SFJ Releases Khalistan Map, Warns Air India

On 29 Oct, tens of thousands of Sikhs turned out in Surrey, BC, Canada for the Khalistan Referendum. This was the second round after the first one on 10 Sep. The vote took place at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, where activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June. Emboldened by the large turnout, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) offered $100,000 for the arrest of Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma under the Citizen Arrest clause in Canadian law. SFJ also released a new map extending the boundaries of their vision for a Sikh homeland to include India’s capital Delhi as part of Khalistan. In 2024, SFJ will be organizing referendums in Abbotsford, Edmonton, Calgary, and Montreal. On 5 Nov, Gurpatwant Pannu of SFJ warned that Air India travelers ‘lives would be in danger’ if traveling on 19 Nov, the day of the World Cup Cricket final hosted by India. The threat is designed to evoke memories of the 1985 Kanishka blast which has never been conclusively settled but is perceived to be engineered by Khalistanis with Indian and Canadian government’s knowledge. Pannu demanded that Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport be named after Gandhi's assassins – Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. Whether it is his hate speech in Canada against Hindus or such explicit threats, the Indian government's ‘non-bailable’ arrest warrant seems ineffective in stopping him. As his threats are becoming more and more brazen, it is a mystery why the US and Canada are granting him immunity from arrest.