• Nijjar assassination “ignited support” for Khalistan’s independence.
• World’s leading nations held India responsible for Nijjar’s murder.
• India openly violated Canada’s sovereignty: Sikh leader.

VANCOUVER, CANADA: Dr Bakhshish Singh Sandhu, Council of Khalistan’s president, has asserted that the assassination of Canadian Citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar has ignited unwavering support for Khalistan’s independence within the Sikh community.

Ahead of the Khalistan Referendum voting on Sunday, here at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Dr Bakhshish Singh Sandhu announced that the Sikh community is poised to cast a historic number of votes in the referendum set to take place at Shaheed Nijjar Centre.

45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot outside the same temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a significant Sikh population, where the second phase of the referendum is scheduled.

The veteran Khalistani leader mentioned that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had affirmed in the Canadian parliament that Nijjar’s assassination was the work of Indian secret agencies, operating from Indian consulates in Canada.

Furthermore, the world’s leading nations, including the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have held India responsible for Nijjar’s murder and have called for India’s accountability, said Dr Sandhu, adding that India has acted as a rogue state.

He said that India has openly violated Canada’s sovereignty and independence by killing and threatening Canadian nationals.

The Sikh leader said that the world may not have believed in Sikhs when they said India was involved in their genocide but the statement by the Canadian prime minister has proven to the world that Sikhs were right.

Prominent world powers have endorsed the idea of a democratic referendum, considering that Sikhs are pursuing a legitimate campaign for the independence of Punjab and the establishment of a separate Sikh homeland, he maintained.

100,000 Sikhs expected to vote 

Avtar Singh Pannu, Coordinator of Sikhs for Justice, said that agents of Indian secret agencies shot `Nijjar with 50 bullets in an attempt to prevent him from organising the Khalistan Referendum in Canada.

Nijjar was an advocate for a Sikh homeland in Punjab, minutes before his killing he delivered his last speech, Avtar Singh Pannun said.

He encouraged the community to join and cast their votes in support of independence.

Previously, he said, 135,000 votes were cast in support of the referendum at the same place on 10th September while several thousand who were waiting in lines could not vote when the time for voting finished.

Now it’s anticipated that more than 100,000 Sikhs will participate in the referendum at the Shaheed Nijjar Center.

‘In name of Nijjar’

Meanwhile, Bhupinder Singh Hothi, General Secretary Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, has urged Sikh community members to turn up in large numbers to cast their votes in memory of Shaheed Nijhar.

He said that India killed Nijjar in the hope this would scare Sikhs but India was wrong as the killing has exposed India as a terror-supporting state with no regard for international law.

The Khalistan Referendum voting campaign is being organised under the supervision of the independent Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) which will announce the results when all phases are completed.

The voting started on October 31, 2021, in London and has so far been held in several cities across Europe, Australia and Canada.