Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s presence at a Khalsa Day event raises troubling questions.
What happens on Khalsa day?
In the parade organised by the Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council on “Khalsa Day”, the images of pro-Khalistani militants are often brought out.
Many of the marchers also call for the establishment of a separate Khalistan.
India ensured that Mr Trudeau’s predecessor didn’t attend the same event.
Now Mr Trudeau chose to make his appearance in a year he plans to visit India.
Why it is important?
India is not against free speech or freedom of association.
Neither has it denied the brutal, shameful anti-Sikh violence of 1984.
In India too, organisations are allowed to protest the events of 1984, as well as other wrongs perpetrated in India.
But the occasion had several other issues with it.
It included several posters and floats that glorified militants who included who died in Operation Blue Star, those who carried out the bombing of Air India’s ‘Kanishka’ flight in 1985 as well as a related bombing incident in which two Japanese baggage handlers were killed in Tokyo.
The celebrations also honoured two legislators who had authored resolutions in the Ontario Assembly which declared events of 1984 as “Genocide”.
India had objected to the resolution both in official statements and in the meetings with visiting Canadian Defence Minister.
The Genocide resolution in the Assembly, which was hailed at the parade wasn’t restricted to the anti-Sikh riots, but to “events of 1984”.
It criticises the Indian Army’s actions in Operation Blue Star as much as the riots.
It also displayed flags and signs for “Referendum 2020”, a plan by local groups for a worldwide vote for all Sikhs, including those in Punjab, to vote for a separate homeland.
What is India’s reaction?
For the past four decades, terrorism has been an important factor in India’s foreign policy.
At the UN in 1996, India first introduced the concept, proposing a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
India’s position has become more strident, with a push for the UN designation of terrorist groups as well as raising the issue of Pakistan-based terrorists at international fora including the G-20, BRICS and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
But now it took more than a week for the MEA to respond mildly, in an answer to a question.
