Who’s Behind The Perpetrators With A Loaded Gun At Sikhs For Justice Rally In Brampton?

Sikh independence Activists say there was a real chance for bloodshed after five Indo-Canadian men (some could be Indian students but that part has not been clarified) were arrested last week in Brampton after they came to a Sikhs For Justice rally carrying a loaded gun. According to Jay Grewal, a director of the group Sikhs for Justice, the five men in a pickup truck with a clearly visible Indian flag arrived at an anti-Indian government gathering last week toting a semi-automatic pistol. Grewal said his group was completely stunned. DESIBUZZCanada reported last week about the arrest, writing: “The five men charged with gun related offences are Simerjit Singh, 23-years-old, from Georgetown, Arundeep Sood, 40-years-old, from Brampton, Manpreet Singh, 21-years-old, of No Fixed Address, Shivampreet Singh, 21-years-old, from Brampton and Mehakdeep Maan, 22-years-old, from Brampton. It’s not known at this time if some of them are students from India. Many Indian students have been caught committing crimes in Brampton and other areas surrounding greater Toronto.”

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

BRAMPTON - Sikh independence Activists say there was a real chance for bloodshed after five Indo-Canadian men (some could be Indian students but that part has not been clarified) were arrested recently in Brampton after they came to a Sikhs For Justice rally carrying a loaded gun.

While Sikh independence activists are used to intense online debates about their cause, up to and including threats of violence but to have thugs with a loaded gun show up to their rally in Canada is a very disturbing and they want the police and Canadian intelligence agencies to be on alert about violence directed at them.

According to Jay Grewal, a director of the group Sikhs for Justice, the five men in a pickup truck with a clearly visible Indian flag arrived at an anti-Indian government gathering last week toting a semi-automatic pistol. Grewal said his group was completely stunned.

Luckily, members of their group spotted the men and saw the gun and immediately called police, who eventually carried out a dramatic arrest in the Brampton, Ont., parking lot, charging five men with firearms offences after recovering a loaded handgun from their vehicle.

DESIBUZZCanada reported last week about the arrest, writing: “The five men charged with gun related offences are Simerjit Singh, 23-years-old, from Georgetown, Arundeep Sood, 40-years-old, from Brampton, Manpreet Singh, 21-years-old, of No Fixed Address, Shivampreet Singh, 21-years-old, from Brampton and Mehakdeep Maan, 22-years-old, from Brampton. It’s not known as this time if some of them are students from India, many of whom have been caught committing crimes in Bramoton and other areas surrounding greater Toronto.”

But at the time, police did not make any inference to a political rally connected to the arrests and said it was due to a keen eye of a citizen that led to the arrest of the five men.

But witnesses at the event told the National Post newspaper that one of the men was asking to see the event’s promoter, who earlier received anonymous death threats over a video he had posted plugging the protest. The demonstrators were marshalling in Brampton before travelling to the actual demonstration at India’s consulate in downtown Toronto.

Grewal believes the incident marks a troubling new turn in the ongoing conflict between Indo-Canadians for and against a separate Sikh homeland — known as Khalistan — in south Asia.

 “Everybody’s on edge. There is a belief that there are people willing to engage in acts of violence against Khalistanis on Canadian soil,” Grewal told the National Post. “Many people are shocked and frightened that this may happen again.”

The truck with the Indian flag pulled up to the group congregating in Brampton and the driver asked to see the person who had posted the video, which included information about the parking lot meet, he said.

Members of the group who talked to the individual saw the gun next to the gear shift, then called police, said Grewal.

A videotape shows the aftermath of the police action, with suspects sprawled face-down on the parking lot pavement before being led away.

The episode also comes as the Indian government steps up its campaign against Sikhs for Justice and the group’s plan to hold a non-binding referendum on the independence issue, Grewal notes.

Although being carried out internationally, the referendum movement is largely being organized in Canada. Sikhs for Justice is organizing what it calls “Referendum 2020,” a non-binding plebiscite inside and outside India this November on whether a separate Sikh state should be carved out of India.

India recently declared the New York-based lawyer of who heads the SFJ a terrorist, and has banned the group and its websites in India. A day before the Ontario incident, Punjab’s fiery chief minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, dared the organization’s leader to come there, saying “I will teach you a lesson.” 

But there is no evidence that SFJ is advocating violence or violence uprising but India wants to suppress a group that has declared that Indi eventually will be split into many smaller countries and that Sikhs need to do their part now at the UN, which will eventually be in a position to help with geographical borders of the new countries carved out of India. This is what scares the current rightwing BJP government which has been accused of sowing communal disharmony and even creating awareness among linguistic groups in South India and other parts who are looking to create their own linguistic-cultural based countries.

A spokesman for the Indian high commission in Ottawa denied suggestions from the Sikh activists that its government may have somehow been behind the troubling incident.

“The propaganda and efforts by some Pakistan-supported extremist elements to mislead the public and put out untruths about the incident indicates their desperation and appears to be an effort to create tensions and incite disharmony between various Indian communities in Canada,” said Sunil Kumar Sharma, the high commission’s press secretary.

A spokesman for Peel Regional Police, which investigated the incident, said Thursday that officers had found no evidence of political overtones, but urged those who were present and believe they were threatened to contact police.

Aug. 15 was the country’s independence day, and local members of the group planned to hold a public registration session outside the consulate to promote the referendum, and underline that India is trying to suppress a peaceful form of advocacy, said Grewal.

Grewal said India is vehemently opposed to the referendum initiative because it is afraid the results will undermine its narrative about the Khalistani movement: that few Sikhs in India support it.