators of rights violations against Sikhs accountable.
Canada is home to around 770,000 Sikhs, about two percent of the country’s population.
In 2020, many Sikh organisations, including those based in Canada, began to call for a referendum in Indian Punjab to determine the fate of a separate state. They also wanted to take the results of the referendum to the UN. This led to mobilisation among Sikh youth in the diaspora and renewed calls for Khalistan.
Since then, the Indian government has faced accusations of trying to plot assassinations of Sikh activists in the US and Canada.
In 2023, the New York-based Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was the target of an Indian assassination plot.
Washington claimed an Indian national, working with an Indian government official, had attempted to hire a hitman for $100,000 to kill Pannun on American soil. The scheme unravelled because the hitman was an undercover federal agent.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, wasn’t so lucky. He was shot dead on June 18, 2023, by masked gunmen.
After a year-long investigation, Canadian police this week said the assassination plot involved Indian government officials, including diplomats stationed in Canada.