Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday said that reports of the appointment of a wanted Khalistani terrorist to spearhead the ‘Khalistan Referendum 2020’ campaign by ‘Sikhs For Justice’ (SFJ) has exposed the true motive and intent behind the separatist movement.
Captain Amarinder urged the Centre to press the global community to join India in cracking down on this grave threat to its peace and security.
Capt. Amarinder in a statement said that the SFJ has roped in Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was on the wanted persons’ list that he had shared with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during their meeting in Amritsar in February 2018, and it was a matter of serious concern.
‘Proactive stand’
He urged Mr. Trudeau “not to play with fire by allowing such elements to use the Canadian territory to disrupt India’s peace and stability”, and called upon the Indian government to take a more proactive stand in dealing with such forces trying to unleash trouble in the country, particularly Punjab, from other parts of the world. Capt. Amarinder also expressed concern over Canada’s failure to rein in such hardline elements.
“It was in the interest of any administration in Canada to check the spread of such forces on its soil,” he said, cautioning that allowing the perpetuation of such elements would be detrimental to Canada’s own safety and security in the long run.
He pointed out that Nijjar was accused by India of running a terror camp in British Columbia. , and also accused of target killings in India and conducting weapons training for terrorists in the West.
