RELIGIOUS POLITICS
Sikh leader fears that float had ties to terrorist group
Organizer denies cause condones violence
CAMILLE BAINS
Canadian Press
VANCOUVER -- The president of one of the largest Sikh temples in North America fears at least one banned terrorist group may be behind the possible revival of a violent movement to create an independent state in northern India called Khalistan.
Balwant Gill of the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in suburban Surrey said members of another temple, considered a fundamentalist sect, participated in a recent parade to celebrate Sikhism with a float exhibiting photos of so-called Sikh martyrs.
Mr. Gill said members of the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar entered a float in the April 7 Vaisakhi festivities to mark the 308th anniversary of the Sikh nation and the beginning of the harvest season in Punjab, India.
He said there are concerns in the Sikh community that the International Sikh Youth Federation, a pro-Khalistan terrorist group that the Canadian government banned in 2003 along with the Babbar Khalsa, may have been involved in organizing the float.
Among the pictures displayed on the float was one of Talwinder Singh Parmar, a devout Sikh, member of the Babbar Khalsa and accused of being the mastermind of the 1985 Air-India bombings. Most Sikhs aren't keen on seeing Mr. Parmar considered a martyr, Mr. Gill said.
"Everybody's upset, the whole community."
But Perry Dulai, who took part in organizing the float, said proponents of Khalistan still want their own homeland carved out of a section of Punjab, but they no longer want to participate in any violent activities.
"It's a political movement that I think everybody's supporting, not any armed struggle."
He said about five or six youths were seen around the float wearing ISYF T-shirts but they didn't have anything to do with the Dasmesh Darbar.
Mr. Dulai said support for Khalistan has fizzled in India and elsewhere in the past decade, and Mr. Gill said no one wants a return to the separatist clashes of the past.
"We are worried because these people were quiet for a while," Mr. Gill said. "Now they start again. Nobody even knows, in Punjab, India, what Khalistan means. These people here are the ones demanding Khalistan, nobody else is saying [anything]."
Members of the Dasmesh Darbar did not return repeated phone calls for an interview about their involvement in the parade, the display of Mr. Parmar's picture or their pro-Khalistan stand.
But Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the Council of Khalistan in Washington, said those who are committed to creating Khalistan have not wavered from their fight to establish the separate homeland.
"The Khalistan struggle is alive and well," Mr. Aulakh said, adding that he hoisted "the flag of Khalistan" before the Vaisakhi parade in Washington last Saturday and will speak at a similar parade in New York next Saturday.
Mr. Aulakh said the 22-year campaign for Khalistan will continue until the country is a reality.
"Freedom struggles, sometimes they last quite a while," he said, adding that he doesn't condone violence, only "peaceful, democratic means. To go for militancy would be stupid."
John Thompson, president of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute, said the support for Khalistan still exists to some extent in Canada and could rise to greater levels.
"If it's going to happen it's going to happen here," he said.
"There's no chance for revival of the Khalistan movement on the ground in Punjab. But for the Sikhs who left in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, especially those who left because of their involvement in the Khalistan movement, as they get older their nationalism is likely to crystallize and stay stronger and they will try to pass it off to the younger generation."
source: The Globe and Mail, Toronto (Canada)
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Sikh leader fears that float had ties to terrorist group
Organizer denies cause condones violence
CAMILLE BAINS
Canadian Press
VANCOUVER -- The president of one of the largest Sikh temples in North America fears at least one banned terrorist group may be behind the possible revival of a violent movement to create an independent state in northern India called Khalistan.
Balwant Gill of the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in suburban Surrey said members of another temple, considered a fundamentalist sect, participated in a recent parade to celebrate Sikhism with a float exhibiting photos of so-called Sikh martyrs.
Mr. Gill said members of the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar entered a float in the April 7 Vaisakhi festivities to mark the 308th anniversary of the Sikh nation and the beginning of the harvest season in Punjab, India.
He said there are concerns in the Sikh community that the International Sikh Youth Federation, a pro-Khalistan terrorist group that the Canadian government banned in 2003 along with the Babbar Khalsa, may have been involved in organizing the float.
Among the pictures displayed on the float was one of Talwinder Singh Parmar, a devout Sikh, member of the Babbar Khalsa and accused of being the mastermind of the 1985 Air-India bombings. Most Sikhs aren't keen on seeing Mr. Parmar considered a martyr, Mr. Gill said.
"Everybody's upset, the whole community."
But Perry Dulai, who took part in organizing the float, said proponents of Khalistan still want their own homeland carved out of a section of Punjab, but they no longer want to participate in any violent activities.
"It's a political movement that I think everybody's supporting, not any armed struggle."
He said about five or six youths were seen around the float wearing ISYF T-shirts but they didn't have anything to do with the Dasmesh Darbar.
Mr. Dulai said support for Khalistan has fizzled in India and elsewhere in the past decade, and Mr. Gill said no one wants a return to the separatist clashes of the past.
"We are worried because these people were quiet for a while," Mr. Gill said. "Now they start again. Nobody even knows, in Punjab, India, what Khalistan means. These people here are the ones demanding Khalistan, nobody else is saying [anything]."
Members of the Dasmesh Darbar did not return repeated phone calls for an interview about their involvement in the parade, the display of Mr. Parmar's picture or their pro-Khalistan stand.
But Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the Council of Khalistan in Washington, said those who are committed to creating Khalistan have not wavered from their fight to establish the separate homeland.
"The Khalistan struggle is alive and well," Mr. Aulakh said, adding that he hoisted "the flag of Khalistan" before the Vaisakhi parade in Washington last Saturday and will speak at a similar parade in New York next Saturday.
Mr. Aulakh said the 22-year campaign for Khalistan will continue until the country is a reality.
"Freedom struggles, sometimes they last quite a while," he said, adding that he doesn't condone violence, only "peaceful, democratic means. To go for militancy would be stupid."
John Thompson, president of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute, said the support for Khalistan still exists to some extent in Canada and could rise to greater levels.
"If it's going to happen it's going to happen here," he said.
"There's no chance for revival of the Khalistan movement on the ground in Punjab. But for the Sikhs who left in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, especially those who left because of their involvement in the Khalistan movement, as they get older their nationalism is likely to crystallize and stay stronger and they will try to pass it off to the younger generation."
source: The Globe and Mail, Toronto (Canada)
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