Khalistani Outfit Threatens to 'Siege' Indian Consulate in Canada, Targets High Commissioner
The banned Khalistani separatist group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), has issued a direct and provocative threat, calling for a "siege" of the Indian consulate in Vancouver on September 18 and releasing a poster that places a target on the face of India's High Commissioner. The US-based outfit's call to action is a dangerous escalation of its activities on Canadian soil, explicitly linking the planned protest to the second anniversary of the assassination of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and accusing Indian diplomatic missions of running a "spy network."
A Direct Threat and a Warning to the Community
In a notice that is being widely circulated, SFJ has announced its intention to lay a 12-hour "historic SIEGE" on the Indian consulate in Vancouver. The group has also issued a thinly veiled warning to Indian-Canadians, urging them to defer any visits to the consulate on the day of the protest for their own safety. The stated justification for this aggressive action is what SFJ claims is a lack of accountability two years after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly stated that his government was investigating the role of Indian agents in Nijjar's killing. "Two years on, Indian Consulates continue to run a spy network and surveillance targeting Khalistan Referendum campaigners," the SFJ statement declared, framing the protest as a direct response to alleged ongoing Indian espionage.
The Provocative Targeting of a Top Diplomat
Adding a deeply concerning and personal dimension to the threat, the group has also released a poster that explicitly targets the Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik. The poster features a photo of the diplomat with a target superimposed on his face and is menacingly titled, "New face of India’s Hindutva terror in Canada." This move goes beyond general protest rhetoric and constitutes a direct and inflammatory targeting of a senior foreign diplomat, a clear attempt to intimidate and to personalize the conflict. This action has been widely condemned as a dangerous incitement to violence.
A Test for Canada-India Relations
This latest threat from SFJ, a group that was officially banned as a terrorist organization by India in 2019, places a renewed and intense spotlight on the long-simmering issue of Khalistani activism within Canada. The Canadian government has in the past been criticized by New Delhi for not doing enough to curb the activities of these extremist groups. While Canada's Minister of Public Safety has stated that "the promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada," this planned "siege" and the direct targeting of a foreign diplomat present a significant and immediate challenge to Canadian law enforcement and to the country's diplomatic relations with India. The event is a calculated act of defiance, designed to provoke a response and to test the limits of what Canadian authorities will tolerate, all while leveraging the high-profile anniversary of a killing that has already severely strained the relationship between the two nations.
