Toronto: Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) which is in a formal understanding with the ruling Liberal Party of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will seek “official recognition” of the ‘1984 Sikh genocide’ in the country’s parliament.
In a campaign launched by the NDP, it stated, “On the 40-year-anniversary, (party leader) Jagmeet Singh and the NDP will seek official recognition of the 1984 Sikh Genocide in Canadian Parliament.”
The issue was also addressed by Singh while speaking at the Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, British Columbia, on Saturday, as he said, “40th anniversary of Sikh genocide falls in this year. On this occasion, Sikh genocide should be recognised at the Federal level.”
He said such a motion would be a “direct attack on the cruel government that carried out this genocide, that this was wrong and should not have been done”.
The NDP campaign added, “We call on the Government of Canada to formally recognize this state-organised killing spree as a genocide.”
The so-called Sikh genocide refers to the riots that engulfed Delhi and other parts of India following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984.
A similar motion, passed by the Ontario legislature in April 2017, had led to a rupture in the bilateral relationship between Canada and India. In fact, while a member of the Ontario legislature, Singh had moved a similar motion in June 2016, but that had failed, while that brought by then Ontario legislator from the then incumbent Liberal Party Harinder Malhi the next year had succeeded.
Singh was denied a visa to travel to India in December 2013 by the then Government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The secessionist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) as “definitely a positive step”. However, it’s general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun said that given the so-called Khalistan Referendum was in progress and the Canadian government was investigating “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder of its chief coordinator for that purpose Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 last year in Surrey, “it will be more appropriate” to bring a motion to recognise “Sikh People’s Right to Self-Determination”.
Singh also said he “recognised the sacrifice” made by Nijjar while speaking at the Surrey parade.
A “Sikh genocide” motion was brought before Canada’s House of Commons in 2010 by Liberal Party MP Sukh Dhaliwal, but that had failed.
While ties between New Delhi and Ottawa are already difficult, such a motion, and its potential passage, could complicate them further.
