By By Joanna Chiu | Toronto Star | Canada |
“We will not be silenced,” chanted several hundred protesters outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Saturday, waving signs with the face of murdered B.C. Sikh temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar and calling him a martyr for advocating for the right to self-determination for his people.
Protesters mostly wore orange turbans, a colour representing rebirth and sacrifice, and carried large yellow flags displaying the word “Khalistan,” as many stepped on an Indian flag they brought to the demonstration.
Nijjar was alone in his truck when he was shot the evening of June 18 while leaving his temple, Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, where he served as president in the populous Metro Vancouver city of Surrey. Two masked assailants fled the scene, and although investigators have not established a motive, many in the Sikh community think the Indian government may have been involved.
Over the weekend, Sikhs travelled from all over the country and as far away as New York to attend the protest, with thousands more following Nijjar’s funeral procession in Surrey on Sunday.
“I came from Sacramento, California to pay tribute to our Sikh leader and martyr who advocated for Khalistan,” protester Bobby Singh told the Star.
“A Sikh community leader being assassinated in broad daylight put fears into public. But our (belief) is that you can kill a revolutionary but you can’t kill the revolution,” he said.
While police have acknowledged that there is fear and speculation stemming from the attack, investigators told media they have not linked the shooting to foreign interference and there is no reason to believe the Sikh community in Canada is at risk.
The fact that so many think the Indian state could be responsible for the killing of a Canadian religious leader and plumber reflects the extent to which some in the Sikh international diaspora feel they are being unfairly vilified by the Indian government, amid worsening human rights conditions for religious minorities in the country, observers say.
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