Canada has refuted claims by pro-Khalistan separatist group Sikhs for Justice that India attempted to thwart a voter registration drive on the secessionist Punjab referendum 2020.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the SFJ has alleged that on August 15, when several local pro-Khalistan activists were on their way to the Indian consulate in Toronto to conduct the drive, eight people were arrested on the basis of a complaint from an unidentified “concerned citizen”.
Five people were charged for possessing a loaded handgun found in their vehicle, the report added.
SFJ has alleged that the vehicle had the Indian flag on it and the men had planned to derail the voter registration drive.
Police have, however, denied any political connection in the incident. A spokesperson for the policing services said they had not received any information that the men were “Indian agents”.
“There have been comments made by local media outlets referring to threats of a political nature, our investigation did not find this to be so,” the report quotes a spokesperson as saying.
SJF, a fringe organisation run by a few radical Sikhs of foreign nationality in the US, Canada, the UK, etc, has been banned in India under the provisions of Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The group’s primary objective is to establish an “independent and sovereign country” in Punjab.
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