A protest was held outside the Indian Consulate in downtown Vancouver Wednesday in relation to the killing of a prominent Sikh activist who was gunned down over a year ago.
While arrests have been made, protesters say Indian officials need to be held accountable.
“These terror houses, their embassies have been providing logistics to the terrorists who are committing murders of Sikh activists. I think (the Canadian) government should hold (the) Indian government accountable and seize their embassies,” Ajaypal Singh, a demonstrator told CityNews Vancouver.
It’s been more than a year since 45-year-old activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in front of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey where he was president.
Nijjar was a leader in the Khalistan referendum. While four people have been arrested in connection to the shooting, protestors in Vancouver say the Indian government and President Modi were behind Nijjar’s assassination.
On this day a year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said that agencies had been “actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of” Nijjar, setting off a diplomatic row between India and Canada.
India, which considers many involved in the Khalistani movement terrorists, extremists and militant separatists, has denied involvement in the Nijjar case.
The protestors say they will gather at the Indian Consulate in Vancouver once a month until the Canadian government steps in and shuts it down.
-With files from Hana Mae Nassar and The Canadian Press.