India-Canada relations have always taken a hit amid allegation and speculations of Canada providing the alleged support the Khalistani extremism on its soil.?
The Canadian government, has now acknowledged that Khalistani extremism on its soil is a cause of concern, and therefore, it has put two Sikh organisations Babbar Khalsa International and International Sikh Youth Federation on its watch list.
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The government has also included the component of Khalistani extremism in its 2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada.?
ˇ°Some individuals in Canada continue to support Sikh (Khalistani) extremist ideologies and movements. This political movement aims to create an independent homeland for Sikhs called Khalistan, in India. Violent activities in support of an independent Sikh homeland have fallen since their height during the 1982-1993 period when individuals and groups conducted numerous terrorist attacksˇ± reads the report by TOI.
The report also mention the Air India Toronto-Montreal-London-Delhi flight bombing, which killed 331 people in 1985 and called it deadliest terror plot ever launched in Canada.?
Babbar Khalsa International and International Sikh Youth Federation in Canada had been found associated with terrorism and remain listed terrorist entities under the criminal code.?
Apart from Khalistan extremist, the reports mention other Right Wing extremism such as Shia extremism.?
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ˇ±Some Canadians continue to support these extremist groups, including through financing,ˇ± says the report. Banners are posters of various Sikh militants, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, are common during Sikh religious parades and functions.
The World Sikh Organisation of Canada President Mukhbir Singh expressed disappointment over the report.?
ˇ°it is deeply disappointing to see the addition of imagined ˇ°Sikh extremismˇ± to the 2018 Public Report on the terrorist Threat to Canadaˇ±. He said the Sikhs in Canada had repeatedly denied these allegations and no evidence had ever been provided to substantiate them.
ˇ°Advocacy for Sikh human rights or Khalistan is not extremism and to suggest that it poses a danger to Canada is absolutely ludicrousˇ± he added.