PRO-KHALISTAN elements based in Canada have been luring gullible Sikh youth to the North American country by sponsoring their visa with the sole objective of using them to carry out their agenda on Canadian soil, sources said.

The sources said Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing has led to a row between India and Canada, and other individuals like Moninder Singh Bual, Parminder Pangli, Bhagat Singh Brar have been using the lured Sikh youth to carry out their pro-Khalistan agenda from Canadian soil. However, they faced shortage of foot soldiers due to lack of support in the diaspora.

 

This “demand and supply matrix” was exploited by pro-Khalistan extremists in Canada who came out with a novel idea of sponsoring gullible Sikh youth from Punjab for medium-skilled jobs like plumber, truck drivers or religious work like ‘Sewadars’ and ‘Pathis’ and ‘Ragis’ in gurudwaras controlled by them. These pro-Khalistan extremists sponsor visas of such Punjabi youth and visits to Canada in lieu of exploiting them for doing pro-Khalistan activities in Canada like participating in anti-India protests and programmes and conducting radical-religious congregations, sources said.

 

Illegal immigrants in Canada and students, who have completed their studies in Canada but have not been able to find suitable jobs, are the most susceptible. Pro-Khalistan extremists offer them shelter and low scale jobs for sustenance using gurudwara resources, they said. These “indebted” youth join “the Khalistan brigade in Canada” willingly or unwillingly. When ISI backed Khalistani group ‘Sikhs For Justice’ was finding difficult to get support for its anti-India campaign “Punjab Independence Referendum”, Nijjar and his friends used these “foot soldiers” to give an impression that their campaign was successful. It is easier for these pro-Khalistan extremists to now get more and more such people as they control over 30 gurudwaras in Brampton.