Priya Aditi
A pro-Khalistan Protest took place outside the Indian consulate in Toronto, Canada, where members of the Indian community unfurled the tricolor as a counter-protest.
On July 8, members of the Indian community in Toronto, Canada, displayed the national flag in opposition to a pro-Khalistan demonstration. To send a clear message to separatist elements, members of the Indian community held a counter-demonstration and unfurled the Indian tricolor in front of the consulate, where Khalistan supporters were displaying their flags. This comes days after posters featuring Indian diplomats in Canada and London proclaiming a July 8 pro-Khalistan rally surfaced on social media.
Saturday’s pro-Khalistan demonstration outside the Indian High Commission in London was relatively subdued and incident-free. The duration of the demonstration, which occurred between 12:30 and 2:30 GMT, was shorter than anticipated. In stark contrast to earlier protests held at the same location this year, only a handful of individuals defied the rain to attend the demonstration.
The demonstration was part of a series of protests held in cities around the globe, including Melbourne, San Francisco, and Toronto, to condemn the murder of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia on June 18. In India, Nijjar was sought on terrorism charges.
The Hindu reported that protesters in London displayed banners depicting India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and its Consul General in Birmingham, accusing them of being responsible for Nijjar’s murder. Recently, similar posters depicting the leaders of various Indian missions around the world circulated on social media platforms.
In addition to pro-Khalistan banners, there were also Pakistan and Kashmir support posters among the demonstrators on Saturday, according to the report. These posters highlighted the larger geopolitical dynamics at play within the protest.
In the meantime, India demanded on Friday that the British government immediately deport or prosecute the Khalistani elements in their country, as the “individual targeting” of Indian diplomats has become a major source of concern for New Delhi. During a meeting in New Delhi, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and his British counterpart Tim Barrow discussed the issue at length.
“The two parties agreed to increase cooperation in the fight against violent extremism and radicalism. In a democracy, violent extremism and radicalization cannot be justified, an official source told media.
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The source added, “The Indian side raised the issue of extremist elements in the UK threatening individual officers of the Indian High Commission and urged the UK Government to take strong public action against these extremist elements, such as deportation or legal prosecution.”
