The shocking accusation this week by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that India may have been behind the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia has raised several complex questions about the nature of Sikh activism in the North American diaspora.
Canada is home to the largest Sikh population outside India. There are about 800,000 Sikhs in Canada — roughly 2% of the population. The United States is home to about 500,000 Sikhs. While some Sikhs argue there is widespread support in the diaspora for an independent Sikh state in the subcontinent called Khalistan, others say there is no such consensus.
The question of Khalistan or Sikh sovereignty “is not a fringe concept or idea in the community,” said Jaskaran Sandhu, a board member with the World Sikh Organization of Canada, the largest Sikh advocacy organization in that country. Pannun has been a leading organizer of the Khalistan Referendum, inviting Sikhs worldwide to vote on whether Punjab should become an independent nation based on religion. Organizers of the nonbinding referendum hope to present the results to the U.N. General Assembly in about two years.
Not all agree that Khalistani activism is on the rise in the diaspora. Amandeep Sandhu, India-based journalist and author of “Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines,” believes it remains a fringe movement. Even if 200,000 people may have shown up to vote at referendums held so far, that number is small compared to the 30 million Sikhs who live in India and around the world, he said.
Rajvinder Singh, a New Delhi store owner, said he believes “Khalistan’s ideology has no place in the minds of the Sikhs.” “While community members are not in agreement when it comes to what autonomy is or looks like, all Sikhs do want to engage in whatever activism they want without being attacked or killed for it,” she said. “Trudeau, with this statement, has stood up for all activists in the diaspora."
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