When it comes to pandering hardliner Khalistani elements, Canada's PM Justin Trudeau is being 'a truly yours - a Papa's son'

Why do you think the movement has sustained itself abroad even when it has lost steam back in India?

Canadian journalist and writer, Terry Milewski had responded:

"It’s obvious that the Sikh diaspora was self-selected to include more than its share of those not content to live in India. But many of those were hardline separatists who were not content to live in the UK, the US or Canada, either. Rather, they saw their new citizenship as a platform from which to battle for a state of their own – and for revenge against India for the horrors of 1984. 

The more they were banned from India, the less they knew of what life is like for Sikhs who actually live there, in a majority-Sikh state where the independence struggle is a bad memory. 

For the diaspora militants, it still evokes the glory days of a just and even holy war. But it’s not enough to say they’re living in the past. Rather, they remain wedded to an imaginary future. It’s not easy to abandon the cause of a lifetime, just because it failed".

Two eras: Papa's legacy continues/ India Today

(In 2018, Capt Amarinder Singh had alleged that Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Singh and other ministers support the Khalistan movement for a separate Sikh state.)

India's intelligence agencies sent an urgent message to the Canadian authorities on June 1, 1985, seeking security measures against a possible airplane attack by Khalistani terrorists. There was no follow up action.  

(“Today, Justin Trudeau owns the legacy of the [Kanishka] bombing, no matter what efforts are made to turn the page in Canada’s relationship with India,” wrote Gar Pardy many years later.) 

Then a plane was attacked. On June 23, 1985, a bomb in two suitcases was set off on Air India Flight 182 (Kanishka), flying from Toronto to UK's London, killing all the 329 passengers on board. 

Most of those killed were Canadians and the Kanishka bombing remains the worst terrorist attack in Canada's history.

One Khalistani terrorist was Talwinder Singh Parmar. whom the then Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau shielded, was said to be the "mastermind" of the Kanishka bombing. Seven years later Parmar was killed by police in Punjab in 1992. In June this year, posters honouring Parmar were seen at various locations in Canada. In retrospect, everyone arrested for the Kanishka bombing, including Talwinder Singh Parmar, were let off and only one person was convicted. 

Inderjit Singh Reyat was given a prison term of 15 years. “Canada’s inadequate and inept response to these bombings never met the Indian government’s expectations,” wrote Gar Pardy.

Henry Garfield "Gar" Pardy is a former diplomat in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. Although he retired as director general of the consular affairs bureau in 2003,

Gar Pardy 

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) on April 8, 2010, Pardy was interviewed regarding the case of Nazia Quazi, a dual Indian and Canadian citizen who, after visiting her father in Saudi Arabia, was unable to return to Canada, since her father was able to assume "guardianship" over her and block her exit from the country, in accordance with Islamic law and tradition. 

Pardy suggested that Canadian policy toward Israel was to blame for Ms. Quazi's situation. Pardy argued that "the fact that we [Canada] have taken ourselves out as a balanced observer [regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] ... is not looked at with any degree of friendliness in Saudi Arabia." When the host directly asked him "Are you suggesting that Canada’s Israel policy could leave young Canadian women in limbo?", Mr. Pardy replied "Yes."

*Pardy also wrote books like 'China in a Changing World' and the 'Scary World of Nuclear Weapons'.  

"Justin Trudeau lacks the political conviction of his father. Trudeau senior was a lawyer, constitutional scholar and activist. There is no comparison between the two. (Justin) Trudeau is more enamoured by identity politics. It's easy for him to latch onto any little group that wants different treatment," Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Canadian minister, tells IndiaToday.In.

In 2023......because of Canada's patronage, after decades of being 'invisible', the Khalistani threat is again rearing its head. 

But we can't blame Canadian PM alone.

The fact of the matter is apprehensions had risen about the 'revival' of the Pakistan-backed Sikh separatist movement, better known as the Khalistan movement, in Punjab in 2017-18.

India was cautious and did work on multiple fronts to counter the anti-India propaganda war of Sikh extremists and Pakistan.

Punjab saw attacks in November on the Nirankari Bhawan using Pakistan-manufactured HR 36. This has once again brought back apprehensions of the revival of the Pakistan-backed Sikh separatist movement, better known as the Khalistan movement, in Punjab.

The Nirankari religious cult, seen as a heretic Sikh cult in popular perception, has always been at the receiving end of violence perpetrated by orthodox and extremist Sikhs for worshipping a living guru as against the conventional Sikh belief of absolute loyalty towards the holy book.

"The meek Canadian response to the Khalistani challenge was a frequent target of Indian politicians as far back as 1982, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi complained about it to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau," wrote Terry Milewski, retired CBC correspondent and author of 'Blood for Blood - Fifty Years of the Global Khalistan Project'.

"In what is nothing but a clear example of Pierre Trudeau’s double standards, though he didn't act against the Khalistani terrorists, his term in office was marked by a crackdown and the defeat of the French separatist movement in Quebec.

The French-speaking population sought to break away from Canada but Pierre Trudeau oversaw a crackdown against the legitimate democratic movement in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Civil liberties were suspended and troops were moved into Quebec. There were no-holds-barred raids on homes and offices and over 500 people were detained," --- says an article in 'India Today'. 

Justin Trudeau's policies on Khalistanis reflect his father's. Trudeau Jr has political compulsions too. His government is propped up by the New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh.

Fifty years ago, the campaign for a sovereign Sikh state — Khalistan — went global, proclaiming the birth of the new nation with an advertisement in The New York Times on 12 October 1971. 

The ensuing decades saw a bloodbath in which thousands, mainly Sikhs, lost their lives. Today, the campaign has all but fizzled out in its homeland but overseas, a politically plugged-in band of hardcore separatists keeps the cause alive.

In Blood for Blood, journalist Terry Milewski takes a close look at the global Khalistan project, its hunger for revenge and the feeble response of India’s Western allies. He traces the rise and fall of diaspora militants like Talwinder Singh Parmar — the Vancouver-based founder of the Babbar Khalsa terrorist group and the man behind the 1985 ‘Kanishka’ bomb plot which killed 329 aboard Air India Flight 182.

The book provides startling new information about the Khalistan movement in Canada, the United Kingdom and India, which has been sustained for decades by Pakistan and now threatens to draw in China. Blood for Blood brings new insights to a topic that continues to hold global interest decades after it first came to light. (online info) 

"The allegations have brought the Khalistan issue to the fore for India and Canada. For India, the Khalistan movement, which fights for Punjab to become an independent Sikh state, has a bloody history. It began around the time of India’s partition in the 1940s but grew into a full insurgency in the 1980s. 

A crackdown by the Indian army, known as Operation Blue Star, led to the killing of 400 Sikhs in a temple, and in retaliation the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards. What followed was a terrible spate of anti-Sikh pogroms in which more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed." - 'The Guardian' 

Blogger in China 

"Canada needs to accept the new reality that India has now stopped taking lessons on subjects like democracy, Freedom of Speech and Expression from the self- proclaimed leaders of the free world. 

A day after making a reckless statement in the Canadian parliament, Justin Trudeau was seen going into full on damage control mode while saying he never meant to provoke or escalate tensions with India, but it was a tad bit late as his duality had been exposed out cold in the open.

Now that the trade talks between India and Canada have been indefinitely suspended, the recent episode will only worsen the souring relations. Amid mounting pressure from all corners, Justin Trudeau is certain to have a rocky road ahead with all the answering to do domestically and abroad.

There can be a few doubts about whether the election season has begun in New Delhi, but it has certainly begun in Ottawa." -- an article by Binit Patnaik in 'The Nagaland Post'.