Islamabad: Pro-Khalistan activists staged a protest outside the US State Department and the Indian Embassy in Washington DC to condemn Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to America.
Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during his trip on Friday.
The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement in India seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethnoreligious sovereign state called Khalistan.
Sikh killings
India has recently led campaigns to kill prominent Sikh leaders on Western soils, sparking diplomatic rows, chiefly with Canada.
During the protest against the Indian minister’s visit, scores of Sikh activists marched toward the State Department building, chanting slogans in support of Khalistan.
Following their protest at the State Department, the same group of protesters gathered outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC where they slashed the Indian Flag with swords near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
Holding Khalistan flags and chanting slogans such as “Kill Modi Politics,” the protesters called for the establishment of an independent Sikh state.
Dr Bakhshish Singh Sandhu, who led the protest told journalists “There is evidence that Jaishankar is part of the conspiracy orchestrated by the Modi government to target Sikh activists living in Western countries”.
Other Sikh activists questioned the timing of Jaishankar’s visit to Washington, DC, given the upcoming formation of a new US government.
There is evidence that Jaishankar is part of the conspiracy orchestrated by the Modi government to target Sikh activists living in Western countries.” – Dr Bakhshish Singh Sandhu
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs For Justice said in a statement “Jaishankar is the global ambassador of India’s violent transnational repression and is responsible for operating India’s spy networks through its embassies across North America,”
Jaishankar is justifying the assassination of Shaheed Nijjar and the murder-for-hire plot in New York by Modi’s India on international forums, he said.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left a Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.
His killing drew a harsh backlash from Canada which accused Indian spies of the extrajudicial killing.
India claims anyone challenging India’s territorial integrity is a terrorist and that it has the right to kill such individuals.
However, Western countries have repeatedly warned it against carrying out extrajudicial killings on their soils.
