Canada’s Brampton town is on the edge with fears of more violence after clashes erupted between devotees and pro-Khalistani extremists outside the Hindu Sabha temple in Ontario’s city earlier this week.
A quarter of Brampton’s population is Sikh while one in five residents are Hindus. Both communities live side-by-side in this city of about 7.50 lakh people, Canadian website The Globe And Mail reported.
Men armed with swords, baseball bats and pieces of lumber are keeping vigil outside a gurdwara near Toronto’s Pearson Airport. The prayers from the gurdwara are mixed with Punjabi music blaring from a pickup truck nearby.
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Sri Guru Singh Sabha Malton gurdwara in Ontario’s Mississauga told the website,”We have to be ready.”
Earlier, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police claimed they had evidence about the role of Indian government officials in the “killings, extortion and other violent crimes”. India has rejected the allegations as “motivated and absurd.”
New Delhi has not only withdrawn its high commissioner but also expelled six Canadian diplomats from the country.
According to The Globe and Mail report, the clashes outside the Brampton temple forced the municipal leaders to contemplate new bylaws banning protests at places of worship. In Surrey, three men were also arrested after violence broke out when hundreds of demonstrators showed up at a Hindu temple.
Arvind Mishra, a 35-year-old IT consultant, moved to Canada from India about four years ago. He told the website,”Hindus have had enough. They’re frustrated. They’re agitated and they’re very, very angry. We feel marginalised.”
Mishra claimed he was inside the Hindu Sabha temple in Brampton with his wife and nine-month-old daughter last Sunday when the clashes erupted. The techie has blamed the Justin Trudeau government, accusing Ottawa of allowing pro-Khalistani sentiments as unchecked.
Inderjeet Singh Ghosal, an organiser at Sunday’s violent protest outside the temple, claimed,”This is not a religious battle. This is not a battle between Sikhs and Hindus. This wasn’t an attempt to attack any place of worship. The reason we were there to protest was strictly against the Indian government officials.”
On Sunday night, 300 pro-India protesters, some masked and armed with bats, gathered at the nearby Malton gurdwara, believed to have strong links to pro-Khalistani extremists.
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The Canadian website claimed that the police tried to contain a larger crowd of protesters, some draped in Indian flags, who took over the street in front of Hindu Sabha temple and were seen kicking vehicles. Three men were arrested.
The diplomatic ties between India and Canada have deteriorated since Justin Trudeau alleged the role of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in Surrey on June 18, 2023.
Opposition accuses Trudeau of ‘sowing divisions’
According to the report, Canada’s Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Trudeau of “sowing the divisions” that led to the violent clashes in Brampton.
Liberal MP Chandra Arya, said the protests show just how emboldened the Khalistani separatism has become.