KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
An ‘Embassy of Khalistan’ has been set up in Canada’s Surrey by Khalistani organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), along with the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Temple.
The so-called embassy, with a board reading ‘Republic of Khalistan’, has been opened in a building on the premises of the gurdwara, which is a community centre.
Locals told CNN-News18 that the building where the embassy has been set up was constructed by funds provided by the Government of British Columbia.
They also said that the Government of British Columbia had recently provided $150,000 to install an elevator in the building.
In June this year, Canada’s top intelligence agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), had officially made a public disclosure for the first time that Khalistani extremists continue to use Canadian soil as a base for promoting, fundraising and planning acts of violence primarily targeting India.
The agency’s latest report categorically stated, “Khalistani extremists continue to use Canada as a base for the promotion, fundraising or planning of violence primarily in India."
This revelation, part of CSIS’s latest annual report, reignited concerns about foreign interference and extremist activity within Canada, particularly in the context of its sensitive diplomatic relationship with India.
For several years, India has been raising concerns over Khalistani extremists operating from Canadian soil.
Since the mid-1980s, the politically motivated violent extremism (PMVE) threat in Canada has manifested primarily through Canada-based Khalistani extremists (CBKEs) seeking to use and support violent means to create an independent nation state called Khalistan, largely within Punjab in India.
PMVE encourages the use of violence to establish new political systems or new structures or norms within existing systems.
PMVE actors engage in the planning, financing and facilitating of attacks globally, in order to establish new political systems or entities.