The Sikh community in America held a referendum on January 28 in the state of California for the establishment of Punjab and ‘Khalistan’ independent from India.
This referendum held in America is part of the referendums around the world that aim to mobilize Punjabis for independent Punjab from India and to carry out this referendum in accordance with international laws.
California has the largest Sikh population of all US cities and states.
San Francisco alone, including the Bay Area, has more than two hundred thousand Sikhs. Perhaps this is why Sikhs for Justice, a representative group of pro-Khalistan Sikhs, held the first referendum in America to create ‘Azad Punjab’ or ‘Khalistan’ from India in America.
The city of San Francisco, located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, gave rise to several social movements from the United States, but for a few days there was confusion related to the referendum, which was also seen on social media platforms.
Despite the cold weather, Sikhs from all over America started arriving at the Civic Center Plaza in large numbers from the morning of the 28th.
Before holding the referendum, the Punjab Referendum Commission said in a press conference that two such referendums have been held in Canada in 2022 and 2023.
Hardeep Singh Nagar, the Canadian-based leader of the separatist movement, was killed three months before the second referendum in British Columbia in June 2023, which the Canadian government blamed on India’s secret services.
But his party says that the matter did not end there, but the US government also accused the Indian government of the plan to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, the leader of the same party living in the United States, in 2023.
The Indian government dismissed these allegations as baseless, while the issue of Hardeep Singh Nagar’s murder is still a source of tension between India and Canada.
In such a situation, when Gurpwant Singh announced to hold a referendum in America, many people were surprised because Patwant Singh Panu himself says that his life is threatened by Indian agencies.
In 2020, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs declared Gurpatwant Singh Pannu as a terrorist for being a separatist.
Like every Deep Singh Nagar, many serious cases have been registered against him in India, but these cases could not be proved till date.
Talking to Independent Urdu, Gurptunat Singh said that the Sikhs in Indian Punjab are being subjected to torture since Operation Blue Star in 1984 till date.
According to him, due to this, millions of Sikhs were forced to leave not only Punjab but also India, but these include registration of false cases and extra-judicial killings.
Operation Blue Star was a military operation that took place during the regime of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The operation was aimed at arresting leaders of the Khalistan movement who were allegedly taking refuge in the Golden Temple, the holy shrine of Sikhs.
He was assassinated by Indira Gandhi’s own bodyguard within a few months of the operation, after which Hindu-Sikh riots continued for a long time in India.
Garman Singh, who came from the nearby city of Sacremento to vote in the referendum, said that 20 years ago today, he moved to the United States when his brother was killed in state custody.
He said that he wanted to go back but not to India but to Khalistan.
Can Referendum really give independence to Sikh Punjabis from India?
No one has a final answer to this question but the referendum participants say that they want to adopt all democratic means to achieve Khalistan and referendums are part of that process.
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Grupatunat Singh Pannu said that ‘Indian intelligence agencies are afraid of democratic methods because they are also accountable to the world.
‘This is the reason why efforts are being made to silence the leaders of the Khalistani movement in Canada and the United States as well.’
He said that even in America, he cannot move around like a free citizen without fear, but he will not back down from his goal.
Referendum organizers said that all Sikhs above the age of 18 can participate in the referendum.
Outside the civic hall, where yellow Khalistani flags could be seen everywhere, chants of ‘Vay Guru’ could be heard while the number of male and female volunteers was also in hundreds.
Among those people was Narendra Kaur, who is around 90 years old and cannot walk.
She said that she has lived her life and her family suffered a lot at the hands of the Indian security agencies in the 1980s, that’s why she wants her future generations to be able to breathe in a free atmosphere.
His grandson brought him here in a wheelchair to vote in the referendum.
After all the rounds of the referendum were over, the participants demanded that India be urged to hold the same referendum on Indian soil, in which it would be necessary to be a Punjabi and not a Sikh for voting.
The final result of the referendum will be done once by combining the results of the referendums held in other countries, but the next referendum will be held in California.
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2024-08-22 00:10:44